Isaiah 48.17-49.4 (6th Hour)

17Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the Holy One of Israel; I am your God, I have shown you how you should find the way wherein you should walk. 18And if you had listened to my commandments, then would your peace have been like a river, and your righteousness as a wave of the sea. 19Your seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your belly as the dust of the ground: neither now shall you by any means be utterly destroyed, neither shall your name perish before me. 20Go forth of Babylon, you that flee from the Chaldeans: utter aloud a voice of joy, and let this be made known, proclaim it to the end of the earth; say you⌃, The Lord has delivered his servant Jacob. 21And if they shall thirst, he shall lead them through the desert; he shall bring forth water to them out of the rock: the rock shall be cloven, and the water shall flow forth, and my people shall drink. 22There is no joy, says the Lord, to the ungodly.

1Listen to me, you⌃ islands; and attend, you⌃ Gentiles; after a long time it shall come to pass, says the Lord: from my mother's womb he has called my name: 2and he has made my mouth as a sharp sword, and he has hid me under the shadow of his hand; he has made me as a choice shaft, and he has hid me in his quiver; 3and said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, and in you I will be glorified. 4Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing: therefore is my judgment with the Lord, and my labor before my God.

Genesis 27.1-41 (Vespers)

1And it came to pass after Isaac was old, that his eyes were dimmed so that he could not see; and he called Esau, his elder son, and said to him, My son; and he said, Behold, I am here. 2And he said, Behold, I am grown old, and know not the day of my death. 3Now then take the weapons, both your quiver and your bow, and go into the plain, and get me venison, 4and make me meats, as I like them, and bring them to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you, before I die. 5And Rebecca heard Isaac speaking to Esau his son; and Esau went to the plain to procure venison for his father. 6And Rebecca said to Jacob her younger son, Behold, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying, 7Bring me venison, and prepare me meats, that I may eat and bless you before the Lord before I die. 8Now then, my son, listen to me, as I command you. 9And go to the cattle and take for me thence two kids, tender and good, and I will make them meats for your father, as he likes. 10And you shall bring them in to your father, and he shall eat, that your father may bless you before he dies. 11And Jacob said to his mother Rebecca, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I a smooth man. 12Peradventure my father may feel me, and I shall be before him as one ill-intentioned, and I shall bring upon me a curse, and not a blessing. 13And his mother said to him, On me be your curse, son; only listen to my voice, and go and bring them me. 14So he went and took and brought them to his mother; and his mother made meats, as his father liked them. 15And Rebecca having taken the fine raiment of her elder son Esau which was with her in the house, put it on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put on his arms the skins of the kids, and on the bare parts of his neck. 17And she gave the meats, and the loaves which she had prepared, into the hands of Jacob her son. 18And he brought them to his father, and said, Father; and he said, Behold I am here; who are you, son? 19And Jacob said to his father, I, Esau your firstborn, have done as you told me; rise, sit, and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me. 20And Isaac said to his son, What is this which you have quickly found? And he said, That which the Lord your God presented before me. 21And Isaac said to Jacob, Draw near to me, and I will feel you, son, if you are my son Esau or not. 22And Jacob drew near to his father Isaac, and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23And he knew him not, for his hands were as the hands of his brother Esau, hairy; and he blessed him, 24and he said, Are you my son Esau? and he said, I am. 25And he said, Bring hither, and I will eat of your venison, son, that my soul may bless you; and he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26And Isaac his father said to him, Draw near to me, and kiss me, son. 27And he drew near and kissed him, and smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of an abundant field, which the Lord has blessed. 28And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine. 29And let nations serve you, and princes bow down to you, and be you lord of your brother, and the sons of your father shall do you reverence; accursed is he that curses you, and blessed is he that blesses you. 30And it came to pass after Isaac had ceased blessing his son Jacob, it even came to pass, just when Jacob had gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31And he also had made meats and brought them to his father; and he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me. 32And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your firstborn son Esau. 33And Isaac was amazed with very great amazement, and said, Who then is it that has procured venison for me and brought it to me? and I have eaten of all before you came, and I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed. 34And it came to pass when Esau heard the words of his father Isaac, he cried out with a great and very bitter cry, and said, Bless, I pray you, me also, father. 35And he said to him, Your brother has come with subtlety, and taken your blessing. 36And he said, Rightly was his name called Jacob, for behold! this second time has he supplanted me; he has both taken my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing; and Esau said to his father, Have you not left a blessing for me, father? 37And Isaac answered and said to Esau, If I have made him your lord, and have made all his brethren his servants, and have strengthened him with corn and wine, what then shall I do for you, son? 38And Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, father? Bless, I pray you, me also, father. And Isaac being troubled, Esau cried aloud and wept. 39And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. 40And you shall live by your sword, and shall serve your brother; and there shall be a time when you shall break and loosen his yoke from off your neck. 41And Esau was angry with Jacob because of the blessing, with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his mind, Let the days of my father's mourning draw near, that I may kill my brother Jacob.

Proverbs 19.16-25 (Vespers)

16He that keeps the commandment keeps his own soul; but he that despises his ways shall perish. 17He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord; and he will recompense to him according to his gift. 18Chasten your son, for so he shall be hopeful; and be not exalted in your soul to haughtiness. 19A malicious man shall be severely punished, and if he commit injury, he shall also lose his life. 20Hear, son, the instruction of your father, that you may be wise at your latter end. 21There are many thoughts in a man's heart; but the counsel of the Lord abides for ever. 22Mercy is a fruit to a man: and a poor man is better than a rich liar. 23The fear of the Lord is life to a man: and he shall lodge without fear in places where knowledge is not seen. 24He that unjustly hides his hands in his bosom, will not even bring them up to his mouth. 25When a pestilent character is scourged, a simple man is made wiser: and if you reprove a wise man, he will understand discretion.

Hieromartyr Artemon, Presbyter of Laodicea

At the time of Diocletian’s persecutions, he was a very old man, having served as a reader for sixteen years, then a deacon for twenty-eight years, and finally as a priest for thirty years, for a total of seventy-four years. The pagan judge put him in the Temple of Aesculapius, where large snakes were kept and worshiped as gods. Though the judge meant for Artemon to be attacked by the snakes, the holy priest immobilized them with the sign of the Cross, brought them out of the temple and, in front of the pagan priests, breathed on the snakes, which died instantly. The chief priest, Vitalis, fell to his knees and cried ‘Great is the Christian God!’ Artemon baptised him along with several of his friends.

The unrepentant judge then condemned Artemon to be thrown into burning pitch, but the judge himself was thrown off his horse into the pitch and died. After this, Artemon went free for a time and spent his time teaching the Faith to his people (“accompanied always by two tame deer,” says St Nikolia Velimirovic!). But he was arrested again and beheaded in the year 303.

St Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome (655)

“Martin became Pope on July 5th, 649, at the time of a furious quarrel between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics. Constans the Second, Heraclius’ grandson, was on the throne at the time, and Paul was Patriarch of Constantinople. To restore peace in the Church, the Emperor himself wrote a dogmatic decree, the Typos, which leaned heavily towards heresy. Pope Martin summoned a Council of 105 bishops, at which the Emperor’s statement was condemned. At the same time, the Pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, begging him to uphold the purity of the Orthodox faith and to counsel the Emperor to reject the theories of the heretics. This letter infuriated both the Patriarch and the Emperor. The Emperor sent one of his generals, Olympius, to take the Pope to Constantinople in bonds. The general did not dare to bind the Pope with his own hands, but instructed one of his soldiers to kill him with the sword in church. But, when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was instantly blinded. So, by the providence of God, Martin escaped death. At that time, the Saracens fell upon Sicily, and Olympius went off there, where he died. Then, by the intrigues of the heretic Patriarch Paul, the Emperor sent a second general, Theodore, to bind and take the Pope on the charge that he, the Pope, was in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not reverence the most holy Mother of God. [!!] When the general arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the Pope, he replied that it was a libel; that he had no contact of any sort with the Saracens, the opponents of Christianity, ‘and whoever does not confess the most holy Mother of God and do her reverence, let him be damned in this age and in that which is to come.’ But this did not affect the general’s decision. The Pope was bound and taken to Constantinople, where he lay long in prison in great sickness, tortured by both anxiety and hunger, until he was finally sentenced to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years before his death. He gave his soul into the hands of the Lord, for whom he had suffered so greatly, in 655. The evil Patriarch, Paul,died two years before him and, when the Emperor visited him on his deathbed, he smote his head against the wall, confessing with tears that he had greatly sinned against Pope Martin and asking the Emperor to set Martin free.’ (Prologue)

In some menaia he is commemorated on April 14.