Daily Reading:
Monday March 1/14
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
By the intercessions of Thine All-immaculate Mother and of all Thy Saints, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen
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Monday
SIXTH HOUR
Isaiah 1:1-20
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
VESPERS
Genesis 1:1-13
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Proverbs 1:1-20
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
NO LITURGY
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HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS MARTYR EUDOKIA THE SAMARITAN
ST DAVID OF WALES
Troparion of St Eudokia Tone 3
O Eudokia, when godly fear entered thy heart,/ thou didst abandon the glory of the world,/ and hasten to God the Word./ Thou didst take His yoke on thy flesh,/ and shed thy blood in a contest surpassing nature./ O glorious Martyr, entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.
Troparion of St David Tone l
Having worked miracles in thy youth, founded monasteries and converted the pagans/ who had sought to destroy thee, O Father David,/ Christ our God blessed thee to receive the episcopate at the place of His Resurrection./ Intercede for us, that our lives may be blessed and our souls may be saved.
Kontakion of St Eudokia Tone 4
He Who was pleased to raise thee from the depths of perdition to the summit of godliness/ has also made thee illustrious through thy contest./ He has granted thee the grace of healing,/ O righteous Martyr and equal to the Angels./ Beseech Him to save us, O Eudokia.
Kontakion of St David Tone 6
The living waters of godly discipline encompassed thee/ and the saving waters of faith flowed through thy teaching/ O Hierarch and Waterman David./ Symbolizing the baptism of Wales in thy life, thou art worthy of all praise,/ wherefore we keep festival in thy honour,/ glorifying thy eternal memory.
Canticle One
(Of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete)
TONE SIX
(Irmos) He is for me unto salvation Helper and Protector. He is my God and I glorify Him, God of my fathers is He and I will exalt Him, for He is greatly glorified.
*Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Where shall I begin to lament the deeds of my wretched life? What first-fruit shall I offer, O Christ, in this my lamentation? But in Thy compassion grant me forgiveness of sins.
Come, wretched soul, with your flesh, confess to the Creator of all. Make confession to Him, and abatain henceforth from they past brutishness; and offer to God tears of repentance.
I have rivalled in transgression Adan the first formed-man, and I have found myself stripped naked of God, of the eternal Kingdom and its joy, because of my sins.
Woe, to thee miserable soul! How like thou are to the first Eve! For thou hast looked in wickedness and wast grievously wounded; though hast touched the tree and rashly tasted the deceptive food.
Instead of the visible Eve, I have the Eve of the mind: the passionate thought in my flesh, showing me what seems sweet; yet whenever I taste from it, I find it bitter.
Adam was justly banished from Eden because he disobeyed one commandment of Thine, O Saviour. What then shall I suffer, for I am always rejecting Thy words of life?
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Trinity beyond all being, worshipped in Unity, take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and in Thy compassion grant me tears of compunction.
Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
O, Theotokos, hope and protection of those who sing thy praises, take from me the heavy yoke of sin and, pure Lady, accept me in repentance.
From The Lenten Triodion, translated by Mother Maria and Kallistos Ware.
***Todays complete section of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete can be read at: http://www.monachos.net/monasticism/andrew_of_crete/great_canon_mon.shtml
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