January

Synaxarion
This month has thirty-one days with ten hours of day fourteen hours of
night.

January 1
The Circumcision according to the Flesh of Our Lord,
God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our Father among the Saints, Basil the
Great, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia (ca. 330379)
The Mosaic Law prescribed that when a woman brought a
male child into the world, he had to be circumcised on the
eighth day after his birth. Our Lord submitted to the
circumcision prescribed by the Law on this day, which is
the eighth day after His birth, and received, according to
the announcement of the angel, the name which is above all
names, "Jesus" or Savior. In celebrating the name day of
the Lord today, we begin the new year at the same time
under the sign of the Incarnation.
Saint Basil the Great belonged, through his father also
named Basil, to the province of Pontus, and through his
Emmelia, to the province of Pontus, and through his mother
Emmelia, to Cappadocia. He was born in Caesarea in
Cappadocia around 329-330. He studied in Caesarea, then
in Constantinople under the famous rhetor Libanius, and
finally in Athens, where he became a close friend of Saint
Gregory of Nazianzus. Shortly after his return to Caesarea
which occurred about 356, he retired in solitude to the
outskirts of Neocaesarea, where his mother and his sister
Macrina already led the monastic life. It is at that time he
composed his ascetical writings. He was ordained a priest
by Eusebius, Archbishop of Caesarea, and at the death of
the latter was elected in 370 to succeed him and rule the
Church of Christ. He governed it for eight years, during

which time he proved himself a witness of the truth in the

face of heresy and full of courage before the threats of the
Arian Emperor Valens. He died on January 1, in the year
379. The wisdom and the learning which fill his works, his
Philokalia (extracts from the works of Origen), his Treatise
on the Holy Spirit, his theological work against the Arian
Eunomius, his ascetical writings, his monastic rules, his
commentaries on Sacred Scripture, the panegyrics which he
made of many saints, his correspondence, and finally the
splendor and the force of his words, have won for him
rightly the epitaphs of "Revealer of Heaven," and of the
"Great."
Third Class Feast. Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, whatever be the
day. Antiphons. Isodikon of the Circumcision. Troparia: of the
Circumcision, of Saint Basil the Great, and of the Church Patron.
Kondakion of the Circumcision. Epistle of Saint Basil and Gospel of
the Circumcision. Kinonikon of the Sunday. After Communion,
Troparion of the Circumcision. Dismissal proper to the feast: "...who
on the eighth day, has deigned to be circumcised for our salvation..."
In occurrence with a Saturday, the same order is followed. The Epistle
and Gospel of Saturday before Theophany should be read on Monday,
January 3.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Antiphons. In the Isodikon: ordinary
verse, response of the feast. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of the
Circumcision, of Saint Basil the Great, and of the Church Patron.
Kondakion of the Circumcision. Epistle of Saint Basil the Great,
Gospel of the Circumcision (Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday before
Theophany can be read the next day, on Monday). Kinonikon of the
Sunday. After Communion, Troparion of the Circumcision.

January 2
Pre-festive Period of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of
Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our Father among the Saints, Silvester, Pope
of Rome (+335)
Upon the death of his predecessor Melchiades in 314, Saint
Silvester was consecrated Bishop of ancient Rome. Saint
Silvester sent legates to the First Ecumenical Council of
Nicaea in 325. He died on December 31, 335, and was
buried in the cemetery of Priscillus, on the Salarian Way.
Fifth Class Feast.

Typika and Beatitudes. Troparia: of the Pre-festive Period of

Theophany, of Saint Silvester, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of
the Pre-festive Period of Theophany. Epistle and Gospel of the period.
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel of the Saturday
before Theophany are read. It is likewise the same on Saturday,
January 4 or 5.
In occurrence with a Sunday (January 2, 3, or 4):
Typika and Beatitudes. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the
Resurrection, of the Pre-festive Period of Theophany, and of the
Church Patron. Kondakion of the Pre-festive Period of Theophany.
Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday before Theophany.

January 3
Second Pre-festive Day of the Feast of the Holy
Theophany of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Memory of the holy Prophet Malachia (Fifth century
B.C.)
The holy martyr Gordios (+under Licinius, 313-323).
The holy prophet Malachia prophesied in the times of
Nehemia and Artaxerxes the Long-handed, the King of
Persia, without doubt prior to the year 444 B.C.
Saint Gordios, concerning whom Saint Basil the Great
made a panegyric, was a native of Caesarea of Cappadocia
and a centurion under Emperor Licinius (313-323). Not
being able to endure the insolence of the pagans and the
blasphemies which they unceasingly uttered against Christ,
he fled from the world and lived in the mountains in the
company of wild beasts. Before long reviving his love for
Christ and his courage against error, he entered the town,
rushed into the theater overflowing with people, and
publicly confessed his faith. Having attracted the attention
of the whole crowd on himself, the Saint amazed the
governor, who presided at the assembly, by his presence
and urged him on to the extreme limit of his rage. After
many tortures, he died by the sword.
Fifth Class Feast.
Troparia: of the Pre-festive Period of Theophany, of Saint Gordios, and
of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Pre-festive Period of
Theophany.

January 4
Third Pre-festive Day of the Feast of the Holy
Theophany of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Synaxis of the Seventy Disciples of Our Lord.
Memory of our venerable Father Theoktistos, Hegumen
of Cucume in Sicily (?)
Saint Theoktistos was hegumen of the monastery of Saint
Nicholas in Cucume, in the vicinity of Thermae, Sicily, at
an uncertain date.
Fifth Class Feast.
Troparia: of the Pre-festive Period of Theophany, of the Seventy
Disciples of Our Lord, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the
Pre-festive Period of Theophany.

January 5
Fourth Pre-festive Day of the Feast of the Holy
Theophany of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Memory of the holy martyrs Theopemptos and Theonas
(end of the Third century).
Our venerable Mother Syncletica (?)
Paramony of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Fast, regardless of the day.

It is believed that the holy martyrs Theopemptos and

Theonas suffered for the faith in Nicomedia in Bithynia,
under Emperor Diocletian.
If tradition is to be believed, Saint Syncletica was born in
Macedonia and led the religious life in Egypt at an
uncertain date. It is related that she lived in virginity and
asceticism for eighty-three years. She was the directress of
a large number of virgins in monastic life. She was for
women what Saint Anthony was for men, a model of
mortification of the flesh and of resignation in trials. It is

believed that she died around the middle of the Fourth

century.
Fifth Class Feast.
Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great joined to Vespers, as on the Paramony
of the Feast of the Nativity according to the Flesh of Our Lord, God,
and Savior Jesus Christ. After the reading of the prophesies, the
Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel of the Paramony and the continuation of
the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. Kinonikon of the Sunday.
In occurrence with a Saturday: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.
Typika and Beatitudes. Ordinary Isodikon. Troparia: of the Paramony,
and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Pre-festive Period of
Theophany. Epistle and Gospel of the Saturday before Theophany.
Kinonikon of the Paramony.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. Typika
and Beatitudes. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the Resurrection,
of the Paramony, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Prefestive Period of Theophany. Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel of the
Sunday before Theophany. Kinonikon of the Sunday.

January 6
The Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God, and Savior
Jesus Christ.
On this day the Word of God, after having put on the old
Adam and having accomplished the prescriptions of the
Law, came to the great prophet John to be baptized. John
refrained from doing it, saying: "It is I who should be
baptized by You, and You come to me!" But when Jesus
said to him: "Let it be so now," John obeyed and performed
it, understanding that the baptism was the fulfillment of all
justice. By His baptism, Christ sanctified the nature of
water. Having buried all of men's sin in the waves of the
Jordan, He came out of the water, having renewed and
reconstructed man made old by sins, and having given him
the kingdom of heaven.
The feast of the Theophanies of the Lord was at first
intended to solemnize the idea of the different
manifestations of God to men in the Person of the Word
made flesh. It was not primarily a commemoration of
historical events (as Easter or Pentecost), but a notion of a
feast: the announcement of the Incarnation and divine
mission of the Lord, and of His mysterious union with
humanity in the Church-a Union of Understanding (Faith)

and of Love (Charity), engendering men to a new spiritual

life in baptism. Nevertheless, the feast referred to certain
events in the Savior's life in which He had manifested this
union in a special manner. Events which appeared first of
all as manifestations of divinity (theophanies): firstly, the
birth of the Savior, then the announcement made to the
shepherds, the mysterious invitation made to the Magi, then
the official consecration of the Savior by His baptism in the
Jordan at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
Another characteristic of the great feast is that on it
catechumens were baptized in a very solemn fashion, as at
Easter. The very object of the feast admirably sums up all
the essentials of the faith in which the new Christians were
consecrated. All in it is impregnated in the two essential
mysteries of our Christian faith: the Incarnation of the
Word for the salvation of humanity (Nativity); and, the
union of God in the Trinity (baptism).
As we saw on December 25, the feast of the Nativity of the
Savior was transferred and made a separate feast from this
date in the beginning of the Fourth century. However,
allusions to the Nativity (besides its nearness on the
calendar) retain their place today, because in this
manifestation the union of the divine nature and human
nature is brought to the understanding of men. "Those who
were in darkness have seen a dazzling light shine in
Bethlehem; or rather the Lord born of Mary, the Sun of
Justice begins to radiate His rays on the whole universe"
(Reference to the pagan feast of the winter solstice, when
the sun begins to go back to the horizon).
Then the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan is recalled to us. It
is then that the Father and the Holy Spirit bear witness to
the Incarnation of the Son for the salvation of mankind.
The remembrance of Jesus' baptism is in direct relation to
the sacrament which the catechumens are going to receive.
By it, they are going to become Christians, that is to say, to
wash themselves of their sins, to pass from darkness to
light, to live united to God in His Church which is the
spouse of Christ. "The true light has appeared and it gives
illumination to all. Christ is baptized with us, He who is the
purest of all, supernatural; He sanctifies the water, and this
becomes a purification for our souls..." (Lauds). For this
reason there is an allusion made to the feast of Easter, when

the catechumens were also baptized: "As formerly the

Hebrews were saved from death thanks to their blood-tinted
doors, so now this divine bath of rebirth will be for us a
feast of exodus after which we will see the true light of the
Trinity" (Ode IX). For baptism, like the other sacraments,
contains its efficacy in the blood of the divine, immolated
Lamb, the Christian Passover (Easter).
The union of the human and divine natures is realized to
perfection in the Person of Christ, but the Church insists a
lot today for us to understand that it is ourselves who are
reunited today to God. Even though Moses could only turn
aside from the face of God, John the Baptist is invited to
approach the Lord: "As soon as Moses perceived that You
spoke in the bush, he immediately diverted his gaze. And I
(says John the Baptist), how can I look You in the face,
how can I place my hand upon You, for You are Christ, the
Wisdom and Power of God" (Ode IV). "Put aside all fear,
says the Liberator to the Precursor; obey Me; approach Me
as Christ, for this is who I am by nature; ...I who have come
down with you..." (Ode VIII). "The Lord drew to Himself
the nature created by God but fallen by the laws of a
tyrannical appetite. He regenerated it by a new creation of
human beings, accomplishing an all-excellent work for He
approached it wishing to protect it" (Ode III).
This union of Christ with humanity has suggested the
image of a wedding feast. The liturgical texts in the
different Churches call Christ the "Spouse of the Church."
It is a sacred wedding by which the Church acquired the
power of becoming the spiritual Mother of those who are
born again by water and the Spirit. The Latin texts for this
day make memory of the wedding of Cana, which offers
the symbol of the mystical wedding of the Church with
Christ. As for the Byzantine Office, it presents to us a very
beautiful text of praise to the Church becoming an
infinitely fruitful mother: "You who formerly were barren,
and alas! Without children, rejoice on this day, O Church of
Christ, for by water and the Spirit, sons are born to you
who cry out with faith: 'There is none as holy as our
God...'" (Ode III).
Let us on this day be impregnated with the spirit of the
Church, in the joy and love for the Lord who descended to
us sinners in order to clothe us in His power and splendor:

"All of you who have been baptized into Christ, have put
on Christ. Alleluia."
First Class Feast. Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. Antiphons and
Isodikon of the Feast. Troparion (three times), Hypakoi and Kondakion
of the Feast. Instead of the Trisagion, the verse is said: "All of you who
have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia." Epistle
and Gospel of the Feast. Hirmos from the First Canon of the Feast.
Kinonikon of the Feast. After Communion, Troparion of the Feast.
Particular dismissal: "...who has deigned to be baptized by John in the
Jordan, for our salvation..."
In certain Churches, there is a custom to have the blessing of water
after the Liturgy of the day.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. Hirmos
of this Liturgy. Kinonikon and, after Communion, Troparion of the
Feast.
In occurrence with a Monday, the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is
likewise celebrated.

January 7
Second Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Synaxis of the Honored and Glorious Prophet,
Precursor and Baptist John
We celebrate today a solemn synaxis in honor of the holy
Precursor, who took an active part in the mystery of the
baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Synaxis of today
recalls to us the great crowd of people hastening to the
desert in order to hear the Precursor's preaching and to
thereby do penance.
Fourth Class Feast.
Antiphons and Isodikon of Theophany. Troparia: of Theophany and of
Saint John. Kondakion of Theophany. Instead of the Trisagion: "All of
you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia."
Epistle and Gospel from the Menologion. Hirmos from the Ninth Ode
of the Second Canon of Theophany. Kinonikon of Saint John. After
Communion, Troparion of Theophany.
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel are likewise
from the Menologion.

In occurrence with a Sunday: Typika and Beatitudes or Antiphons of

the Feast. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of
Theophany, and of the Precursor. Kondakion of Theophany. Trisagion
or the verse: "All of you who have been baptized into Christ, have put
on Christ. Alleluia." Epistle and Gospel of the Precursor (the Epistle
and Gospel of the Sunday after Theophany are read, in this case, on
Sunday, January 14, on the Closing Day of Theophany, and if on this
occurrence the Triodion should be begun, read the Epistle of the
Precursor read on January 7 and on this same day the Gospel of the
Sunday after Theophany). Hirmos from the Ninth Ode of the Second
Canon of Theophany. Kinonikon of the Precursor. After Communion,
Troparion of Theophany.

Saturday After the Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God,

and Savior Jesus Christ
The Prokimenon, Epistle (Ephesians 6:10-17), and Alleluia of the
Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost are read. Gospel: Matthew 4:111.

Sunday After the Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God,

and Savior Jesus Christ
Epistle: Ephesians 4:7-13.
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17.

January 8
Third Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our venerable Father George the Chozebite
(+before 614)
Our venerable Mother Dominica (+ca. 475)
A native of Cyprus, Saint George left his country upon his
parents' death and retired to a monastery in Palestine under
his uncle's direction. Then he went to the laura of Calamon
near the Jordan, the home of his brother Heraclious, who
guided him, no doubt because he was still too young, to the
coenubium of the Most Holy Theotokos, called Chozeba,
on the left of the route which leads from Jerusalem to
Jericho. The Saint died there shortly after the Persian
invasion in 614.
A native of a small village in the vicinity of Carthage,
called Carthagenus, Saint Dominica lived in the times of

Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395). Piously raised by

her parents and instructed from her childhood in the fear of
the Lord, she secretly left her paternal home and set out for
Alexandria. She lived there with four pagan virgins whom
she converted to Christ and with them she set out for
Constantinople. Nectarius, the Archbishop of
Constantinople, received them and conferred the sacrament
of baptism on them. Having embraced the solitary life,
given to many harsh austerities and arriving at a high
degree of perfection, Saint Dominica committed her soul to
God during Emperor Zeno's reign (474-491).
Fifth Class Feast. Antiphons of the Feast. In the Isodikon, the weekday
verse, response of the Feast. Troparia: of Theophany, and of the
Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany. Trisagion. Epistle and
Gospel of the period. (If the series of Epistles and Gospels is
completed, those from the Menologion are read). Ordinary Hirmos.
Kinonikon of the weekday.
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel are those of the
Sunday after Theophany.
On Sunday, January 8 or 14, the Epistle and Gospel are from the
Sunday after Theophany.

January 9
Fourth Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Memory of the
holy Martyr Polyeuktos (+ca. 250)
Saint Polyeuktos, a soldier in Melitene, Armenia, died for
the faith under Emperor Decius around 250. A blasphemous
decree having been promulgated, prescribing renunciation
of Christ under pain of death, Saint Polyeuktos, without
becoming excited, publicly confessed Christ and, in the
zeal of his faith, went as far as to break pagan idols. Neither
his father-in-law's exhortations and prayers, nor his wife's
tears and wailing could shake his resolution. Keeping his
promise to his friend Nearchos whom he had converted to
Christ's faith, he proved rigid in his belief and his life was
ended by the sword.
Fifth Class Feast. Troparia: of Theophany, of Saint Polyeuktos, and of
the Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany.

January 10

Fifth Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our

Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our Father among the Saints, Gregory,
Bishop of Nyssa (ca. 335-394)
The venerable Dometian, Bishop of Melitene (+ca. 600)
The venerable Marcian, Priest and Econome of the
Great Church (+ca. 472)
Saint Gregory was the younger brother of Saint Basil the
Great. He was born around 335, and received his primary
education in his paternal home. Ordained a lector, in the
beginning he neglected the service of God in order to teach
rhetoric, but changing his conduct before long, he
embraced monastic life and, toward the end of 371, was
named Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia by his brother Basil.
An ardent defender of the Orthodox faith, he was deposed,
in his absence, by a synod of Arian bishops gathered in
376; but, after the death of the Arian Emperor Valens, he
was recalled to his see by Theodosius the Great in 378. He
attended the local Council of Antioch in 379, where he
received the mission to overseer the Churches of Arabia
and Palestine, devastated and torn by Arianism. He was
also present at the Second Ecumenical Council of
Constantinople in 381, and at the local council held in that
came city in 394, under Archbishop Nectarius. He probably
died shortly after it.
Saint Marcian lived during the reign of Emperor Marcian
and Empress Pulcheria (450-457). At first affiliated with
the heresy of the Carthares or Novatians, he returned to the
true Church and was named Econome by Patriarch
Gennadius (458-471). He established that the offerings to
be made in each church must be provided by the clergy of
the place, for until then the Great Church assumed the
whole burden of it. He constructed the Church of Saint
Irene near the sea and the Church of the Resurrection which
he preserved from a fire. The flames having spread to the
whole neighborhood of the Church of the Resurrection,
Marcian, on the church's roof, raised his arms toward
heaven and prayed.
Saint Dometian lived during the reign of Justin II the
Younger (565-578). He was instructed in secular learning

and in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. He was

married for a time. After his wife's death, he was named
Bishop of Melitene, at the age of thirty. Evagrius said that
he was a prudent man with a remarkable readiness of mind,
as powerful in word as in action, and a far-seeing expert in
the most grave affairs. He saved his subjects and even the
entire nation. More than once he was summoned by
Emperor Maurice (582-602), who was his relative. In
consequence of the Emperor and Empress' generosity, he
was put in possession of great riches which he spent to
construct churches and homes for the poor. Having come
one last time to the capital of the empire, he fell asleep in
the Lord.
Fifth Class Feast.
Antiphons of the Feast. In the Isodikon, the weekday verse, response of
the Feast. Troparia: of Theophany, and of the Church Patron.
Kondakion of Theophany. Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel of the period.
(If series of Epistles and Gospels is completed, those from the
Menologion are read). Ordinary Hirmos. Kinonikon of the weekday.
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel are those of the
Sunday after Theophany.
On Sunday, January 8 or 14, the Epistle and Gospel are from the
Sunday after Theophany.

January 11
Sixth Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of our venerable Father Theodosius the
Cenobiarch (ca. 424-529)
Saint Theodosius was born in 424 in the town of Mogarice,
in Cappadocia. Early in life he embraced the monastic life.
He went to Antioch to receive the blessing of Saint Simeon
the Stylite. He proceeded to Jerusalem during the reign of
Marcian (450-457), and, from there to the desert, where he
lived for thirty years, feeding upon dried figs and herbs
without ever eating bread. Around 465, between Bethlehem
and the laura of Saint Sabbas, he built a large coenobium
with three chapels; one for the Greek speaking monks,
another for the Armenians, and a third for the Slavs. From
the anaphora until the end of the Divine Liturgy, all joined
together in the catholicon and the Liturgy was celebrated in

Greek. Owing to his numerous miracles, his fame even

reached kings, and the odor of his sanctity spread
throughout the entire world. Attaining a great old age, he
fell asleep in the Lord on January 11, 529. The famous
coenobium which in its founder's lifetime counted four
hundred monks, an inn, a home for the poor, a home for old
men, and workshops of all kinds, was sacked by the
Agarenians in 809 and 813, then completely destroyed in
the Fifteenth century.
Third Class Feast. Typika and Beatitudes. Troparia: of Theophany, of
Saint Theodosius, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany.
Epistle and Gospel from the Menologion. Ordinary Hirmos. Kinonikon
of Saint Theodosius.
In occurrence with a Saturday: Epistle of Saint Theodosius and Gospel
of the Saturday after Theophany.
In occurrence with a Sunday: Typika and Beatitudes. Isodikon of the
Sunday. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of Theophany, of Saint
Theodosius, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany.
Epistle of Saint Theodosius, Gospel of the Sunday after Theophany.
Ordinary Hirmos.
In occurrence with a Sunday of the Triodion (Easter on March 22): the
Epistle and Gospel are from the Triodion.

January 12
Seventh Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Memory of the holy Martyr Tatiana (?)
Saint Tatiana was martyred in Rome at an uncertain date.
Her synaxis was formerly celebrated in a small church
named after her in the Sixth "region" of Rome on the
Quirinal. The Menaia relate that she was born in Rome
under Emperor Alexander Severus (222-235). Her father
was a consul three times. She herself was a deaconess of
the Roman Church. Brought before the Emperor for
Christ's faith, she entered a pagan temple with him and by
her prayers overturned all the idols which were found there.
She was cruelly struck on the forehead, her eyes were torn
out with hooks, she was tied to a stake and the skin of her
head was flayed. Finally, after having been exposed in vain
to fire and beasts, she was beheaded.
Fifth Class Feast.

Antiphons of the Feast. In the Isodikon, the weekday verse, response of

the Feast. Troparia: of Theophany, and of the Church Patron.
Kondakion of Theophany. Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel of the period.
(If the series of Epistles and Gospels is completed, those from the
Menologion are read). Ordinary Hirmos. Kinonikon of the weekday.
In occurrence with a Sunday, the Epistle and Gospel are those of the
Sunday after Theophany.
On Sunday, January 8 or 14, the Epistle and Gospel are from the
Sunday after Theophany.

January 13
Eighth Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ
Memory of the holy Martyrs Hermylos and Stratonikos
(+between 307 and 311)
These holy martyrs suffered for the faith in Singidunum, in
Upper Moesia, on the Danube under Emperor Licinius.
Saint Hermylos was a deacon. After many tortures, he was
comforted by his friend Stratonikos who was grieved by the
sight of his sufferings. Both were drowned in the Danube
around 307-311.
Fifth Class Feast.
Today, memory is also made of the Fathers Massacred at
Sinai and at Raitho, anticipated from January 14 (Closing
Day of Theophany). Antiphons of Theophany. Troparia: of
Theophany, of Saints Hermylos and Stratonikos, of the
Fathers Massacred at Sinai and at Raithos, and of the
Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany.
On Sunday (January 12 or 13) in occurrence with the period of the
Triodion (Easter on March 23 or 24): Typika and Beatitudes. Isodikon
of the Sunday. Troparia: of the Resurrection, of Theophany, and of the
Church Patron. Kondakion of Theophany. Epistle and Gospel from the
Triodion.

January 14
Closing Day of the Feast of the Holy Theophany of Our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ

Memory of our Venerable Fathers Massacred at Sinai

and at Raitho (305, 370, and 400)
During the reign of Decius (249-251) a bloody persecution
was directed against all Christians in the empire, but
particularly in Egypt under the Prefect Sabinus. A large
number of Christians abandoned the world and went to lead
the monastic life on Mount Sinai. Subject to God alone,
they lived on wild herbs. The devil's hatred excited against
them the savage tribe of the Blemmyes, nomads along the
banks of the Red Sea from Arabia to Egypt, who, impelled
by the lure of booty, came on several occasions to plunder
the monks; the first time under Diocletian in 305, a second
time under Valerian, on December 28, 370, and finally in
400 under Arcadius. Finding only straw mats and monks
dressed in hair-shirts, these exasperated nomads prayed
there to the monks whom they had massacred at Sinai and
at Raitho. The Fathers have handed down to us a collective
feast for all these monks on January 14. In order to protect
the monks against the Blemmyes and other barbarians, the
pious Emperor Justinian built there in 527 the famous
monastery of the holy mountain of Sinai, called since the
Ninth century: the Monastery of Saint Catherine.
All is said as on the day of the Feast, except that the Hypacoi is
omitted. Epistle and Gospel of the period. Hirmos from the Ninth Ode
of the Second Canon of the feast (see January 7).
In occurrence with a Saturday, the Epistle and Gospel of the Saturday
after Theophany are read.
In occurrence with a Sunday, follow the order of general occurrences.
Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday after Theophany. Hirmos as on
January 7.
In occurrence with the period of the Triodion, the Closing Day of
Theophany is anticipated on the preceeding Saturday, and then the
Epistle and Gospel of the Saturday after Theophany are read.

January 15
Memory of our venerable Fathers Paul of Thebes
(Fourth century) and John the Hut-Dweller (Fifth
century)
Sozomenos (I:13) says that Saint Paul was a simple
peasant. He lived in the desert near Saint Anthony who put
this newcomer to the test more than once. Paul was an old

man almost without education, in no way initiated into the

monastic austerities, but never did Anthony see him
weaken. He proceeded to answer for his complete ascetic
formation and left him to his own powers, as no longer
having need of a guide. God ratified this evidence. He
glorified the Saint by the miracles which He gave him to
perform, and he yielded the same powers as His Master to
torment and expel demons.
Saint John the Hut-Dweller lived in the Fifth century.
History relates that in his youth, around 440, he entered the
monastery of Saint Irene on the Asiatic shore of the
Bosphorus, subsequently called the "Monastery of the
Acemetes." The hymnographers also relate that he returned
to his paternal home disguised as a poor man, and lived
there unknown in a hut which he set up near the door, as
the Troparion of the day says (in Greek: Calybe is hut, from
whence his name of Calybite or Hut-Dweller).
Fifth Class Feast.
From today forward, on Sundays and Third Class Feasts, the
Kondakion is that of the Feast of the Encounter of Our Lord, God, and
Savior Jesus Christ (February 2).
In occurrence with a Sunday in the period of the Triodion, the Fifth
Class Feasts are disregarded. On Third Class Feasts, the Typika and
Beatitudes are said. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the
Resurrection, of the Saint, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the
Feast of the Encounter of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
Epistle of the Saint, Gospel of the Triodion. Ordinary Hirmos.
Kinonikon of the Sunday.

January 16
Veneration of the Precious Chain of the Holy and
Renowned Apostle Peter.
According to the tradition of the Eastern Church, today we
celebrate the veneration of the chain by which the leader of
the Apostles was bound when he was thrown into prison by
the Tetrarch Herod for Jesus Christ's name, as related in
Acts 12:6. This chain was transferred to Constantinople in
437 by Empress Eudocia, the wife of Theodosius the
Younger, and placed in the chapel of the Holy Apostle
Peter, which is found within the Great Church.

In Rome, a small church of the Holy Apostles was built and

ornamented by Pope Saint Sixtus III (432-440) on
Esquiline Hill, at the expense of Eudoxia the Younger, the
wife of Valentinian III, around the beginning of the Fifth
century. For a long time the chains which bound the
Apostle Saint Peter in the times of Nero were in this
church. About the sixth century this church was called as
now, the Church of the Chains of the Holy and Renowned
Apostle Peter (Saint Peter in Chains).
Fourth Class Feast. Typika and Beatitudes, or the Antiphons. Troparia:
of Saint Peter, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion of the Feast of the
Encounter of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Epistle and
Gospel from the Menologion. Kinonikon of the Apostles.

January 17
Memory of our venerable and God-bearing Father
Anthony the Great (ca. 251-356)
Saint Anthony was born around the year 251 in a noble
Egyptian family of Coma, a market town in Lower Egypt
near the Small Heracleopolis. Sozomenos (I:13) relates
that: "Orphaned in childhood, he gave the inhabitants of his
village his paternal properties and sold the rest of his
possessions to distribute their value to the poor... His food
was bread and salt, his drink was pure water, and his
mealtime was always fixed at sunset. Rather often he
remained two or more days without eating. It is related that
he sat up every night and welcomed the day in prayer.
When it occurred to him to sleep, he laid down on a small
mat. More often still, he simply slept on the bare ground,
which he made his only bed... He had many disciples, and
was very renowned in Egypt and Libya, as well as in
Palestine, Syria, and Arabia." So famous in the deserts of
Egypt, the renown of the man's virtue reached Emperor
Constatine who became his friend. Constantine by several
letters, praying him to write to ask him for all which he
needed. Anthony lived nearly one hundred and five years
and probably died on January 17, 356.
Third Class Feast. Follow the general order.
In occurrence with a Sunday in the period of Triodion: the Typika and
Beatitudes are said. Isodikon of the Sunday. Troparia: of the
Resurrection, of Saint Anthony, and of the Church Patron. Kondakion
of the Feast of the Encounter of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus

Christ. Epistle of the Saint. Gospel of the Triodion. Ordinary Hirmos.

Kinonikon of the Sunday.

January 18
Memory of our Fathers among the Saints Athanasius
(return from his exile, 346) and Cyril (+444),
Archbishops of Alexandria
According to the ancient custom of the Church of
Constantinople, today we celebrate Saint Athanasius' return
from exile, when, upon the death of the intruder Gregory of
Cappadocia in 345, he managed to return to his see on
October 21, 346. His principal feast is celebrated on May 2.
Today the Office of Saint Cyril is also sung, for, as the
Great Athanasius was the defender of the Orthodox dogma
of the consubstantial Trinity, so also the Great Cyril was the
champion of the dogma of the Incarnation of the Word in
Mary's womb.
Third Class Feast, follow the general order of a Third Class Feast.

January 19
Memory of our venerable Father Makarios the
Egyptian (ca. 300-390)
Our Father among the Saints Arsenios of Corcyra (end
of the Tenth century)
Saint Makarios was born in Upper Egypt about the year
300. Palladius says: "He lived ninety years, of which he
spent sixty in the desert of Skete, where he retired when
thirty years old. He commanded the attention of all to such
an extent that he was called 'the young old man.' He
progressed so rapidly in perfection that at the age of forty
he received the grace of expelling demons and of predicting
the future. He was also judged worthy of the priesthood."
He died around the year 390.
Saint Arsenios was born in Bethania, Palestine, under
Emperor Basil I (867-886). Consecrated to God in his
infancy, he took the monastic habit when he was twelve
years old and, without doubt, went to study in Seleucia, on
the Orontes River, where he received priestly ordination.
From there he went to Constantinople under hegumen
Tryphon, who subsequently became Patriarch in 928, and

he was consecrated Archbishop of Corcyra by Patriarch

Theophylaktos to quiet the unjust resentment of Emperor
Constantine Porphyrogenitus (912-956) against the eminent
persons of Corcya. On the way home, he fell ill at Corinth
and died at an unknown date.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 20
Memory of our venerable Father Euthymius the Great
(377-473)
Saint Euthymius was born in 377, in Melitene, Armenia,
under Emperor Gratian (367-383). Baptized when three
years old, he was ordained a lector by Eutroius, Bishop of
Melitene. He was ordained to the priesthood when he was
nineteen years old, in 395, and was named Exarch of the
monasteries. He went to Jerusalem in 405-406. In 411, he
withdrew to the grotto of Saint Theoktistos. By his virtue,
he contended so nobly with the Saracens that, day by day,
he disposed them to adhere to Christ and to be baptized
with their families, in 420-421. He fought the Nestorians,
the Eutychians, and the Manicheans. In 455-456, he
brought back to the true faith, Eudocia, the wife of
Theodosius the Younger, who had fallen into the
Monophysite heresy. He performed numerous miracles.
One day while celebrating the Divine Liturgy he appeared
as a column of fire. He died at the grand old age of ninetyseven, during the reign of Emperor Leo the Great, on
January 20, 473.
Third Class Feast, follow the general order of a Third Class Feast.

January 21
Memory of our venerable Father Maximos the
Confessor (580-662)
The holy Martyr Neophytos (beginning the fourth
century)
The sublime Maximos was born in Constantinople in 580
into a noble family during the reign of Tiberius I
Constantine (578-582). Under Heraclius he held the
position of First Secretary and Imperial Counsellor. Around

613-614, he abandoned the honors of his age and entered a

monastery in Chrysopolis (Scutari). The Persians having
invaded Chrysopolis in 626, he took refuge in Africa in
company with Saint Sophronios, the future Patriarch of
Jerusalem. Inflamed by divine zeal as by a fire, he went to
Rome in 646 and urged Pope Saint Martin I to gather a
local council to condemn the leaders of the ungodly
Monothelite heresy (649). In order to refute these heretics,
he composed some treaties and letters exposing the
arguments and scriptural texts which supported the truth of
the Orthodox faith. He circulated his writings throughout
the world. He was seized in Rome in 653 and was obliged
to appear before Paul II, the Patriarch of Constantinople,
and Pyrrhus, the ex-patriarch--both partisans of the heresy
of Emperor Constans II (641-668). He was condemned and
sent to the fortress of Byzya in Thrace in 655, then to
Perberes, and from there into exile in the Caucasus in the
country of the Lazians where he died in old age on August
13, 662.
It is believed that Saint Neophytos suffered for the faith in
Nicaea in Bithynia, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian,
at the beginning of the Fourth century.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 22
Memory of the holy Apostle Timothy (end of the First
century)
The holy Hosiomartyr Anastasius the Persian (+628)
A native of Lystra in Lycaonia, Saint Timothy was the son
of a pagan father and a Jewish mother. On Saint Paul's first
visit to Lycaonia, he attracted Timothy, and Timothy
followed him in all his missions. When the Apostle went to
Macedonia, he left Timothy in charge at Ephesus. Tradition
relates that he died a martyr around the end of the First
century.
As for Saint Anastasius, he was of Persian origin. Struck by
the implacable hatred of Chosroes II for the Christians and
not seeing his reason for it, he decided to become
thoroughly acquainted with their doctrine. Instructed in the
Christian faith, he was baptized in Palestine by Modestus,

the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and received the name

Anastasius instead of Magoundat, his first name. He spent
some time in the monasteries of this region. When the
terrible invasion of Chosroes occurred in Palestine,
Anastasius courageously confessed his faith. After many
tortures, he was beheaded on January 22, 628. His head
was subsequently transferred to Rome where it is still
venerated in the Church of the Holy Martyrs Vincent and
Anastasius in the place called the "Fountain of Salvius."
Fifth Class Feast.

January 23
Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Clement of Ancyra
The holy martyr Agathangel (beginning of the Fourth
century)
Saint Agathangel was of Roman origin. As for Saint
Clement, he was born in Ancyra in Galatia of a pagan
father and a Christian mother, named Sophia. After having
spent time in solitude, he was elected Bishop of Ancyra. He
courageously fought and suffered for the Christian faith for
twenty-eight years, and was finally beheaded, at the same
time as Saint Agathangel, under Emperor Maximian, about
296.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 24
Memory of our venerable Mother Xenia (Fifth century)
Saint Xenia, formerly named Eusebius, was born in Rome
during the Fifth century into a noble and fervent Christian
family. Destined for marriage by her parents, at the time
when all were ready to celebrate her marriage, she took to
flight with two other young girls. All three embarked and
after many changes in fortune, settled down at Mylasa in
the province of Caria in Asia, with a monk named Paul.
Xenia-this was her new name-built a small oratory in honor
of the protomartyr Saint Stephen and, with her two
companions and some other virgins who had joined them,
consecrated themselves to the practice of virtues. She died
in peace after a holy life.

Fifth Class Feast.

In occurrence with the Saturday of the Dead, a Saint of the Fifth Class
is disregarded, and a Saint of the Third Class is anticipated on the
preceeding Friday.

January 25
Memory of our Father among the Saints Gregory the
Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople (329-389?)
This Father and Teacher of the Church was born around
329 in Arianzus, a market town in Second Cappadocia, in
the vicinity of Nazianzus. His father, a convert from
paganism who became the Bishop of Nazianzus, was also
named Gregory, and his mother Nonna. He studied first in
Caesarea of Cappadocia, then in Alexandria, and finally in
Athens, where he became a close friend of Saint Basil.
Returning to his country in 357, he received Holy Baptism
and gave himself to asceticism with his friend in the
wilderness of Pontus. He was ordained a priest of the
Church of Nazianzus, by his own father. Saint Basil
consecrated him Bishop of Sasima, a suffering see of
Caesarea. In 375, he withdrew to the monastery of Saint
Thecla in Seleucia of Isauria. It is from there that he left in
379 to help the Church of Constantinople, troubled for forty
years by the Arians. Supported by the pious Emperor
Theodosius the Great, he managed by his wise discourses,
sufferings, and many punishments, to free his Church from
the plague of heresy. He fell asleep in the Lord in 389 or
390. The grandeur of his theological writings have merited
him the surname of "Theologian." That which comes down
to us of his works, discourses and poems of all types,
witness to his radiant eloquence and remarkable
knowledge.
Third Class Feast, follow the general order of a Third Class Feast.
In occurrence with the Saturday of the Dead, the feast of Saint Gregory
is anticipated on January 24.

January 26
Memory of our venerable Father Xenophon and of his
wife (Sixth century?)

Saint Xenophon held the office of senator in

Constantinople. He sent his two sons, Arcadius and John, to
Beirut, Phoenicia, to study law. During their passage the
two brothers were shipwrecked and had a difficult time
escaping. Xenophon and his wife set out to find them.
Finding them in Jerusalem, already clothed in the monastic
habit, the parents also embraced religious life. Arcadius and
John died in the desert where they had withdrawn.
Xenophon and his wife separated. He withdrew to the
desert, and she lived in the company of pious virgins. Thus
they finished their lives very pleasing to God, around the
beginning of the Sixth century.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 27
The Translation of the relics of our Father among the
Saints John Chrysostom (438)
Thirty-three years after his death, the relics of Saint John
Chrysostom were brought back from Comana, Armenia, in
438, under Theodosius the Younger and Patriarch Proclos.
Again the Christian people went to encounter him in boats,
so numerous that the sea appeared as a vast continent, and
countless torches covered the Bosphorus Strait.
Third Class Feast. All is said as on the Saint's principal feast on
November 13.

January 28
Memory of our venerable Father Ephrem the Syrian
(+373)
Saint Ephrem was born in Nisibis, Mesopotamia, at the
beginning of the Fourth century. His father, named Abnil,
was a pagan priest. Ephrem was a disciple of James, the
Bishop of Nisibis. He practiced monastic life to perfection.
He was ordained a deacon and became master of the great
Christian school of Nisibis, commenting on the Holy
Scriptures and explaining, the dogmas of the Orthodox
faith. After Julian the Apostate's death and the treaty
concluded in 363 between Jovian, the Roman Emperor, and
Sapor, the Persian King, Nisibis fell under Persian rule.
Many Christians therefore left their country and with them
the blessed Ephrem, who henceforth taught in Edessa, in

what was then called the Persian School. He died in peace

in the month of June in the year 373. He composed a great
many wonderful hymns in Syriac, nearly all of which have
been translated into Greek for the instruction of the faithful.
He was surnamed the Prophet of the Syrians, the Syrians'
Elia, the Column of the Church, and the Harp of the Holy
Spirit.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 29
The translation of the relics of the holy Hieromartyr
Ignatius the God-bearer of Antioch (under Theodosius
the Younger, 408-450)
Thrown into Rome's amphitheater, Saint Ignatius was torn
apart by beasts who left only his hardest bones. An
incomparable treasure, his relics were transferred to
Antioch, deposited in a place called the "Cemetery," and
preserved for the holy Church by the martyr's intercession.
Consequently, his relics were transferred to an ancient
pagan temple, called Tychaion. (Temple of Fortune), which
God suggested to Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408450) to consecrate to the glorious martyr for his greater
veneration. These holy relics were then carried into the city
on a chariot and placed inside the ancient pagan temple
with great religious solemnities.
Fifth Class Feast.

January 30
Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Hippolytus, Priest of
the Church of Rome (Third century)
Our Fathers among the Saints the Ecumenical Teachers
Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John
Chrysostom
A priest of Rome under Pope Saint Zephyrinus' episcopate
(199-217), Hippolytus composed numerous treatises in
Greek against all the heresies concerning the unity of God
in the Holy Trinity and the divine Monarchy. He clearly
commented upon a good number of Holy Books, fixed the
date of Easter, composed a universal history, and fixed the

Apostolic Tradition by means of canonical laws. During his

doctrinal controversies, he went to blameworthy excess and
unjustly accused Archdeacon Callistus of heresy. Upon
Pope Zephyrinus' death when Callistus became Bishop of
Rome in 217, Hippolytus unfortunately separated himself
from the Catholic Church and set himself up as an antipope, fighting Callistus and his successors: Urban (222230) and Pontian (230-235). Exiled from Pontian to
Sardinia under Emperor Maximin of Thrace (235), he
retracted and suffered martyrdom at the same time as Pope
Saint Pontian. Upon Maximin's death in 238, under Pope
Saint Fabian (236-250), the second successor of Pontian
after Pope Saint Anterus (235-236), his remains were
brought back to Rome and honorably laid in a grotto on the
Tiburtina Way in the cemetery which bears his name.
The common feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs was
instituted around 1100, during the reign of Alexius I
Comnenus, as a result of heated discussions which were
raised concerning them by pious and distinguished men of
the epoch; some preferring Saint Basil the Great, others
Saint Gregory the Theologian, and still others Saint John
Chrysostom.
The legend says that in the time of Emperor Alexius I
Comnenus, a discussion was raised among the pious
scholars of Constantinople. Which of the three hierarchs
commemorated in the month of January was the greatest:
Basil the Great (January 1), John Chrysostom (January 27),
or Gregory of Nazianzus (January 25)? Some decided in
favor of Saint Basil the Great because of his great
intelligence and austere morality; others for Saint John
Chrysostom, unsurpassable for the convincing gentleness
of his discourses; and others were attracted to Saint
Gregory of Nazianzus for his elegant rhetoric, dialectical
cleverness, and magical style.
In this confusion recourse was made to the holy and learned
bishop, John, the Metropolitan of Euchaita. He began to
pray and had the delight to have an apparition the following
night by the three great teachers, who told him: "Tell these
Christians to cease these useless discussions. Before God,
none of us three is greater than the others. We make only
one, among us there is neither disagreement nor division.
What one believes and has taught, the others believe and
have taught. Arise then and warn them to remain in peace

and concord. Finally, to practically affirm this unity of our

faith choose a day and on it celebrate the Liturgy in our
honor to thank God for the graces which He has bestowed
to all three of us and by us to the Church, and especially
this that in the Orthodox faith and in its teaching, God has
always kept us in one accord with the Holy Catholic
Church."
It was done thusly. John chose January 30, to celebrate this
new solemnity and he himself composed its admirable
Office. Ever since then, as the Office says: "a 'triple sun'
enlightens this day."
Third Class Feast. In occurrence with the Saturday of the Dead, the
feast of the Holy Hierarchs is celebrated on January 29.
In occurrence with the Wednesday or Friday of the Week of Cheese-fare
or Abstinence, the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is celebrated, with
the Epistle and Gospel of the Holy Hierarchs.

January 31
Memory of the holy Wonderworkers and
Unmercenaries Cyrus and John (+312)
According to tradition, Saint Cyrus was a native of
Alexandria. John was a soldier and a native of Edessa in
Mesopotamia. They were martyred in Canopus, Egypt,
under Maximin Daia, the Caesar of the Orient, in 312.
Many miracles having been worked at their tomb, they
were surnamed anargyres, without doubting because they
freely healed all maladies and infirmities by the grace of
Christ.
Fifth Class Feast.