Monday 29th December 2025
Fourteen Thousand Holy Innocents of Bethlehem
Afterfeast of The Nativity of Christ
Today we commemorate:
St. Marcellus, abbot of the monastery of the Unsleeping Ones (485). St. Anthony of Damascus, martyred at Ar-Raqqa (799). Righteous Father Thaddeus the Confessor (818). Commemoration of all Orthodox Christians who died from Hunger, Thirst, the Sword, and Freezing.
Hebrews 8:7-13; Mark 10:46-52
For the Commemoration: Hebrews 2:11-18; Matthew 2:13-23
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
Hebrews 8:7-13
Brothers and sisters, if the first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second. But finding fault, he says to them, ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall enact a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors at the time I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I no longer heeded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I shall make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I am putting my laws into their minds, and I shall write them upon their hearts. I shall be God for them, and they will be my people. And no longer will each of them teach their fellow citizens and their relatives, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I shall be merciful with their unrighteousness, and I shall no longer remember their sins and their lawlessness.’ By saying it is new, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and old is close to disappearing.
Mark 10:46-52
At that time, as Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and quite a large crowd, a blind man, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, was sitting begging by the roadside. Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to call out, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me.’ Many cautioned him to be silent, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And so they called the blind man, telling him, ‘Take heart. Get up, he is calling you.’ He threw off his cloak, got up, and went to Jesus. Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man told him, ‘Rabboni, that I may see again.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go. Your faith has saved you.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
Hebrews 2:11-18
Brothers and sisters, both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one. He is therefore not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters when he says, ‘I shall proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; from within the assembly I shall sing your praise.’ And again, ‘I shall have confidence in him.’ And again, ‘Behold, I and the children God gave me.’ Since the children have flesh and blood in common, he himself also shared these very things in the same way so that through death he might destroy the one who holds the dominion of death, that is, the devil, and set free all who were subject to slavery throughout their whole lives because of the fear of death. It is clear that he is not engaging with angels. No, he is engaging with the offspring of Abraham, and that is why it was necessary for him to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a compassionate and faithful High Priest in relation to God in order to atone for the sins of the people. And in that he has suffered and was tested himself, he is able to come to the aid of those who are being tested.
Matthew 2:13-23
When the magi had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘When you wake, take the young child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, because Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.’ When Joseph awoke, he took the young child and his mother, and he left by night for Egypt. He was there until the death of Herod so that what the Lord said through the prophet might be fulfilled; he said, ‘Out of Egypt I called my Son.’ When Herod realised that he had been duped by the magi he was extremely angry, and he sent and put to death all the male children of two years and under in Bethlehem and in all its surroundings, corresponding to the time that he had discovered from the magi. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled; he said, ‘A cry was heard in Ramah, lamentation and wailing and great mourning of Rachel weeping for her children, but she would not be comforted because they were no more.’ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. He said, ‘When you wake, take the young child and his mother and set off for the land of Israel, because those plotting against the child’s life are dead.’ When he awoke, he took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel, but when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judaea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned by God in a dream, he turned away towards the region of Galilee. When he arrived, he settled in a town called Nazareth so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’