January 25 / January 12
1. The Holy Martyr Tatiana of Rome and companions (ca. 226-235)
Tatiana was a Roman whose parents were from the nobility. She was a Christian and a deaconess in the church. After the death of Emperor Heliogabalus, there reigned the Emperor Alexander, whose mother, Mammaea, was a Christian. Emperor Alexander himself was wavering and indecisive in his faith, for he kept statues of Christ, Apollo, Abraham and Orpheus in his palace. His chief assistants took it upon themselves to persecute the Christians without awaiting orders from the emperor. When they brought out the virgin Tatiana for torture, she prayed to God for her torturers. And lo, their eyes were opened and they saw four angels around the martyr. Seeing this, eight of them believed in Christ, for which they also were tortured and slain. The tormentors continued to torture St. Tatiana. They whipped her, cut off parts of her body, and scraped her with irons. All disfigured and bloody, Tatiana was thrown into the dungeon that evening so that the next day they could begin anew with different tortures. But God sent His angels to the dungeon to encourage her and to heal her wounds so that each morning Tatiana appeared before the torturers completely healed. They threw her before a lion, but the lion fawned about her and did her no harm. They cut off her hair, thinking, according to their pagan reasoning, that some sorcery or magical power was concealed in her hair. Finally, Tatiana and her father were led out together, and both were beheaded. Thus, Tatiana ended her earthly life in about the year 225, and this heroic virgin, who had the fragile body of a woman but a robust and valiant spirit, was crowned with the immortal wreath of glory.
2. The Holy Martyr Peter Apselamus
Peter was born in Eleutheropolis in Palestine. In his youth, Peter suffered for the Christian Faith in 311, during the reign of Emperor Maximian. After much torture, he was condemned to death. Upon hearing his death sentence, he joyfully cried out: “That is my one wish—to die for my God!” Peter was crucified in the same manner as our Lord Himself and gave up his spirit on the cross.
3. The Feast of the Icon of the All-holy Mother of God, “the Milk-giver” This is the name of the icon of the All-holy Mother of God which Sava the Serbian brought from the [Greek] Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, near Jerusalem. And so, the prophecy spoken by St. Sava the Sanctified, some eight hundred years earlier—that a certain Serbian priest by the name of Sava would come, and that this icon and his staff would be given to the Serbian—was fulfilled. When St. Sava the Serbian visited the Monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified, the monks recalled the prophecy of the founder of their monastery and gave to Sava the Serbian this icon and staff. This icon was placed on the right side of the Royal Doors on the iconostasis, in Sava’s hermitage [Isposnica, the House of Silence] in the monastic community at Karyes [on Mount Athos], and the staff was placed in an adjacent cell known as the “Paterica.”
4. The Venerable Mother Theodora of Alexandria
Theodora was a glorious nun and teacher of nuns from Alexandria. “Just as trees require winter and snow in order to bear fruit, so trials and temptations are needed for our life,” spoke this holy woman. She reposed peacefully at the beginning of the fifth century.
- Martyr Mertius of Mauretania (284-305).
- Martyr Philotheus of Antioch (ca. 305).
- Eupraxia of Tabenna in Egypt (393).
- Benedict Biscop, abbot, of Wearmouth (690).
- Sava I, enlightener and first archbishop of Serbia (1235). [celebrated on January 14/27].
- Martinian, abbot of White Lake Monastery (1483), and his disciple Galacteon (1506).
- John of Tula, fool-for-Christ (1850).
- The Eight Holy Martyrs of Nicaea, who were slain by the sword.
- The Holy Martyr Euthasia, who was slain by the sword.
- Venerable Father Elias the Wonderworker.
HYMN OF PRAISE
Saint Tatiana
You pity the youth of your body?
Oh, be reasonable!
Is it worthwhile to grieve over youth which passes?
Judge for yourself!
There is only one youth—youth in eternity.
That is the true youth, youth without old age.
It is worth seeking this, and shedding tears for it,
Even if you must pay for it with the death of the body.
Tatiana purchased the costly with the less costly.
For dust and water she received divine wine;
For the body that ages, eternal youth;
And for a few tears, cherubic joy.
United to Christ, the Immortal King,
She remained faithful to her Betrothed;
By the power of a pure spirit, she crushed temptations,
And bravely endured frightening tortures.
Around her were heard angelic footsteps.
She shed her body like a wrinkled cloth,
And her soul, free of earthly ties,
Was raised up to the wedding feast in the Kingdom without tears.
To read the Reflection, Contemplation, and Homily for this day,
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