St. George Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2024-12-22
Bulletin Contents

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St. George Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (405) 751-1885
  • Fax:
  • (405) 751-1889
  • Street Address:

  • 2101 NW 145th Street

  • Oklahoma City, OK 73134
  • Mailing Address:

  • 2101 NW 145th Street

  • Oklahoma City, OK 73134


Contact Information




Services Schedule

Every Saturday we have Great Vespers (unless otherwise noted) at 6:00 p.m. Every Sunday - Orthros at 8:50 a.m., Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. Weekday Services are as listed on the Calendar and Community News.


Past Bulletins


Community News

Weekday Services...

Every Sunday we have Orthros beginning at 8:50 a.m. and Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Saturday evenings we have Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m., unless otherwise noted.  Weekday services are listed below and begin at 8:30 a.m. with Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy. Unless otherwise stated service will be at St. George.

8:30 Orthros / Divine Liturgy following

December

2nd, Monday – St. Porphyrios

4th, Wednesday – Sts. Barbara & John of Damascus

6th, Friday – St. Nicholas

12th, Thursday – St. Spyridon

Christmas Services

24th Tuesday – 8:30 a.m. Royal Hours & Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil (Paramony)

                      8:00 p.m. Christmas Services (Orthros & Divine Liturgy)

27th, Friday – St. Stephen the Protomartyr

January

1st, Wednesday – St. Basil the Great & Circumcision of our Lord

3rd, Friday – Royal Hours of Epiphany

6th, Monday – Epiphany

7th, Tuesday – St. John the Baptist

17th, Friday – St. Anthony

18th, Saturday – Sts. Athanasios & Cyril

25th, Saturday – St. Gregory the Theologian

30th, Thursday – The Three Hierarchs

Community Connections 

Community News

Catechism Class - Our Catechism Class will resume after the holidays, on Wednesday, January 8th.  Catechism Class are on Wednesdays, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.  All are welcome!!!

Prosfora Schedule

December

1st, Sunday                  14th Sunday of St. Luke          Nadine Papahronis

2nd, Monday                St. Porphyrios                          Catherine Chrysant

4th, Wednesday           Sts. Barbara & John of Damascus  Kim Yates

6th, Friday                    St. Nicholas                             Anna Gianos

8th, Sunday                  10th Sunday of St. Luke          Marla Childress

12th, Thursday             St. Spyridon                            Litsa Angelidis

15th, Sunday                11th Sunday of St. Luke       Jennifer Economopoulos

22nd, Sunday               Sunday before the Nativity     Rich Coombe

24th, Tuesday               Paramony of Christmas           Catherine Chrysant

                                   Christmas                              Catherine Chrysant

27th, Friday                  St. Stephen the Protomartyr    Beth Huntley

29th, Sunday                Sunday after the Nativity        Marla Childress

January

1st, Wednesday           St. Basil the Great                   Tasia Vrentas

5th, Sunday                  Sunday before Epiphany         Beth Huntley

6th, Monday                 Epiphany                                 Fofo Bargeliotes

7th, Tuesday                 St. John the Baptist                 Litsa Angelidis

12th, Sunday                Sunday after Epiphany            Nadine Papahronis

17th, Friday                  St. Anthony                           Vana Economopoulos

18th, Saturday              Sts. Athanasios & Cyril            Catherine Chrysant

19th, Sunday                12th Sunday of St. Luke          Rich Coombe

25th, Saturday              St. Gregory the Theologian      Katerina Stavrakis

26th, Sunday                15th Sunday of St. Luke           Elaine Bappert

30th, Thursday             The Three Hierarchs                Marla Childress

St. Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you.  Do this in rememberance of me.'" (1 Cor. 11:24).

We are in need of Prosfora bakers.  Our ladies and gentlemen have diminished over the years.  The greatest part of this is everyone qualifies! Anyone young and old can make Prosfora.  We would only ask a few times per year to prepare bread for a Divine Liturgy.  What better way for a family to give of themselves and their love for the Church.

Prosfora can be kneaded in a bread machine, with a mixer that has dough hooks, or by hand.  It can easily bge an individual's or an offering made by the whole family.  Children love to knead bread or be able to put the seal on and for the children it is a learning experience.  It is a great offering of life and love to God.

Please call the Church office if you would like to offer this gift.

 

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fourth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:1-12

On the first day of the week at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking spices, which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise." And they remembered His words and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the Apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home wondering at what had happened.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 11:9-10; 32-40.

BRETHREN, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.


Gospel Reading

Sunday before Nativity
The Reading is from Matthew 1:1-25

The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Pray, my brethren, to the Mother of God when the storm of enmity and malice bursts forth in your house. She, Who is all-merciful and all-powerful, can easily pacify the hearts of men. Peace and love proceed from the one God, as from their Source, and Our Lady - in God, as the Mother of Christ the Peace, is zealous, and prays for the peace of the whole world, and above all - of all Christians.
St. John of Kronstadt
My Life in Christ: Part 1, Holy Trinity Monastery pg. 179, 19th century

Through their prayers for, and alms on behalf of, the deceased, Christians display the relationship between this world and the world to come. The Church in this world and the Church in the other world are one and the same the one Body of Christ one the Church Militant and the other the Church Triumphant. It can be compared to a tree which has roots beneath the earth comprise as well as branches above the earth, but both the roots and the branches comprise one organism. This metaphor also illustrates how we on earth who comprise the Church Militant can receive help from the saints and the righteous ones in the Heavenly Church Triumphant. Saint Athanasios says: 'As it happens with wine inside a barrel which, when the vineyard blooms in the field, senses it and the wine itself blossoms together with it, so it is with the souls of sinners. They receive some relief from the Bloodless Sacrifice offered for them and from charity' performed for their repose. Saint Ephrem the Syrian cites that same example with wine and the vineyard and concludes: 'And so, when there exists such mutual sensitivity even among plants, is not the prayer and sacrifice felt even more for the departed ones?' '[At the Eucharist] the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the Holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same.'
St. John of Damascus
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4: Chapter 13; Eerdmans pg. 83, 8th century

The tribes of Judah and Levi were united by a fusion of their lines of descent, and that is why Matthew assigns Christ's family to the tribe of Judah. And the Apostle says, 'for our Lord has sprung out of Judah' (Heb. 7:14).
St. Ambrose of Milan
Seven Exegetical Works, 4th Century

Thus, from the tribe of Levi may be counted a heritage that is priestly and filled with holiness, while from the tribe of Judah - to which David and Solomon and the rest of the kings belonged - there shines forth the splendor of a royal descent. And so, by the testimony of the Scriptures, Christ is shown to be at once both king and priest.
St. Ambrose of Milan
Seven Exegetical Works, 4th Century

The Lord has given us a sign 'as deep as Sheol and as high as heaven', such as we should not have dared to hope for. How could we have expected to see a Virgin with Child, and to see in this Child a 'God with us' (Isaiah 7: 11 & 14) Who would descend into the depths of the earth to seek for the lost sheep, meaning the creature He had fashioned, and then ascend again to present to His Father humanity thus regained?
Irenaeus of Lyons
Against Heresies, III, 19.3 (SC 211, p. 380), 130-208

His love for me brought low His greatness. He made Himself like me so that I might receive Him. He made Himself like me so that I might be clothed in Him. I had no fear when I saw Him, for He is mercy for me. He took my nature so that I might understand Him, my face, so that I should not turn away from Him.
42 hymns discovered in 1905 in a Syriac Manuscript.
Odes of Solomon 7 (The Odes and Psalms of Solomon R. Harris adn A. Mingana II, pp. 240-1). Written in Greek for the Christian communities of Syria., Early 2nd Century

How could the human race go to God if God had not come to us? How should we free ourselves from our birth into death if we had not been born again according to faith by a new birth generously given by God, thanks to that which came about from the Virgin's womb?
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, IV, 33,4
Sources Chretiennes, Cerf, Paris found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, p. 37., 130-208

This is the reason why the Word of God was made flesh, and the Son of God became Son of Man: so that we might enter into communion with the Word of God, and by receiving adoption might become Sons of God. Indeed we should not be able to share in immortality without a close union with the Immortal. How could we have united ourselves with immortality if Immortality had not become what we are, in such a way that we should not be absorbed by it, and thus we should be adopted as Sons of God?
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III. 19,1
Sources Chretiennes, Cerf, Paris, as found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, p. 38, 130-208

That God should have clothed Himself with our nature is a fact that should not seem strange or extravagant to minds that do not form too paltry an idea of reality. Who, looking at the universe, would be so feeble-minded as not to believe that God is all in all; that He clothes Himself with the universe, and at the same time contains it and dwells in it? What exists depends on Him Who exists, and nothing can exist except in the bosom of Him Who is. If then all is in Him and He is in all, . . .Indeed, if the presence of God in us does not take the same form now as it did then, we can at least agree in recognizing that He is in us today no less tha He was then. Today, He is involved with us in as much as He maintains creation in existence. Then He mingled Himself with our being to deify it by contact with Him, after He had snatched it from death. . . For His resurrection becomes for mortals the promise of their return to immortal life.
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Orations, 25 (Patrologia Graeca, Migne.)
Found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, New City Press, NY, pp. 37-38, 330-395

Most of all we should marvel, that being Son of the Unorginate God, and His true Son, He suffered Himself to be called also Son of David, that He might make you Son of God. A slave became His father so that you a slave, might have the Lord as your Father. . .When therefore you are told that the Son of God is Son of David and of Abraham, do not doubt anymore that you too, the son of Adam, should become a son of God. For it was not randomly, nor in vain, that He did lower Himself so greatly, for He had in mind to exalt us. Thus He was born after the flesh, that you might be born after the Spirit.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 2 on Matthew 1: 1-25, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 344/354-407

I too will proclaim the greatness of this day: the Immaterial become incarnate, the Word is made flesh, the invisible makes itself seen, the intangible can be touched, the timeless has a beginning, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, always the same, yesterday, today and forever. . . This is the solemnity we are celebrating today: the arrival of God among us, so that we might go to God, or more precisely, return to Him. . . Revere the nativity which releases you from the chains of evil. Honor this tiny Bethlehem which restores Paradise to you. Venerate this crib; because of it you who were deprived of meaning (logos) are fed by the divine Meaning, the divine Logos Himself.
St. Gregory the Theologian
Oration 38, For Christmas (Patrologia Graeca, 36, 664-5) found in The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clement, New City Press, NY, p. 41, 330-390

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the First Mode

Although the stone was sealed by the Jews, and the soldiers guarded Your most pure body, You arose on the third day, O Savior, giving life to the world. For this reason, the heavenly powers cried out to you, O Giver of Life: Glory to Your resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your kingdom! Glory to Your dispensation, only Lover of Mankind!

Apolytikion for Forefeast of the Nativity in the Fourth Mode

Be thou ready, Bethlehem, Eden hath opened unto all. Ephratha, prepare thyself, for now, behold, the Tree of life hath blossomed forth in the cave from the Holy Virgin. Her womb hath proved a true spiritual Paradise, wherein the divine and saving Tree is found, and as we eat thereof we shall all live, and shall not die as did Adam. For Christ is born now to raise the image that had fallen aforetime.

Apolytikion for Sun. before Nativity in the Second Mode

Great are the achievements of faith! In the fountain of flame, as by the water of rest, the Three Holy Children rejoiced. And the Prophet Daniel proved a shepherd of lions as of sheep. By their prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.

Apolytikion for Saint George in the Fourth Mode

Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick, and champion of kings, O trophy-bearer, Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Mode

On this day the Virgin cometh to the cave to give birth to * God the Word ineffably, * Who was before all the ages. * Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing * the gladsome tidings; * with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him * Who is willing to be gazed on * as a young Child Who * before the ages is God.
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Saints and Feasts

December 22

Sunday before Nativity

On the Sunday that occurs on or immediately after the eighteenth of this month, we celebrate all those who from ages past have been well-pleasing to God, beginning from Adam even unto Joseph the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos, according to genealogy, as the Evangelist Luke hath recorded historically (Luke 3:23-38); we also commemorate the Prophets and Prophetesses, and especially the Prophet Daniel and the Holy Three Children.


December 22

Anastasia the Great Martyr

This Saint, who was from Rome, was a most comely, wealthy, and virtuous maiden, the daughter of Praepextatus and Fausta. It was her mother who instructed her in the Faith of Christ. The Saint was joined to a man named Publius Patricius, who was prodigal in life and impious in disposition, but she was widowed after a short time. Henceforth, she went about secretly to the dwellings of the poor and the prisons where the Martyrs of Christ were, and brought them whatever was needed for their daily subsistence. She washed their wounds and loosed them from their fetters, and consoled them in their anguish. Also, because the Saint, through her intercessions, has healed many from the ill effects of spells, potions, poisons, and other harmful substances, she has received the name "Deliverer from Potions." Since the fame of her deeds had spread about, she was arrested by Diocletian's minions, and after enduring many torments she was put to death by fire in the year 290.


December 23

Ten Martyrs of Crete

These Saints, who were all from Crete, contested for piety's sake during the reign of Decius, in the year 250. Theodulus, Saturninus, Euporus, Gelasius, and Eunician were from Gortynia, the capital; Zoticus was from Knossos; Agathopus, from the port city of Panormus; Basilides, from Cydonia; Evarestus and Pompey, from Heraklion. Haled before the Governor as Christians, they were subjected to torments for thirty days, being scourged, racked, dragged upon the ground through dung heaps, stoned, spit upon. They were questioned again, but their costancy roused the Governor to greater fury. After subjecting them to torments more bitter still, he had them beheaded.


December 23

Naoum the Illuminator of The Bulgarians


December 24

Eugenia the Righteous Nun-martyr of Rome and those with her

This Martyr was the daughter of most distinguished and noble parents named Philip and Claudia. Philip, a Prefect of Rome, moved to Alexandria with his family. In Alexandria, Eugenia had the occasion to learn the Christian Faith, in particular when she encountered the Epistles of Saint Paul, the reading of which filled her with compunction and showed her clearly the vanity of the world. Secretly taking two of her servants, Protas and Hyacinth, she departed from Alexandria by night. Disguised as a man, she called herself Eugene while pretending to be a eunuch, and departed with her servants and took up the monastic life in a monastery of men. Her parents mourned for her, but could not find her. After Saint Eugenia had laboured for some time in the monastic life, a certain woman named Melanthia, thinking Eugenia to be a monk, conceived lust and constrained Eugenia to comply with her desire; when Eugenia refused, Melanthia slandered Eugenia to the Prefect as having done insult to her honour. Eugenia was brought before the Prefect, her own father Philip, and revealed to him both that she was innocent of the accusations, and that she was his own daughter. Through this, Philip became a Christian; he was afterwards beheaded at Alexandria. Eugenia was taken back to Rome with Protas and Hyacinth. All three of them ended their life in martyrdom in the years of Commodus, who reigned from 180 to 192.


December 25

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

The incomprehensible and inexplicable Nativity of Christ came to pass when Herod the Great was reigning in Judea; the latter was an Ascalonite on his fathers's side and an Idumean on his mother's. He was in every way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, he had received his authority from the Roman emperors, and had ruled tyrannically over the Jewish people for some thirty-three years. The tribe of Judah, which had reigned of old, was deprived of its rights and stripped of all rule and authority. Such was the condition of the Jews when the awaited Messiah was born, and truly thus was fulfilled the prophecy which the Patriarch Jacob had spoken 1,807 years before: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins, until there come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of the nations" (Gen.49:10).

Thus, our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, a city of Judea, whither Joseph had come from Nazareth of Galilee, taking Mary his betrothed, who was great with child, that, according to the decree issued in those days by the Emperor Augustus, they might be registered in the census of those subject to Rome. Therefore, when the time came for the Virgin to give birth, and since because of the great multitude there was no place in the inn, the Virgin's circumstance constrained them to enter a cave which was near Bethlehem. Having as shelter a stable of irrational beasts, she gave birth there, and swaddled the Infant and laid Him in the manger (Luke 2:1-7). From this, the tradition has come down to us that when Christ was born He lay between two animals, an ox and an ass, that the words of the Prophets might be fulfilled: "Between two living creatures shalt Thou be known" (Abbacum 3:2), and "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib" (Esaias 1: 3).

But while the earth gave the new-born Saviour such a humble reception, Heaven on high celebrated majestically His world-saving coming. A wondrous star, shining with uncommon brightness and following a strange course, led Magi from the East to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King. Certain shepherds who were in the area of Bethlehem, who kept watch while tending their sheep, were suddenly surrounded by an extraordinary light, and they saw before them an Angel who proclaimed to them the good tidings of the Lord's joyous Nativity. And straightway, together with this Angel, they beheld and heard a whole host of the Heavenly Powers praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men" (Luke 2:8-14).


December 25

The Adoration of the Magi: Melchior, Gaspar, & Balthasar


December 25

The Commemoration of the Shepherds in Bethlehem who were watching their flocks and came to see the Lord


December 27

Stephen, Archdeacon & First Martyr

Saint Stephen was a Jew, by race, and, as some say, a disciple of Gamaliel, the teacher of the Law mentioned in Acts 5:34 and 22:3. He was the first of the seven deacons whom the Apostles established in Jerusalem to care for the poor, and to distribute alms to them. Being a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, he performed great signs and wonders among the people. While disputing with the Jews concerning Jesus, and wisely refuting their every contradiction, so that no one was able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit whereby he spake, he was slandered as a blasphemer and was dragged off to the Sanhedrin of the elders. There with boldness he proved from the divine Scriptures the coming of the Just One (Jesus), of Whom they had become the betrayers and murderers, and he reproved their faithless and hardheartedness. And finally, gazing into Heaven and beholding the divine glory, he said: "Lo, I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." But when they heard this, they stopped up their ears, and with anger cast him out of the city and stoned him, while he was calling out and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then, imitating the long-suffering of the Master, he bent his knees and prayed in a loud voice for them that were stoning him, and he said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," And saying this, he fell asleep (Acts 6, 7), thus becoming the first among the Martyrs of the Church of Christ.


December 27

Theodore the Confessor, brother of Saint Theophanes the Poet

Saint Theophanes, the brother of Saint Theodore the Branded, was a Palestinian by race. Both were monks at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas. They were called "the Branded" because Theophilus, the last of the Iconoclast emperors, had twelve iambic verses branded by hot irons on their foreheads and then sent them into exile, where Theodore died in the year 838. After the death of Theophilus in 842, Theophanes was elected Bishop of Nicaea. Both brothers composed many canons and hymns, thereby adorning the services of the Church.


December 28

20,000 Martyrs burned in Nicomedia

All these Saints, some 20,000 in number, were burned alive in the year 303, while they were gathered in church. This came to pass during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. According to the Synaxarion, this took place on the day of Christ's Nativity. Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. VIII, 6) says that, of the Christians then living in Nicomedia, all were slain by imperial decree - some by the sword, and others by fire, and that, because of their divine and inexpressible ardour, both men and women cast themselves into the fire. Besides those burned in church. the following, who were slain in the same Persecution, are commemorated today. Indus, Gorgonius, and Peter were cast into the sea; Glycerius the Presbyter and Mardonius were burned; Dorotheus the Prefect and Zeno were beheaded; Theophilus the Deacon was stoned; Mygdonius was buried alive; and Domna, who had been a priestess of the idols, believed in Christ, and was baptized, was beheaded and cast into the fire. See also the account of Saint Anthimus on September 3.


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