EMBER SATURDAY IN ADVENT; SAINT OLYMPIA, Widow (410 A.D.); SAINT LAZARUS (1st C.)

 

EMBER SATURDAY IN ADVENT

SAINT OLYMPIA

Widow

 

SAINT LAZARUS

 

SIMPLE / PURPLE
INTROIT Ps. 79:4, 2
Come, O Lord, and show us Thy face, Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim: and we shall be saved.
Ps. 79:2. Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.
Glory be . . .

Let us pray.
Let us kneel.
Arise.

COLLECT
O God, who seest that we are afflicted because of our iniquity, mercifully grant that we may be comforted by Thy visitation: Who livest . . .

LESSON Isa. 19:20-22
In those days, they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them. And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them.

GRADUAL Ps. 18:7, 2
His going out is from the end of heaven: and His circuit even to the end thereof. The heavens show forth the glory of God: and the firmament declareth the work of His hands.

COLLECT
O God, who didst deaden the flames of fire for the three children: mercifully grant that the flame of vice may not consume us Thy servants. Through our Lord . . .

EPISTLE 2 Thess. 2:1-8
Brethren, we beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto Him: That you be not easily moved from your sense nor be terrified, neither by spirit nor by word nor by epistle. as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition Who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. Remember you not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only that he who now holdeth do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed: whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.

TRACT Ps. 79:2, 3
Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasses. Stir up Thy might, O Lord, and come and save us.

GOSPEL St. Luke 3:1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina: Under the high priests Anna and Caiphas: the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins. As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Zac. 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold thy King will come to thee, the Holy and Savior.

SECRET
O Lord, we beseech Thee, look down favorably upon these present Sacrifices: that they may profit us unto both devotion and salvation. Through our Lord . . .

COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps. 18:6, 7
He hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way: His going out is from the end of heaven, and His circuit even to the end thereof.

POSTCOMMUNION
We beseech Thee, O Lord, our God, that the most holy Mysteries, which Thou hast given us for a safeguard of our renewal, may become our remedy both now and for time to come. Through our Lord . . .

SAINT OLYMPIA 
Widow 410A.D.
(Historical)

Saint Olympia, the glory of the widows in the Eastern Church, was born of a noble and illustrious family. Left an orphan at a tender age, she was brought up by Theodosia, sister of Saint Amphilochius, a virtuous and prudent woman. At the age of eighteen, Olympias was regarded as a model of Christian virtues. It was then that she was married to Nebridius, a young man worthy of her; the new spouses promised one another to live in perfect continence. After less than two years of this angelic union, Nebridius went to receive in heaven the reward of his virtues.

The Emperor would have engaged her in a second marriage, but she replied: “If God had destined me to live in the married state, He would not have taken my first spouse. The event which has broken my bonds shows me the way Providence has traced for me.” She had resolved to consecrate her life to prayer and penance, and to devote her fortune to the poor. She liberated all her slaves, who nonetheless wished to continue to serve her, and she administered her fortune as a trustee for the poor. The farthest cities, islands, deserts and poor churches found themselves blessed through her liberality.

Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, had a high esteem for the saintly widow and made her a deaconess of his church. The duties of deaconesses were to prepare the altar linens and instruct the catechumens of their sex; they aided the priests in works of charity, and they made a vow of perpetual chastity. When Saint John Chrysostom succeeded Nectarius, he had for Olympias no less respect than his predecessor, and through her aid he built a hospital for the sick and refuges for the elderly and orphans. When he was exiled in the year 404, he continued to encourage her in her good works by his letters, and she assisted him to ransom some of his fellow captives.

Saint Olympias, as one of his supporters, was persecuted. When she refused to deal with the usurper of the episcopal see, she was mistreated and calumniated, and her goods were sold at a public auction. Finally she, too, was banished with the entire community of nuns which she governed in Constantinople. Her illnesses added to her sufferings, but she never ceased her good works until her death in the year 410. She outlived the exiled Patriarch by about two or three years.

SAINT LAZARUS

1st C. 

[Historical]

The disciple and friend of Jesus raised from the dead byJesus. He was the brother of Martha and Mary, and resided in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, Israel. No mention is made in the New Testament of his activities after being brought back to life, but several traditions survive. In one, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary go to France, where he became the first bishop of Marseilles, before being martyred. In other traditions, Lazarus and his sisters went to Cyprus, where he became bishop of Kition, or Lamaka. Still another legend reports that he went to Syria. His supposed relics were translated to Constantinople and numerous churches were built in his honor. Devotion to Lazarus was commonplace in the early Church.