January 29
Byzantine Rite:
Translation of the relics of St. Ignatius of Antioch.
St. Ignatius was martyred in Rome at the beginning of the Second Century. His relics were later transferred to Antioch, the place of his birth. He was a holy, old bishop who was fed to the lions in the Roman amphitheater for the entertainment of the pagans.
January 30
Byzantine Rite: Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs.
This feast celebrates the three great Doctors of the Eastern Church, Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. They are frequently referred to as the Three Holy Hierarchs, or simply Holy Hierarchs, and are frequently represented in iconography together. Each saint has his own separate feast, and this feast celebrates them together as the three great minds of the Church.
Byzantine Rite: Sts. Cyrus and John, Wonderworkers.
Cyrus and John were physicians who converted many of their patients to Christianity. They were martyred for their faith together with St. Athanasia and her three daughters. All six were beheaded together in 303.
Maronite Rite: Together with the Latin Church, the Maronite Rite today celebrates the memory of St. John Bosco, the great promoter of Christian education that founded the Salesian Order. His order spread throughout the world, and operates a large number of schools on every continent. He died in 1888.
A native of Phrygia in what is now Turkey, Tryphon suffered martyrdom at Nicaea under Emperor Decius.
Kontakion of St. Tryphon
Tryphon worthy of all praise, through the power of the Holy Trinity thou didst wipe out the might of pagan gods and increased in honor before God. Unconquered, thou didst vanquish thy persecutors through the power of Christ the Saviour, deserving the crown of martyrdom and the God-given grace of healing the sick.
Preparation for the Feast of the Presentation of Christ
Troparion for the Preparation
The Host of Angels look down from the balconies of heaven to behold upon earth the First-Fruits of all creation carried to the temple,a suckling babe in the arms of a Mother all-pure. Together with us, they sing a hymn with joy in preparation of the feast.
Byzantine and Maronite Rites: Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple, and the Purification of the Theotokos.
Today the Church universally, East and West, celebrates two events in the salvation of mankind-the presentaion of Our Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the purificatiion of Mary, His mother. Mary and Joseph were required by the Mosaic Law to present an offering for their first-born, which they did in the form of two turtle-doves, a poor family's sacrifice (a more well-to-do family would have offered a lamb.) The Mosaic Law also required a woman to be ritually purified 40 days after childbirth-this rendered her "clean" again and permitted her to participate in divine worship and other aspects of daily life. The Church in East and West has retained the practice of the "Churching of Women" or "Thanksgiving after Childbirth" in imitation of these practices of the Jewish Law that Our Lord and the Theotokos submitted to.
Kontakion of the Presentation
O Christ Our God, Who through Thy birth have sanctified the virginal womb and have now blessed the arms of Simeon, today Thou hast come to save us. O Lord, when wars prevail, keep Thy people in peace, and strengthen our public authorities in every good deed, for Thou alone art the Lover of Mankind.
Antiphon at Vespers
Simeon, receive now the One Whom Moses the Lawgiver had foreseen through the cloud on Sinai, becoming a Child and submitting Himself to the Law, He Whom the Law had described and the prophets foretold. O Lord Who for our sake were incarnate and saved mankind, to Thee we bow in worship!
A custom in the Eastern Churches is to commemorate certain people on the day after a major feast day that had an important role in the previous day's feast, for example, John the Baptist on Jan. 7, the day after Epiphany, The Theotokos on Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, and so forth. Today the Eastern Churches commemorate the old man Simeon, who had longed to see the Messiah before he died, and Anna the Prophetess, who recognized the infant Jesus as the Promised One. The actual event of the Presentation and their participation in it was celebrated yesterday, and these special saints are commemorated with their own feast today.
Isidore was born in Alexandria, became a monk in Pelusium, was ordained and eventually became an abbot. He was very pious and was a voluminous writer; 2000 of his letters are still extant. He was a vigorous opponent of Nestorianism and other heresies of his day.
The Eastern Churches, particularly the Byzantine Rite, celebrate all of the prophets and major figures of the Old Testament with their own feast day. The Latin Rite has rarely done this-the only Old Testament figures commemorated in the Traditional Latin Rite were the Holy Maccabees on August 1-the Novus Ordo Latin calendar contains no figures from the Old Testament at all.
Zechariah (Zachary) was of the Tribe of Levi and was born during the Babylonian Captivity. He returned to Jerusalem as a youth and began his mission as a prophet in 520 B.C.. His prophecies concerned the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, the end of prophets and prophecies and the Jewish priesthood, the abolition of Saturday as the Sabbath, and the Particular and General Judgements.
Today the Maronites celebrate the feast of the father of their Rite, St. Maron. It is a holy day of obligation for them, although in the U.S. its celebration is usually transferred to the Sunday nearest to the feast. St. Maron was a monk who gathered others around him in the mountains of Lebanon; they developed a monasticism that spread throughout the area and were instrumental in preserving the Catholic Faith in the region.
Byzantine Rite: St. Nicephorus
Nicephorus was martyred in 260 in place of his friend Sapricius, a priest who refused to forgive Nicephorus and apostasized at the last minute before being martyred. Nicephorus professed his own Christianity and was martyred in place of his friend.
Kontakion of St. Nicephorus
Thou didst bind thyself with the bonds of love and openly rejected the vice of hatred. Beheaded by the sword, thou didst become a martyr for the incarnate God and Saviour. O Nicephorus, pray to Him for us who sing hymns to thy glorious memory.
Following the Traditional Latin calendar, the Maronite Rite commemorates the fact that St. Peter was the first Bishop of Antioch. He was, in fact, Bishop of Antioch before he was Bishop of Rome. The modern Patriarchs of Antioch (Maronite, Melkite, and Syrian) see themselves as succesors of Peter in his role as first bishop of this ancient Christian See. Antioch was the first place, according to the Acts of the Apostles, that the believers were called "Christian".
Byzantine Rite: Discovery of the Venerable Relics of the Holy Martyrs at Eugenios.
Eugenios is a district near Constantinople. Many relics of the Holy Martyrs were discovered there during the Patristic Era.
Troparion of the Feast
O Lord our God, Thy Holy Martyrs have deserved the crown of immortality on account of their good fight. Armed with Thy strength, they have vanquished their persecutors and crushed Satan's dreadful might. Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls!
