Orthodox Calendar

Wednesday, February 21, 2001
Cheesefare Wednesday

Fast — Meat Fast — Abstain from meat

Service Notes

  • No Liturgy

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

Joel 2.12-26 (6th Hour)

12Now therefore, says the Lord your God, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation: 13and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils. 14Who knows if he will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering to the Lord your God? 15Sound the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service: 16gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants at the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17Between the porch and the altar let the priests that minister to the Lord weep, and say, Spare your people, O Lord, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them, lest they should say among the heathen, Where is their God? 18But the Lord was jealous of his land, and spared his people. 19And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and youpl shall be satisfied with them: and I will no longer make you a reproach among the Gentiles. 20And I will chase away from you the northern adversary, and will drive him away into a dry land, and I will sink his face in the former sea, and his back parts in the latter sea, and his ill savor shall come up, and his stink come up, because he has wrought great things. 21Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things. 22Be of good courage, youpl beasts of the plain, for the plains of the wilderness have budded, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded their strength. 23Rejoice then and be glad, youpl children of Sion, in the Lord your God: for he has given you food fully, and he will rain on you the early and the latter rain, as before. 24And the floors shall be filled with corn, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. 25And I will recompense you for the years which the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, and the cankerworm have eaten, even my great army, which I sent against you. 26And youpl shall eat abundantly, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God for the things which he has wrought wonderfully with you: and my people shall not be ashamed for ever.

Joel 3.12-21 (Vespers)

12Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about. 13Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread the grapes, for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied. 14Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light. 16And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel. 17And youpl shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her anymore. 18And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the fountains of Juda shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of flags. 19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea shall be a desolate plain, because of the wrongs of the children of Juda, because they have shed righteous blood in their land. 20But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 21And I will make inquisition for their blood, and will by no means leave it unavenged: and the Lord shall dwell in Sion.

Ephesians 2.4-10 (Epistle, St. Theodore)

4But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; 8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, that no one would boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

Matthew 10.16-22 (Gospel, St. Theodore)

16“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. 18Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. 19But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say. 20For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

21“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

Commemorations

Greatmartyr Theodore Stratelates

He was a renowned commander in the Imperial army, and dwelt in Heraclea of Pontus. The Emperor Licinius heard of Theodore’s fame as an officer, and also that he was a devout Christian; the Emperor determined to visit the general, officially to honor him, but secretly to turn him from Christ.

When the Emperor came to Heraclea, Saint Theodore met him with all honor, and the Emperor in turn praised him for his service to the state. Licinius then publicly bade Theodore make sacrifice to the gods. Theodore asked that he be given the most venerable gods, made of gold and silver, to attend upon at home, and promised that the following day he would return and honor them before the people. The Emperor, thinking that he had succeeded in restoring Theodore to paganism, gladly agreed.

That night the Saint smashed all the idols he had taken home, and distributed the gold and silver pieces to the poor. When this was discovered, Theodore gladly admitted his deed and confessed Christ boldly. The Emperor, in a fury, had the Saint subjected to many tortures, then crucified. On the cross, he was subject to further torments and mutilations: parts of his body were cut off, his eyes put out, and he was shot with arrows, finally being left on the cross for dead. The next day Licinius sent men to cast his body into the sea, but to their amazement they found the Saint alive, his body perfectly intact. Through this, many spectators and some of the Emperor’s own men turned to Christ. Seeing that the Saint, far from renouncing Christ, was leading others to Him, the Emperor promptly had him beheaded. His holy relics were returned to his family home in Euchaita, where they worked so many miracles that the town came to be known as Theodoropolis.

Holy Prophet Zechariah (6th c. BC)

He was among those who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, following the decree of Cyrus in 538 BC. With the Prophet Haggai (December 16) he began to prophesy in Jerusalem in 520, to encourage the Jews to return to their task of rebuilding the Temple, which they had given up in discouragement. His prophetic ministry is described both in the Book of Ezra and in the Old Testament book that bears his name. His prophecies, in addition to speaking to the situation in which he lived, are replete with prophecies of the coming, and second coming, of Christ. His name means “The Lord is renowned.” Sozomen’s Ecclesiastical History reports that under the Emperor Honorius, Zacharias’ holy relics were discovered by divine revelation in Palestine, and were found to be incorrupt.

St Sabbas II, Archbishop of Serbia (1271)

He was the son of St Stephen the First- Crowned King of Serbia (September 24), and the nephew of St Sabbas (Sava) (January 14), the first Archbishop of Serbia. Like his uncle, he became a monk at the monastery of Chilandar on Mt Athos, where he zealously lived the ascetical life until he was elected Bishop of Zachounios, then Archbishop of Serbia. He fell asleep in peace in 1271, having shepherded his flock with love and wisdom. His holy relics are in the monastery of Pech.