Our holy father Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, brother of St. Basil the Great, one of the great theologians of the Byzantine Church (c. 395)
The venerable Dometian, Bishop of Melitene, who lived under Emperors Justinian the Lesser and Maurice. He was known for his remarkable intelligence, prudence, and spiritual zeal, and for his love of the poor. (602)
Our venerable father Marcian, priest and treasurer of the Great Church in Constantinople, second in command to Patriarch Gennadius. (c. 471)
God of our fathers, You always deal with us according to Your everlasting compassion. Take not Your mercy away from us; but through their prayers guide our life in peace.
That heavenly hierarch of the Church and precious mystic orator of Wisdom, that vigilant mind, Greogory of Nyssa, sings praises along with the angels and finds delight in the Light divine. He now prays unceasingly for all of us.
You were anointed with the divine priesthood, and you showed this by virtue and obedience to Christ. Having finished your course, O Father, you sing with the angels in heaven: Glory to your compassion, O Savior! Glory to your kingdom! Glory to your providence, O Lover of Humankind!
1 Corinthians 12: 7-11
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.
Matthew 10: 1,5-8
Then He summoned His twelve disciples and gave them the authority to expel unclean spirits and to cure sickness and disease of every kind.
Jesus sent these men on mission as the Twelve, after giving them the following instructions:
“Do not visit pagan territory and so not enter a Samaritan town. Go instead after the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this announcement, ‘The reign of God is at hand! Cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the leprous, expel demons. The gift you have received, give as a gift.”
James 3: 1-10
Brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers; you should realize that those of us who do so will be called to the stricter account. All of us fall short in many respects. If a person is without fault in speech he is a man in the fullest sense, because he can control his entire body. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, guide the rest of their bodies. It is the same with ships: however large they are, and despite the fact that they are driven by fierce winds, they are directed by very small rudders on whatever course the streerman’s impulse may select. The tongue is something like that. It is a small member, yet it makes great pretensions.
See how tiny the spark is that sets a huge forest ablaze! The tongue is such a flame. It exists among our members as a whole universe of malice. The tongue defiles the entire body. Its flames encircle our course from birth, and its fire is kindled by hell. Every form of life, four-footed or winged, crawling or swimming, can be tamed, and has been tamed, by mankind; the tongue no man can tame. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We use it to say, “Praised be the Lord and Father”; then we use it to curse men, though they are made in the likeness of God. Blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. This ought not to be, my brothers and sisters!
Mark 12: 18-27
At that time some Sadducees who hold there is no resurrection came to Jesus with a question: “Teacher, we were left this in writing by Moses: ‘If anyone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.’ There were seven brothers. The eldest took a wife and died, leaving no children. The second took the woman, and he too died childless. The same happened to the third; in fact none of the seven left any children behind. Last of all the woman died. At the resurrection, when all come back to life, whose wife will she be? All seven married her.” Jesus said: “You are badly misled, because you fail to understand the Scriptures or the power of God. When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven. As to the raising of the dead, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob’? He is the God of the living not of the dead. You are very much mistaken.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Monday, January 9 –
