8Thus says the Lord, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all.
9And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of Juda, and they shall inherit my holy mountain: and my elect and my servants shall inherit it, and shall dwell there.
10And there shall be in the forest folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor shall be for a resting-place of herds for my people, who have sought me.
11But you⌃ are they that have left me, and forget my holy mountain, and prepare a table for the devil, and fill up the drink-offering to Fortune.
12I will deliver you up to the sword, you⌃ shall all fall by slaughter: for I called you, and you⌃ listened not; I spoke, and you⌃ refused to hear; and you⌃ did evil in my sight, and chose the things wherein I delighted not.
13Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you⌃ shall hunger: behold, my servants shall drink, but you⌃ shall thirst: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you⌃ shall be ashamed:
14behold, my servants shall exult with joy, but you⌃ shall cry for the sorrow of your heart, and shall howl for the vexation of your spirit.
15For you⌃ shall leave your name for a loathing to my chosen, and the Lord shall destroy you: but my servants shall be called by a new name,
16which shall be blessed on the earth; for they shall bless the true God: and they that swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God; for they shall forget the former affliction, it shall not come into their mind.
Genesis 46.1-7 (Vespers)
1And Israel departed, he and all that he had, and came to the well of the oath; and he offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac.
2And God spoke to Israel in a night vision, saying, Jacob, Jacob; and he said, What is it?
3And he says to him, I am the God of your fathers; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make you there a great nation.
4And I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will bring you up at the end; and Joseph shall put his hands on your eyes.
5And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath; and the sons of Israel took up their father, and the baggage, and their wives on the wagons, which Joseph sent to take them.
6And they took up their goods, and all their property, which they had gotten in the land of Chanaan; they came into the land of Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him.
7The sons, and the sons of his sons with him; his daughters, and the daughters of his daughters; and he brought all his seed into Egypt.
Proverbs 23.15-24.5 (Vespers)
15Son, if your heart be wise, you shall also gladden my heart;
16and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.
17Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18For if you should keep these things, you shall have posterity; and your hope shall not be removed.
19Hear, my son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.
20Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:
21for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
22Listen, my son, to your father which begot you, and despise not your mother because she is grown old.
24A righteous father brings up his children well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.
25Let your father and your mother rejoice over you, and let her that bore you be glad.
26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.
28For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.
29Who has woe? who trouble? who has quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who has bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?
30Are not those of them that stay long at wine? are not those of them that haunt the places where banquets are? Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse with them openly.
31For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
32But at last such a one stretches himself out as one struck by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.
33Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.
34And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.
35And you shall say, They struck me, and I was not pained; and they mocked me, and I knew it not: when will it be morning, that I may go and seek those with whom I may go in company?
1My son, envy not bad men, nor desire to be with them.
2For their heart meditates falsehoods, and their lips speak mischiefs.
3A house is built by wisdom, and is set up by understanding.
4By discretion the chambers are filled with all precious and excellent wealth.
5A wise man is better than a strong man; and a man who has prudence than a large estate.
Commemorations
Holy Fathers Slain at St Sabbas Monastery
The holy Monastery of St Sabbas is still in existence today, by the providence of God, though several times in its history it has been plundered and left empty. At one time it was attacked by Arab raiders. The monks considered fleeing, but their abbot, Thomas, said, ‘We have fled from the world into this wilderness for the love of Christ; it would be shameful for us now to flee from the wilderness for fear of men. If we are killed here, we shall be killed through love for Christ, for whose sake we have come here to live.’ So the monks agreed with one mind to wait their attackers unarmed. The Arabs killed some with arrows, and shut some in the cave of St Sabbas, lighting a fire at the entrance to suffocate them with smoke. The whole company of monks were thus privileged to give their lives for Christ’s sake.
Accounts of the date differ substantially: the Great Horologion says that they died during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, when St Modestus was Patriarch of Jerusalem (632-634); the Prologue that they died in 796 during the reign of Constantine and Irene, when Elias was Patriarch of Jerusalem.
St Photine the Samaritan Woman (66)
See her commemoration on February 26.
St Cuthbert the Wonderworker, Bishop of Lindisfarne (687)
‘Saint Cuthbert was born in Britain about the year 635, and became a monk in his youth at the monastery of Melrose by the River Tweed. After many years of struggle as a true priest of Christ, in the service both of his own brethren and of the neglected Christians of isolated country villages, he became a solitary on Farne Island in 676. After eight years as a hermit, he was constrained to leave his quiet to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, in which office he served for almost two years. He returned to his hermitage two months before he reposed in peace in 687.
‘Because of the miracles he wrought both during his life and at his tomb after death, he is called the “Wonderworker of Britain.” The whole English people honoured him, and kings were both benefactors to his shrine and suppliants of his prayers. Eleven years after his death, his holy relics were revealed to be incorrupt; when his body was translated from Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral in August of 1104, his body was still found to be untouched by decay, giving off “an odour of the sweetest fragrancy,” and “from the flexibility of its joints representing a person asleep rather than dead.” Finally, when the most impious Henry VIII desecrated his shrine, opening it to despoil it of its valuables, his body was again found incorrupt, and was buried in 1542. It is believed that after this the holy relics of Saint Cuthbert were hidden to preserve them from further desecration.’ (Great Horologion)