Second day of Christmas at the Patriarchal Cathedral

PS Timotei la Catedrala patriarhală

On the second day of Christmas, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God. The same day, Romanians commemorate Venerable Nicodemus from Tismana.

On this occasion, His Grace Timotei of Prahova, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, celebrated Monday, 26 December 2016, the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest.

Bishop Timotei focused his homily on the gospel reading of the day (see below) and referred to the 14,000 Innocent Infants slain by King Herod in Bethlehem. In the second part of his sermon, Bishop Timotei recalled the life of Saint Nicodemus from Tismana.

Read the life of Saint Nicodemus from Tismana here.

Matthew 2:13-23

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

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