January 22, 2026 · 12:05 am

Vincent, Deacon of Saragossa, Martyr, 304

Vincent has been called the protomartyr (first martyr) of Spain. Little is known about the actual events surrounding his life, other than his name, his order of ministry, and the place and time of his martyrdom. Vincentius was a native of Osca (Huesca), in northeastern Spain, and was ordained deacon by Valerius, Bishop of Saragossa. In the early years of the fourth century, the fervent Christian community in Spain fell victim to the persecution ordered by the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Dacian, governor of the province of Hispania (Spain), had Valerius and his deacon Vincent arrested and imprisoned at Valentia Edetanorum (Valencia).

According to one legend, Valerius had a speech impediment, and Vincent was often called upon to preach for him. When the two prisoners were challenged to renounce their faith amid threats of torture and death, Vincent said to his bishop, “Father, if you order me, I will speak.” Valerius is said to have replied, “Son, as I committed you to dispense the word of God, so I now charge you to answer in vindication of the faith which we defend.” The young deacon then told the governor that he and his bishop had no intention of betraying the true God. The vehemence and enthusiasm of Vincent’s defense showed no caution in his defiance of the judges, and Dacian’s fury was increased by this exuberance in Christian witness. Valerius was exiled, but Dacian ordered that Vincent should be tortured. While in prison, he is said to have converted his jailer. At one point, he was offered release on the condition that he burn the holy Scriptures that had been committed to his safekeeping, but he refused.

Accounts of his martyrdom were embellished by the early Christian poet Aurelius Clemens Prudentius. Augustine of Hippo writes that Vincent’s unshakeable faith enabled him to endure grotesque punishments and, finally, death.

Devotion to Vincent spread rapidly throughout the early Church as he was venerated as a bold and outspoken witness to the truth of the living Christ.

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts

The Collect

Almighty God, your deacon Vincent, upheld by you, was not terrified by threats nor overcome by torments: Strengthen us to endure all adversity with invincible and steadfast faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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January 21, 2026 · 12:34 am

Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304

As a child of twelve or thirteen years, Agnes suffered for her faith, in Rome, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, the last and fiercest of the persecutions of Christians by the imperial state. Intensely dedicated to Christ, her fifth century Acts tell that she refused arranged marriage, saying that she preferred even the death of the body to the end of her consecrated virginity. After rejecting the blandishments of her examiners, and withstanding the threats and torments of her executioner, she remained firm in her refusal to offer worship to the gods of the imperial state, and was executed by being pierced through the neck with a sword. Venerated as a martyr from shortly after her death, early Church Fathers, including Ambrose, Jerome and Prudentius, praised her courage and chastity and remarked upon her name, which means “pure” in Greek and “lamb” in Latin.

In his treatise On Virginity, Ambrose of Milan wrote

“Is this a new kind of martyrdom? The girl was too young to be punished, yet old enough to wear a martyr’s crown; too young for the contest, but mature enough to gain victory. Her tender years put her at a disadvantage, but she won the trial of virtue. If she had been a bride, she could not have hastened to her wedding night as much as she, a virgin, went with joyful steps to the place of her execution, her head adorned with Christ himself rather than plaits, with a garland woven of virtues instead of flowers.”

Pilgrims still visit Agnes’ tomb and the catacomb surrounding it, beneath the basilica of her name on the Via Nomentana in Rome that Pope Honorius the First (625-638 ) built in her honor to replace an older shrine erected by the daughter or granddaughter of the emperor Constantine about 350. On her feast day at the basilica, two lambs are blessed, whose wool is woven into a scarf called the pallium, with which the Pope invests archbishops. Pope Gregory the Great sent such a pallium in 601 to Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. A representation of the pallium appears on the coat of arms of Archbishops of Canterbury to this day.

Agnes was commemorated from ancient times in England (probably from the time of the Augustinian mission to Kent), and her feast day is included in the Calendar of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, whence it has entered the sanctoral calendars of most of the Anglican Churches.

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980)

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

Almighty and everlasting God, you choose those whom the world deems powerless to put the powerful to shame: Grant us so to cherish the memory of your youthful martyr Agnes, that we may share her pure and steadfast faith in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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January 20, 2026 · 12:10 am

Fabian, Bishop of Rome and Martyr, 250

In 236, an assembly was held in Rome to elect a bishop as successor to Antherius. In the throng was one Fabian, a layman from another part of Italy. Suddenly, according to the historian Eusebius, a dove flew over the crowd and lighted on Fabian’s head. Despite his being both a stranger and not a candidate in the election, the people unanimously chose Fabian to be bishop, shouting, “Axios! He is worthy! He is worthy!” Fabian was ordained to the episcopate without opposition.

During his fourteen years as bishop, Fabian made numerous administrative reforms. He divided the Church at Rome into seven deaconries and established the custom of venerating martyrs at their tombs in the catacombs. Along with Donatus, the bishop of Carthage, Fabian issued letters condemning Privatus, bishop of Lambaesis in Numidia, and his heretical opinions. Fabian also brought back to Rome, for proper burial, the remains of Pontian, a bishop of Rome whom the emperor had exiled in 235 to certain death in the mines of Sardinia.

Intending to restore traditional Roman piety, the emperor Decius issued an edict in 250 requiring persons throughout the empire, with the exception of Jews, to sacrifice and burn incense to the gods and to the well-being of the emperor in the presence of a Roman magistrate. This led to a general persecution of Christians, probably the first persecution carried out in all parts of the Roman Empire. Fabian was one of the earliest of those martyred at Rome, setting a courageous example for his flock, many of whom died in great torment.

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, praised Fabian in a letter to Cornelius, Fabian’s successor at Rome, as “an incomparable man, the glory of whose death corresponded with the holiness of his life.” Fabian was buried in the catacomb of Callixtus and was later transferred to the church of Saint Sebastian. The original slab which covered his gravesite survives in fragments, but the words “Fabian…bishop…martyr” are still dimly visible.

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980)

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

O God, in your providence you singled out the holy martyr Fabian as worthy to be chief pastor of your people, and guided him so to strengthen your Church that it stood fast in the day of persecution: Grant that those whom you call to any ministry in the Church may be obedient to your call in all humility, and be enabled to carry out their tasks with diligence and faithfulness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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January 19, 2026 · 12:19 am

Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095

Wulfstan was one of the few Anglo-Saxon bishops to retain his see after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Beloved by all classes of society for his humility, charity, and courage, he was born in Warwickshire about 1008 and educated in the Benedictine abbeys of Evesham and Peterborough. He spent most of his life in the cathedral monastery of Worcester as monk, prior, and then as bishop of the see from 1062 until his death on January 18, 1095. He accepted the episcopate with extreme reluctance, but having resigned himself to it, he administered the diocese with great effectiveness. Since the see of Worcester was claimed by the province of York before its affiliation as a suffragan see of Canterbury in 1070, Wulfstan was consecrated at York. As bishop, he rapidly became famous for his continued monastic asceticism and personal sanctity. He took seriously his pastoral duties as bishop, caring especially for the poor and preaching widely throughout his see.

Though Wulfstan had been confessor to King Harold of Wessex and was sympathetic to Harold’s claim to the English crown, he was among those who submitted to William of Normandy (the Conqueror) at Berkhamstead in 1066 and was therefore allowed to retain his see. At first, the Normans tended to disparage him for his lack of learning and his inability to speak French, but he became one of William’s most trusted advisers and administrators, and remained loyal in support of William the First and William the Second in their work of reform and orderly government. He assisted in the compilation of the Domesday Book, and supported William the First against the rebellious barons in 1075. William came to respect a loyalty based on principle and not on self-seeking. Archbishop Lanfranc also recognized the strength of Wulfstan’s character, and the two men worked together to end the practice at Bristol of capturing Englishmen and selling them as slaves in Ireland.

Because he was the most respected prelate of the Anglo-Saxon Church, Wulfstan’s profession of canonical obedience to the Conqueror’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, proved to be a key factor in the transition from Anglo-Saxon to Anglo-Norman Christianity. William’s policy, however, was to appoint his own fellow Normans to the English episcopate, and by the time of William’s death in 1087, Wulfstan was the only English-born bishop still living.

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with additions

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

Lord God, you raised up Wulfstan to be a bishop among your people and a leader of your Church: Help us, after his example, to live simply, to work diligently, and to make your kingdom known; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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January 17, 2026 · 12:48 am

Antony, Hermit in Egypt, 356

In the third century, many young men turned away from what they believed to be the corrupt and decadent society of the time, and went to live in deserts or mountains, in solitude, fasting, and prayer. Antony of Egypt was an outstanding example of this movement, but he was not merely a recluse. He was a founder of monasticism, and wrote a rule for anchorites.

Antony’s parents were Christians, and he grew up to be quiet, devout, and meditative. When his parents died, he and his younger sister were left to care for a sizable estate. Six months later, in church, he heard the reading about the rich young ruler whom Christ advised to sell all he had and give to the poor. Antony at once gave his land to the villagers, and sold most of his goods, giving the proceeds to the poor. Later, after meditating on Christ’s bidding, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow,” he sold what remained of his possessions, placed his sister in a “house of maidens,” and became an anchorite (solitary ascetic).

Athanasius of Alexandria, who knew Antony personally, writes that he spent his days praying, reading, and doing manual labor. For a time, he was tormented by demons in various guises. He resisted, and the demons fled. Moving to the mountains across the Nile from his village, Antony dwelt along for twenty years. In 305, he left his cave and founded a “monastery”, a series of cells inhabited by ascetics living under his rule. Athanasius writes of such colonies: “Their cells like tents were filled with singing, fasting, praying, and working that they might give alms, and having love and peace with one another.”

Antony visited Alexandria, first in 312, to encourage those suffering martyrdom under the emperor Maximinus; later, in 335, to combat the Arians by preaching, conversions, and the working of miracles. Most of his days were spent on the mountain with his disciple Macarius.

He willed a goat-skin tunic and a cloak to Athanasius, who said of him: “He was like a physician given by God to Egypt. For who met him grieving and did not go away rejoicing? Who came full of anger and was not turned to kindness?…What monk who had grown slack was not strengthened by coming to him? Who came troubled by doubts and failed to gain peace of mind?”

adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980)

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

O God, by your Holy Spirit you enabled your servant Antony to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil: Give us grace, with pure hearts and minds, to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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January 14, 2026 · 1:13 pm

Kentigern, Missionary to Strathclyde and Cumbria, 603

There are many legends but little known history regarding Kentigern. All the sources are from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Most are from the northern part of Britain, where Kentigern’s evangelistic and pastoral ministry took place. The sources contain various folkloric elements which are considerably older than the eleventh century, but which have no clear historical value (including in one source a confrontation with the druid Merlin). From these traditions we may with some assurance of historicity assume that Kentigern was the son of a British prince (perhaps Owain of Rheged) and of illegitimate birth. Under his nickname Mungo (meaning “darling”) was educated by Bishop Serf at Culross and became a monk in the austere Irish tradition. He later traveled to the northern British kingdom of Strathclyde (Stratclut), in what is now southwestern Scotland, where he was ordained bishop by another Irish missionary bishop. He continued the work of Saint Ninian in preaching the Gospel to the people in the vicinity of Dumbarton, the capital of the kingdom of Strathclyde, and established a religious foundation near Dumbarton, around which the city of Glasgow later grew. Persecuted by the pagan king Morcant Mwynfawr, Kentigern fled to Cumbria (in the kingdom of Rheged) for some time. On the accession of Morcant’s brother, king Riderch Hael the Generous, he was summoned back by the already-baptized king to continue his work of evangelism among the Britons of Strathclyde. Kentigern likely lived to the age of 85, and he died and was buried at his religious foundation at Glasgow. His relics are claimed by Glasgow Cathedral.

The Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Kentigern, whom you called to preach the Gospel to the people of northwestern Britain. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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January 13, 2026 · 1:10 am

Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Teacher of the Faith, 367

Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, was a prolific writer on Scripture and doctrine, an orator, and a poet to whom some of the earliest Latin hymns have been attributed. Augustine called him “the illustrious doctor of the Churches”. Jerome considered him “the trumpet of the Latins against the Arians”. For his defense of the Nicene faith, he is also known as “the Athanasius of the West”.

Hilary (Hilarius) was born in Pectavus (later Poitiers) in Roman Gaul, about 315, into a pagan family of wealth and power. In his writings, he describes the stages of the journey that led him to the Christian faith. He was baptized when he was about thirty years old.

In 350, Hilary was made Bishop of Poitiers. Although he demurred at first, he was finally persuaded by the people’s acclamations. He proved to be a bishop of skill and courage. His orthodoxy was shown when, in 355, the Emperor Constantius ordered all bishops to sign a condemnation of Athanasius (the bishop of Alexandria, champion of Nicene trinitarianism against the Arians), under pain of exile. Hilary wrote to Constantius, pleading for peace and unity. His plea accomplished nothing, and, when he dissociated himself from three Arian bishops in the West, Constantius ordered Julian (who bears the epithet “the Apostate” for his conversion to Neoplatonic paganism) to exile Hilary to Phrygia. There Hilary remained for three years, without complaining, writing scriptural commentaries and his principal work, De Trinitate (On the Trinity).

Hilary was then invited by a party of the Semi-Arians, who hoped for his support, to a council at Seleucia in Asia, largely attended by Arians; but with remarkable courage, in the midst of a hostile gathering, Hilary defended the Council of Nicaea and its definition of the Trinity, giving no aid to the Semi-Arians. He wrote again to Constantius, offering to debate Saturninus, the Western bishop largely responsible for his exile. The Arians feared for the outcome of the debate and persuaded Constantius to return Hilary to Poitiers.

In 360, Hilary was welcomed back to his see with great demonstrations of joy and affection. He continued his battle against Arianism, but he never neglected the needs of his people. Angry in controversy with heretical bishops, he was always a loving and compassionate pastor to his diocese. Among his disciples was Martin, later bishop of Tours, whom Hilary encouraged in his endeavors to promote the monastic life.

from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with additions

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

O Lord our God, you raised up your servant Hilary to be a champion of the catholic faith: Keep us steadfast in that true faith which we professed at our baptism, that we may rejoice in having you for our Father, and may abide in your Son, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

_______________________________________________________

The image is of a mosaic of St. Hilary from the Cathedral of Monreale, completed in 1185.

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January 10, 2026 · 4:34 am

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645

Elevated to the see of Canterbury in 1633, William Laud had already been King Charles’ principal ecclesiastical adviser for several years beginning when Laud was serving first as Bishop of Bath and Wells and then as Bishop of London. Born in 1573, after the Church of England’s reformed character had been established by the Elizabethan Settlement, he was the most prominent of a new generation of churchmen, nowadays known as avant-garde conformists, who disliked many of the ritual practices which had developed during the reign of Elizabeth the First (many of which began during the reign of her younger brother, Edward VI), and who were bitterly opposed by both puritans and “old-style conformists” in the Church of England.

Laud believed the Church of England to be in direct continuity with the medieval Church, and he stressed the unity of the Church and State, exalting the role of the king as Supreme Governor of the Church. Along with other avant-garde conformists, he emphasized the ministerial priesthood and the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, and caused consternation by insisting on the reverencing of the altar (already mandated in the Canons of 1604), returning it to its pre-Reformation position against the east wall of the church, and hedging it about with rails. (During Edward’s reign and Elizabeth’s, altars had been removed, and simpler communion Tables set lengthwise – long axis oriented east-west – in the chancel of the church. Those who intended to take communion would move from the nave into the chancel at the offertory, and the priest or bishop would preside at the eucharist standing on the north side of the Table.)

As head of the courts of High Commission and the Star Chamber, Laud persecuted puritans and was abhorred for the harsh sentencing of some of their prominent members. His identification with the unpopular policies of King Charles, his support of the Bishops’ War against Scotland in 1640 (triggered in part by Charles’ attempt to impose a prayer book on the Church of Scotland that had been prepared by James Wedderburn, Bishop of Dunblane, in close association with Laud), and his efforts to make the Church independent of Parliament, made him widely disliked. He was impeached for treason by the Long Parliament in 1640, and finally beheaded on January 10, 1645.

Laud’s reputation remains controversial to this day. Honored as a martyr and condemned as an intolerant bigot, he was compassionate in his defense of the rights of the common people against the landowners. He was honest, devout, loyal to the king and to the rights and privileges of the Church of England. He tried to reform and protect the Church in accordance with his convictions – though these attempts at reform were marred by his treatment of those who strenuously disagreed with him theologically and liturgically. Politically he was out of step with the views of many of his countrymen, especially in his espousal of royal Stuart views of the “Divine Rights of Kings”. The historian Nicholas Tyacke rates Laud as one of the greatest of the archbishops of Canterbury, not giving him complete approval, but recognizing that his contribution to the future of the English Church was of major importance.

Writing in the Church Quarterly Review in 1945, A.W. Ballard stated that:

As far as doctrine was concerned Laud carried on the teaching of Cranmer and Hooker. He held that the basis of belief was the Bible, but that the Bible was to be interpreted by the tradition of the early Church, and that all doubtful points were to be subjected, not to heated arguments in the pulpits, but to sober discussion by learned men. His mind, in short, like those of the earlier English reformers, combined the Protestant reliance on the Scriptures with reverence for ancient tradition and with the critical spirit of the Ranascence.

Laud made a noble end, praying on the scaffold: “The Lord receive my soul, and have mercy on me, and bless this kingdom with peace and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them.”

The prayer for the Church on page 646 in the Book of Common Prayer (2019), first added to the American Prayer Book in 1928, is a lightly amended version of a prayer written by Archbishop Laud. It was first published in A Summarie of Devotions (1677), adapted from his manuscripts. The original version of the prayer reads:

Gracious Father, I humbly beseech Thee for Thy holy Catholic Church, fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where it is superstitious, rectify it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in want, furnish it; where it is divided and rent asunder, make up the breaches of it; O Thou Holy One of Israel. Amen.

taken from Lesser Feasts and Fasts, with additions, including from
Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy (Arthur Middleton, Gracewing 2001) and Commentary on the American Prayer Book (Marion J. Hatchett, Harper San Francisco 1995)

The Collect (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 1980)

Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like your servant William Laud, we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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January 6, 2026 · 12:01 am

The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The name of this Feast of our Lord is derived from a Greek word meaning manifestation or appearing. Historically, Anglican Prayer Books have interpreted the name with a subtitle, “The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles”. The last phrase is, of course, a reference to the narrative of the Wise Men, the Magi, who appeared in Judaea from the East in order to worship the newborn King of the Jews.

The identity of the wise men has captured the imagination of Christians for a very long time. The Persian word for these wise men, rendered in Greek as magoi (singular magos), Latinized and taken into English as magi (singular magus, English “mage”) originally referred to a priestly caste of the Medes, who managed to survive in the Persian empire after the widespread conversion of that people to the Zoroastrian religion. They were widely known throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamian world for their knowledge of the stars and of the influence of those stars on human affairs, subjects that we would now distinguish on the one hand as astronomy and on the other as astrology. By the second or third century before Christ, the word magi had come to be applied more widely to men of wisdom and learning, and particularly to those learned in the arts of astrology and divination, among not only the Persians but also the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, and the Arabians as well. Because of their sought-after ability to read astral portents, kings usually had court magi, astrologers who would discern the most propitious times for festivals, sacrifices, betrothals and marriages, alliances, and wars.

Some early Christian writers, such as Clement of Rome and Tertullian, who flourished in the late first and second centuries respectively, supposed that the magi of Matthew’s account came from Arabia, and there is evidence in the text to support this. “The east” (as in “wise men from the east”) in the Old Testament often referred not to the farther reaches of Babylon or of Persia but to Arabia. Gold, incense, and myrrh were highly prized and expensive products of southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa that made their way into lands of the eastern Mediterranean (like Judea) by means of Arabian trade caravans. However, probably on the strength of the original meaning of the word magos, by the fourth or fifth century the majority belief was that the wise men were Persian magi, and they were usually (though not always) depicted as being three in number, an extrabiblical detail that probably derived from the three gifts presented by the unnumbered magi of Matthew’s account.          

Priest and author Dwight Longenecker, among others, makes a case for the identity of the wise men of Matthew’s account as astrologers or astrologer-priests at the court of the king of Nabataea, an Arabian kingdom to the south and east of Judea (Mystery of the Magi). Longenecker’s suggestion makes sense of Herod’s reaction to the arrival of the magi in Jerusalem. The Nabataean capital, known as Petra for its public buildings carved into the rock faces of the area in which it was built, was an important trade center for goods coming from farther away in Arabia as well as from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mesopotamia. As such it was a wealthy and bustling city, with coursing waterways, beautiful palaces, and population of several tens of thousands, ruling over a large area of northern Arabia. The king of Nabataea was thus a powerful regional potentate—and a near neighbor to the king of Judea. The arrival of what appeared to be an embassy of magi bearing royal gifts from the Nabataean king for a newborn king of the Jews who was unknown to Herod must surely have made him suspicious that the Nabataean king, Aretas IV, was planning to put an infant usurper on the Judean throne who would be a puppet of Nabataea. In fact, Aretas would invade Judea twice in the coming decades: once, shortly after the death of Herod the Great to help the Romans put down a Jewish revolt in 4 B.C.; and again, in the late 30s A.D., to avenge his daughter, whom Herod’s son, Herod Antipas, had divorced and cast aside so that he could marry his sister-in-law, Herodias. (This was what had earned Antipas and Herodias the condemnation of John the Baptist nearly a decade earlier, leading to John’s beheading.) The contemporary Near Eastern political situation meant that the arrival of the magi in his court would have intensified Herod’s sense of political insecurity.

Like the wise men themselves, the star has captured the imagination of succeeding generations. A host of conjectures and interpretations, astronomical and theological, have been offered. Ignatius of Antioch, early second-century bishop and martyr, writes in his letter to the Ephesians that the star “blazed forth in the sky, outshining all the other stars.” Its unparalleled novelty provoked wonderment and perplexity and was a sign that “every form of magic began to be destroyed, ignorance to be dethroned, an ancient empire to be overthrown—God was making his appearance in human form to mold the newness of eternal life” (Ephesians 19:2-3). The star thus presaged the calling of the Gentiles away from idolatrous worship of false and lifeless images to the worship of the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Addressing the ruling council of pagan Athens, the Apostle Paul declared, “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30-31). Whatever the astronomical properties of the star, whether planetary conjunction or comet or supernova or some other celestial phenomenon, Matthew’s narrative tells us that these Gentile wise men needed not only the natural light of the star. They also required the light of God’s revelation, the light of the Jewish Scriptures, to be brought to the newborn King and Messiah.

A Christian observance on January 6 is found as early as the end of the second century in Egypt. This feast combined the commemorations of the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan, and Jesus’ first recorded miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, all of which are manifestations of the deity of the incarnate Lord.

The Epiphany is still the primary Feast of the Incarnation in Eastern Churches, and the three-fold emphasis is prominent. In the West, however, including Anglican Churches, the feast has emphasized the narrative of the Magi nearly to the exclusion of the other two events. Modern lectionary revision has recovered the primitive trilogy by setting the Baptism of our Lord as the theme of the First Sunday after the Epiphany in all three years of the lectionary cycle, and by providing the narrative of the miracle at the wedding at Cana as the Gospel for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany in Year C.

taken in part from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (1980), with additions

The Collect

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

The Lesson
Isaiah 60:1-6, 9

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and exult,
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
and I will beautify my beautiful house.

Who are these that fly like a cloud,
and like doves to their windows?
For the coastlands shall hope for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from afar,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has made you beautiful.

Psalm 72
Deus judicium

Give the King your judgments, O God, *
and your righteousness to the King’s son.
Then shall he judge your people with righteousness *
and defend the poor with justice.
The mountains also shall bring peace, *
and the little hills righteousness to the people.
He shall vindicate the poor among the people, *
defend the children of the poor, and punish the wrongdoer.
They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure, *
from one generation to another.
He shall come down like the rain upon the mown grass, *
even as showers that water the earth.
In his time shall the righteous flourish, *
even an abundance of peace, so long as the moon endures.
His dominion shall be also from one sea to the other, *
and from the river unto the world’s end.
Those who dwell in the wilderness shall kneel before him; *
his enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall give presents; *
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring gifts.
All kings shall fall down before him; *
all nations shall do him service.
For he shall deliver the poor when he cries, *
the needy also, and the one that has no helper.
He shall be favorable to the lowly and needy, *
and shall preserve the lives of the poor.
He shall deliver them from falsehood and wrong, *
and dear shall their blood be in his sight.
Long may he live! And unto him shall be given the gold of Arabia; *
prayer shall ever be made unto him, and daily shall he be blessed.
There shall be an abundance of grain on the earth, thick upon the hilltops; *
its fruit shall flourish like Lebanon, its grain like the grass upon the earth.
His Name shall endure for ever; his Name shall remain as long as the sun. *
All the nations shall be blessed through him and shall call him blessed.
Blessed be the LORD God, even the God of Israel, *
who alone does wondrous things;
And blessed be the Name of his majesty for ever; *
and all the earth shall be filled with his majesty. Amen, Amen.

The Epistle
Ephesians 3:1-13

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

The Gospel
Matthew 2:1-12

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
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The scripture texts for the Lesson, the Epistle, and Gospel are taken from the English Standard Version Bible. The Collect and Psalm are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (2019).

The image above is of The Adoration of the Magi by Salomon Koninck (1609-1656).

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January 2, 2026 · 12:35 am

Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, Bishop in South India, Evangelist, 1945

The first Indian bishop of the Anglican Church in India, Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah was born in 1874 in a small village in one of the most economically deprived areas of South India (now in the state of Andhra Pradesh), the son of Thomas Vedanayagam, an Anglican priest, and Ellen, a woman with a deep love and understanding of the holy Scriptures. Samuel became a YMCA evangelist at nineteen and secretary of the organization throughout South India only a few years later. He saw that, for the Church in India to grow and to bring ordinary Indians to Jesus Christ, it had to have indigenous leadership. He helped create the Tinnevelly-based Indian Missionary Society in 1903, and was a co-founder of the National Missionary Society of India, an all-India, Indian-led agency founded in December 1905. At the age of thirty-five he was ordained to the presbyterate, and three years later (December, 1912) he was consecrated as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Dornakal, with eleven bishops of the Anglican Church in India participating in the liturgy at St Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta. Bishop Azariah was the first Indian to be consecrated a bishop in the Churches of the Anglican Communion.

As bishop, his work moved from primary evangelism to forwarding his desire for more Indian clergy and the need to raise their educational standards. By 1924, the ordained leadership of the Diocese of Dornakal included eight English-born priests and fifty-three Indian clergy. Bishop Azariah was also an avid ecumenist and one of the first to see the importance, indeed the necessity, of a united Church to mission and evangelism (a passion that would be taken up by others in India, like the missionary Lesslie Newbigin). Azariah died on January 1, 1945, two years before the inauguration of the united Church of South India.

In The History of Nandyal Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, Constance Millington writes,

Azariah had two great priorities in his work: evangelism and the desire for Christian unity.

He understood evangelism to be the acid test of Christianity. When asked what he would preach about in a village that had never heard of Christ, Azariah answered without hesitation: ‘The resurrection.’ From a convert he demanded full acceptance of Christianity which would include baptism and which could therefore include separation from family and caste. He claimed that Christianity took its origin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outburst of supernatural power that this society manifested in the world.

Azariah recognized that because four-fifths of Indian people live in villages, for the Church to be an indigenous one it must be a rural Church. He was constantly in the villages, inspiring and guiding the teachers, clergy and congregations. He blamed the missionaries for not training people in evangelism, and thought their teaching had been mission centered instead of Church centered, and he pleaded with missionaries to build up the Indian Church. Much of the Christian outreach in his area was among the outcast people. Gradually as Christianity spread amongst the villages, the social situation began to change, the Christian outcasts gaining a new self-respect as they realized their worth in the eyes of God.

Azariah considered that one of the factors that hampered evangelism, and possibly the deepening of the spiritual life of the convert, was the western appearance of the Church in both its buildings and its services. As early as 1912 he had visions of a cathedral for the diocese to be built in the eastern style, where all Christians could feel spiritually at home regardless of their religious background and race. Building was delayed because of the Great War in Europe, but finally his dream was realised when the Cathedral Church of The Most Glorious Epiphany was consecrated on January 6, 1936. The building is a beautiful structure embodying ideas from Christian, Hindu and Moslem architecture. Its dignity and spaciousness create a very different effect from that of the nineteenth and twentieth century Gothic churches and furnishings scattered elsewhere in India.

If the evangelization of India was Azariah’s first priority, his second was that of Church unity. He saw the two as interrelated. Believing that a united Church was in accordance with the will of God, “that we may all be one,” he also believed that a united Church would be more effective for evangelism. Addressing the Lambeth Conference in 1930 he pleaded:

“In India we wonder if you have sufficiently contemplated the grievous sin of perpetuating your divisions and denominational bitterness in these your daughter churches. We want you to take us seriously when we say that the problem of union is one of life and death. Do not, we plead with you, do not give us your aid to keep us separate, but lead us to union so that you and we may go forward together and fulfil the prayer, ‘That we may all be one.'”

Bishop Samuel is commemorated in the sanctoral calendars of the Anglican Church in North America and the Church of England on January 2.

prepared from material in Celebrating the Saints (compiled by Robert Atwell), A History of the Church of England in India (The Rt. Revd. Eyre Chatterton), and others

The Collect

O God, our heavenly Father, you raised up your faithful servant Samuel to be a Bishop and pastor in your Church and to feed your flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of your Holy Spirit, that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ and stewards of your divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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