December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

December 19 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 21

All fixed commemorations below celebrated on January 2 by Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar.

For December 20th, Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar commemorate the Saints listed on December 7.

Feasts

• Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ

Saints

• Hieromartyr Ignatius Theophorus (the God-bearer), Bishop of Antioch (107) <small>(see also January 29)</small>
• Saint Philogonius, Bishop of Antioch, Confessor (322–324)
• Saint Paul of Latrus (Latra), Greek hermit (c. 956)

Pre-Schism Western saints

• Martyrs Liberatus and Bajulus, at Rome
• Saint Ursicinus, Bishop of Cahors in France (c. 585)
• Saint Dominic of Brescia, successor of Saint Anastasius as Bishop of Brescia in Italy (c. 612)
• Saint Ursicinus, born in Ireland, disciple of Saint Columbanus, and founder of the monastery of Saint-Ursanne (c. 625)

Post-Schism Orthodox saints

• Saint Danilo (Daniel) II, Archbishop of Serbia (1338)
• Venerable Ignatius, Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves (1435)
• Saint , Archbishop of Voronezh (1846)
• Righteous John of Kronstadt, Wonderworker (1908) <small>(see also October 19)</small>
• Venerable Serafim (Popescu) the Long-Suffering of Sâmbăta de Sus, Archimandrite (1990)

New martyrs and confessors

• New Martyr John the Tailor of Thasos, at Constantinople, by beheading (1652)
• New Hieromartyr Nikolai Chernishev, Archpriest of Udmurtia (east of Kazan), and his daughter, New Martyr Barbara (1919)

Other commemorations

• Icon of the Mother of God the Rescuer of the Drowning
• Icon of the Mother of God of Novgorod

Icon gallery

Notes

References

Sources

• December 20/January 2. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).
• January 2 / December 20. HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
• December 20. OCA - The Lives of the Saints.
• The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas (ROCOR). St. Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004. St. Hilarion Press (Austin, TX). p. 1.
• December 20. Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome.
• The Roman Martyrology. Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy Printed at Rome in 1914. Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916.

Greek Sources

• Great Synaxaristes: 20 ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
• Συναξαριστής. 20 ΔεκεμβρίοÏÂ. ECCLESIA.GR. (H ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ).

Russian Sources

• 2 января (20 декабря). Православная Энциклопедия под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла (электронная версия). (Orthodox Encyclopedia - Pravenc.ru).
• 20 декабря (ст.ст.) 2 января 2015 (нов. ст.). Русская Православная Церковь Отдел внешних церковных связей. (DECR).