3And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
5And now, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6For he has forsaken his people the house of Israel, because their land is filled as at the beginning with divinations, as the land of the Philistines, and many strange children were born to them.
7For their land is filled with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures; their land also is filled with horses, and there was no number of chariots.
8And the land is filled with abominations, even the works of their hands; and they have worshipped the works which their fingers made.
9And the mean man bowed down, and the great man was humbled: and I will not pardon them.
10Now therefore enter you⌃ into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
11For the eyes of the Lord are high, but man is low; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Genesis 1.24-2.3 (Vespers)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, quadrupeds and reptiles and wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and it was so.
25And God made the wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and cattle according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the earth according to their kind, and God saw that they were good.
26And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
27And God made man, according to the image of God he made him, male and female he made them.
28And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seas and flying creatures of heaven, and all the cattle and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
29And God said, Behold I have given to you every seed-bearing herb sowing seed which is upon all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed that is sown, to you it shall be for food.
30And to all the wild beasts of the earth, and to all the flying creatures of heaven, and to every reptile creeping on the earth, which has in itself the breath of life, even every green plant for food; and it was so.
31And God saw all the things that he had made, and, behold, they were very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them.
2And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.
3And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do.
Proverbs 2.1-22 (Vespers)
1My son, if you will receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with you;
2your ear shall listen to wisdom; you shall also apply your heart to understanding, and shall apply it to the instruction of your son.
3For if you shall call to wisdom, and utter your voice for understanding;
4and if you shall seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;
5then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence come knowledge and understanding,
7and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;
8that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.
9Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment; and shall direct all your course aright.
10For if wisdom shall come into your understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to your soul,
11good counsel shall guard you, and holy understanding shall keep you;
12to deliver you from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.
13Alas for those who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;
14who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;
15whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;
16to remove you far from the straight way, and to estrange you from a righteous purpose. My son, let not evil counsel overtake you,
17of her who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.
18For she has fixed her house near death, and guided her wheels near Hades with the giants.
19None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.
20For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.
21For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.
22The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.
Commemorations
Martyr Sabinas of Egypt
He was the administrator (we would say mayor) of the city of Hermopolis in Egypt. During a persecution, he and many other Christians fled to the mountains, where Sabinas shut himself in a hut and spent his days in fasting and prayer. But a poor man who brought him food (and whom Sabinas had helped in many ways) betrayed him to the authorities for two pieces of gold. Sabinas and six others were arrested, bound and brought before the governor Arian. After harsh torture, Sabinas was drowned in the Nile.
Our Holy Father Christodoulos, Wonderworker of Patmos (1111)
He was from the region of Nicaea, and was named John by his parents Theodore and Anna. He took up the monastic life at an early age, and was renamed Christodoulos (‘Slave of Christ’). After going far in the ascetical life, he was given permission by the Emperor Alexis I (1081-1118) to establish a church and monastery on the island of Patmos, dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Both the church and the monastery stand and continue in use to this day. When Patmos was attacked by the Arabs, he and his disciples fled to Euboea, where he reposed. The Saint’s disciples brought his relics back to his own monastery, where they continue to work miracles today.
Holy Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy, first Bishop of Britain (1st c.)
“He was the brother of the Apostle Barnabas and was born in Cyprus. He was a follower of the Apostle Paul, who mentions him in his Epistle to the Romans (16:10). When the great Apostle Paul created many bishops for different parts of the world, he made this Aristobulus bishop of Britain (i.e. England). In Britain there was a wild people, pagan and wicked, and Aristobulus endured among them unmentionable torments, misfortunes and malice. They smote him without mercy, dragged him through the streets, mocked him and jeered at him. But in the end this holy man came to success by the power of the grace of God. He enlightened the people, baptised them in the name of Christ the Lord, built churches, ordained priests and deacons and finally died there in peace and went to the Kingdom of the Lord whom he had served so faithfully.” (Prologue)
Note: in the Greek calendar he is commemorated on March 15.