I know thee as the protection of my life and most safe fortification, O Virgin; disperse the horde of my many temptations, and put to silence demonic audacity; unceasingly I pray to thee:
From corruption of passions deliver me.
SUNDAY
Nov. 17/30 ns 2025
Nativity Fast 2025
permitted today
SUGGESTION
You read the following yesterday,
now scroll down to the bottom and read from
St. Symeon the New Theologian
St. Symeon the New Theologian
As it has been said, one day we will no longer be able to satisfy our passions.
The Church, in her love for her children, established periods of fasting to temper our desire and calm the passions in preparation for separation. With this at the forefront of our minds and hearts, not as an opportunity to lose weight or to comply with a duty, let's rejoice with faith, trusting in the Lord's promise of the Life to come where all sickness, sighing and sorrow, are no longer.
May our Precious Lord and His All Embracing Holy Mother strengthen all of us.
Our God, Who is omnipotent and omniscient does what He pleases, but His omniscience and omnipotence are but a cobweb compared to His Love.
Saint Gregory, Bishop of Neocæsaréa, the Wonder-Worker;
St. Lazarus, the Iconographer
and Confessor;
St. Lazarus, the Iconographer
and Confessor;
St. Gennadios I, Patriarch of Constantinople
Pure in body and soul, he wanted to dedicate himself solely to Christ God, for which reason he withdrew to the wilderness, where he spent much time in rigorous asceticism. His fame spread everywhere.
Bishop Phaedimus of Amasea wanted to consecrate him Bishop of Neocaesarea. The clairvoyant Gregory perceived Phaedimus's intention and hid from the bishop's emissaries in the wilderness. Finally, Phaedimus consecrated him in a strange way, and Gregory had to accept the office of bishop.
Repeats in scripture readings occasionally occur on the Calendar of the
Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of America
and subsequently on the PARAGON
where they are copied and pasted.
Holy Orthros Gospel
Saint Mark 16:9-20
King James Version
9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Holy Epistle
Ephesians 4:1-7
King James Version
4 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Holy Divine Liturgy Gospel
Saint Luke 12:16-21;8:8
King James Version
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
As it has been said, one day we will no longer be able to satisfy our passions.
For someone who loves the body, mortal life, sensual pleasure, and the material world, separation from them is death; but for someone who loves holiness, the immaterial world and virtue, true death is for the mind to be separated from them even briefly.
If the eyes of a person who can see sensible light are closed for an instant or covered by someone else, he suffers and is distressed and cannot bear it, especially if he was looking at something important or unusual. But if someone is illumined by the Holy Spirit and, whether asleep or awake, sees spiritually those blessings that 'the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and man's heart has not grasped' (1 Cor. 2:9), and 'that angels long to glimpse' (1 St. Pet. 1:12), how much more will he suffer and be tormented if he is torn away from the vision of these things? For this will seem to him like death, a veritable exclusion from eternal life.
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