The holy martyr Nicephorus lived in the city of Syrian Antioch. In this city lived also the presbyter Sapricius, with whom Nicephorus was very friendly, so that they were considered brothers. They quarreled because of some disagreement, and their former love changed into enmity and hate. The holy martyr Nicephor took the place of Sapricius, who apostatized before a pagan judge. He was put to death in 260 during the reign of Emperor Valerian.
Your martyr Nicephor, O Lord our God, in his struggle received an incorruptible crown from You. With Your strength, he brought down the tyrants and broke the cowardly valor of demons. Through his prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
You were wrapped in ties of love, O Nicephor, and you undid the evils of hatred. Your head was severed from your body with a sword, and you became a heavenly martyr for the incarnate Savior. Pray to Him for those who sing to you.
2nd Timothy 3: 10-15
Timothy, my son: you have followed closely my teaching and my conduct. You have observed my resolution, fidelity, patience, love, and endurance, through persecution and sufferings in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You know what persecutions I have had to bear, and you know how the Lord saved me from them all. Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus can expect to be persecuted. But all the while evil men and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceiving others, themselves deceived. You, for your part, must remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know who your teachers were. Likewise, from your infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, the source of the wisdom which through faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation.
Luke 18: 10-14
The Lord told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee with head unbowed prayed in this fashion: ‘I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like the rest of men – grasping, crooked, adulterous – or even like this publican. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all I possess.’ The other man, however, kept his distance, not even daring to raise his eyes to heaven. All he did was beat his breast and say, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ Believe me, this man went home from the temple justified but the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled while he who humbled himself shall be exalted.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Saturday, February 8 –
