Bethlehem of Judea, prepare the gates of thy city. For the Virgin Mother is coming to give birth in thee in the cave to the One who, appearing as a mortal, is my Lord and my God. [Orthodox matins]
O Sapientia antiphon for Dec. 17
O Come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. [cf. Isaiah 11:2-3]
Saints commemorated Dec. 17 (Orthodox calendar): The memory of the Prophet Daniel and of the Three Young Men:
"Great are the accomplisments of faith; for the three holy youths rejoiced in the fountain of flames as though at waters of rest. And the Prophet Daniel appeared as a shepherd to the lions as though they were sheep."
Also from the Orthodox synaxarion: The "new martyrs" Paisius the abbot and Habakkuk the deacon: Saint Paisius was Abbot of a monastery in Serbia and Habakkuk was his deacon.
They were both impaled by the Turks at Belgrade on December 17, 1814. Dragging the stake on which he was to suffer through the streets of Belgrade, Habakkuk chanted the hymns of the Church. When his mother threw herself at his feet, begging him to adhere to Islam in order to save his life, he thanked her for her maternal solicitude, but rejected her advice as he recalled the great men of the Old Testament who suffered for the glory of God.
"Great men of the Old Testament"--like Daniel, and the Three Young Men in the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. Habakkuk the deacon, in chanting the hymns of the church may well have sung one the traditional odes from matins before Christmas:
Scorning the impious decree, the Children brought up together in godliness feared not the threat of fire, but, standing in the midst of the flames, they sang: "O God of our fathers, blessed art Thou." (Canticle 7)
The furnace moist with dew was the image and figure of a wonder past nature. For it burnt not the Children whom it had received, even as the fire of the Godhead consumed not the Virgin's womb into which it had descended. Therefore let us sing: Let the whole creation bless the Lord and exalt Him above all for ever. (Canticle 8)
Take courage!
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