Peace be to you, reader!

Today is the feastday St. Sabbas (note the rather striking hesychastian schema habit in red above) . After shopping around for a hagiography that is not too long, but gets the high points I chose the below from the Catholic Encyclopedia and added some explanatory notes. The Orthodox Wiki also has some good information.

Hermit, born at Mutalaska near Caesarea in Cappadocia, 439; died in his laura (semi-eremitical Palestine-area monastery of which none are said to exist any longer) 5 December, 532. He entered a Basilian monastery at the age of eight, came to Jerusalem in 456, lived five years in a cavern as a disciple of St. Euthymius (miracle-worker and abbot), and, after spending some time in various monasteries, founded (483) the Laura Mar Sabe (restored in 1840) in the gorges of the Cedron, southeast of Jerusalem. Because some of his monks opposed his rule and demanded a priest as their abbot, Patriarch Salustius of Jerusalem ordained him in 491 and appointed archimandrite (from the Greek ἀρχι- and μάνδρα "chief or principle" and "enclosed space or monastery") of all the monasteries in Palestine in 494. The opposition continued and he withdrew to the new laura which he had built near Thekoa. A strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the Origenists he tried to influence the emperors against them by calling personally on Emperor Anastasius at Constantinople in 511 and on Justinian in 531. His authorship of "Typicon S. Sabæ" (Venice, 1545), a regulation for Divine worship throughout the year as well as his authorship of a monastic rule bearing the same title (Kurtz in "Byzant, Zeitschrift", III, Leipzig, 1894, 167-70), is doubtful. After him was named the Basilica of St. Sabas with its former monastery on the Aventine at Rome. His feast is on 5 December.

Today I get to act as a Reader (untonsured) for the first time. The Greek word for which, amusingly, also means "slave trained to read." Last night my wife (who knows music) tried to teach me (who does not) how to better pull notes from paper onto my throat. Lots of people from church have helped me with the process (sincerest thanks!), but it remains a daunting prospect. Luckily, I was able to get a Wednesday spot so that mine voice canst not offend the ear of those in attendance. Hopefully I can get there early to practice a bit.