Isaiah 8.13-9.7 (6th Hour)

13Sanctify you⌃ the Lord himself; and he shall be your fear. 14And if you shall trust in him, he shall be to you for a sanctuary; and you⌃ shall not come against him as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit. 15Therefore many among them shall be weak, and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw near, and men shall be taken securely. 16Then shall those who seal themselves that they may not learn the law be made manifest. 17And one shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him. 18Behold I and the children which God has given me: and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion. 19And if they should say to you, Seek those who have in them a divining spirit, and them that speak out of the earth, them that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly: shall not a nation diligently seek to their God? why do they seek to the dead concerning the living? 20For he has given the law for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it. 21And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass, that when you⌃ shall be hungry, you⌃ shall be grieved, and you⌃ shall speak ill of the prince and your fathers' ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven above, 22and they shall look on the earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and anguish, and darkness so that one can’t see; and he that is in anguish shall not be distressed only for a time.

1Drink this first. Act quickly, O land of Zabulon, land of Nephthalim, and the rest inhabiting the sea-coast, and the land beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: you⌃ that dwell in the region and shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you. 3The multitude of the people which you have brought down in your joy, they shall even rejoice before you as they that rejoice in harvest, and as they that divide the spoil. 4Because the yoke that was laid upon them has been taken away, and the rod that was on their neck: for he has broken the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Madiam. 5For they shall compensate for every garment that has been acquired by deceit, and all raiment with restitution; and they shall be willing, even if they were burnt with fire. 6For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him. 7His government shall be great, and of his peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The seal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.

Genesis 6.9-22 (Vespers)

9And these are the generations of Noe. Noe was a just man; being perfect in his generation, Noe was well-pleasing to God. 10And Noe begot three sons, Sem, Cham, Japheth. 11But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity. 12And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted; because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. 13And the Lord God said to Noe, A period of all men is come before me; because the earth has been filled with iniquity by them, and, behold, I destroy them and the earth. 14Make therefore for yourself an ark of square timber; you shall make the ark in compartments, and you shall pitch it within and without with pitch. 15And thus shall you make the ark; three hundred cubits the length of the ark, and fifty cubits the breadth, and thirty cubits the height of it. 16You shall narrow the ark in making it, and in a cubit above you shall finish it, and the door of the ark you shall make on the side; with lower, second, and third stories you shall make it. 17And behold I bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven, and whatever things are upon the earth shall die. 18And I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19And of all cattle and of all reptiles and of all wild beasts, even of all flesh, you shall bring by pairs of all, into the ark, that you may feed them with yourself: male and female they shall be. 20Of all winged birds after their kind, and of all cattle after their kind, and of all reptiles creeping upon the earth after their kind, pairs of all shall come in to you, male and female to be fed with you. 21And you shall take to yourself of all kinds of food which you⌃ eat, and you shall gather them to yourself, and it shall be for you and them to eat. 22And Noe did all things whatever the Lord God commanded him, so did he.

Proverbs 8.1-21 (Vespers)

1You shall proclaim wisdom, that understanding may be obedient to you. 2For she is on lofty eminences, and stands in the midst of the ways. 3For she sits by the gates of princes, and sings in the entrances, saying, 4You, O men, I exhort; and utter my voice to the sons of men. 5O you⌃ simple, understand subtlety, and you⌃ that are untaught, imbibe knowledge. 6Listen to me; for I will speak solemn truths; and will produce right sayings from my lips. 7For my throat shall meditate truth; and false lips are an abomination before me. 8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing in them wrong or perverse. 9They are all evident to those that understand, and right to those that find knowledge. 10Receive instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than tried gold. 11For wisdom is better than precious stones; and no valuable substance is of equal worth with it. 12I wisdom have lived with counsel and knowledge, and I have called upon understanding. 13The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness, and insolence, and pride, and the ways of wicked men; and I hate the perverse ways of bad men. 14Counsel and safety are mine; prudence is mine, and strength is mine. 15By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16By me nobles become great, and monarchs by me rule over the earth. 17I love those that love me; and they that seek me shall find me. 18Wealth and glory belong to me; yes, abundant possessions and righteousness. 19It is better to have my fruit than to have gold and precious stones; and my produce is better than choice silver. 20I walk in ways of righteousness, and am conversant with the paths of judgment; 21that I may divide substance to them that love me, and may fill their treasures with good things. If I declare to you the things that daily happen, I will remember also to recount the things of old.

Ven. Hilarion the New

He took up the monastic life when very young, and lived as a recluse for many years, and gained the grace to heal sicknesses and drive out demons by his prayers. Later he became abbot of the Monastery of Pelekete in Bithynia. During the reign of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, he and his monastery steadfastly upheld the holy icons, and were fiercely persecuted. Hilarion and his forty monks were exiled to a prison near Ephesus, where the Saint reposed.

Repose of Gerontissa Gavrilia (1992) (March 15 OC)

Mother Gavrilia, who was known to many who are still alive, has not been officially glorified by the Church, but is considered by many to be a Saint of our time. Her fine biography, Ascetic of Love, has been translated into English and several other languages. The account below is excerpted from that on the web site of St Gregory Palamas Monastery.

“The Gerontissa Gabrielia was born in Constantinople a hundred years ago on October 2/15, 1897. She grew up in the City until her family moved to Thessalonika in 1923. She went to England in 1938 and stayed there throughout the Second World War. She trained as a chiropodist and physiotherapist. In 1945 she returned to Greece where she worked with the Friends Refugee Mission and the American Farm School in Thessalonika in early post-war years. Later she opened her own therapy office in Athens until 1954. In March of that year her mother died and the office was closed. Sister Lila left Greece and traveled overland to India where she worked with the poorest of the poor, even the lepers, for five years.

“It was not until 1959 that she went to the Monastery of Mary and Martha in Bethany, Palestine, to become a nun. When she arrived she asked Fr. Theodosius the chaplain for a rule of prayer. Fr. Theodosius was somewhat surprised to find that she could read even ancient Byzantine Greek. Fr. Theodosius said, “The great elders that we hear about no longer exist. I certainly am not one. You came here to save your soul. If I start giving you rules, you will lose you soul and I will as well. But here is Fr. John. He will be your elder.” So for her first year in the monastery he set her to reading only the Gospels and St. John Climacus. (It should be noted that at that time the Ladder had not been published in modern Greek.)

“She was three years in Bethany. In April, 1962, word came that Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople sought to send an Orthodox monastic to Taize in France. Sister Gabrielia went by way of Taize (she spoke fluent French from childhood) to America.

“In 1963 she was back in Greece. The Gerontissa was tonsured to the Small Schema by Abbot Amphilochios (Makris) on Patmos in the Cave of St. Anthony under the Monastery of Evangelismos just before she and the nun Tomasina left again for India. Elder Amphilochios was enthusiastic at the idea a nun who would be open to the an active outreach in the world. In India she was for three year in Nani Tal in Uttar Pradesh where Fr. Lazarus Moore was the priest and where he consulted the Gerontissa in his translations of the Psalter and the Fathers. Between 1967 and 1977 the Gerontissa traveled in the Mission field of East Africa, in Europe including visiting old friends and spiritual fathers Lev Gillet and Sophrony of Essex, again to America, and briefly in Sinai where Archbishop Damianos was attempting to reintroduce women’s monasticism. She traveled extensively, with much concern and broad love for the people of God. Some of her spiritual children found her in Jerusalem beside the Tomb of Christ; others found her on the mission field of East Africa. For years beginning in about 1977, she lived hidden in a little apartment, the “House of the Angels” in Patissia in the midst of the noise and smog and confusion of central Athens. A little place, a hidden place, a precious place to those who knew her there.

“In 1989 she moved to Holy Protection hermitage on the island of Aegina, close by the shrine of St. Nectarios. There she called the last two of her spiritual children to become monastics near her, and there she continued to receive many visitors. At the start of Great Lent in 1990 she was hospitalized for lymphatic cancer. She was forty days in the hospital, leaving during Holy Week and receiving communion of Pascha. And to the puzzlement of the doctors, the cancer disappeared. It was not yet her time.

“The Gerontissa finally withdrew to quiet. With only one last nun she moved for the last time in this life, to the island of Leros. There they established the hesychastirion of the Holy Archangels. Only in this last year of her life did she accept the Great Schema at the hands of Fr. Dionysious from Little St. Anne’s Skete on Athos. He came to give her the Schema in the Chapel of the Panaghia in the Kastro on the top of Leros.

“Gerontissa Gabrielia passed from this world on March 28, 1992, having never built a monastery. Over the years, six of her spiritual children did become monastics, but never more that one or two were with her at a time. Only the angels could count the number of lives that God touched and changed through her. Her biography and collected writings were published in Greek in 1996, through the work of her last monastic daughter and the contribution of many, many others who held the Gerontissa dear. An English translation is in process [Note: it has now been published].

“Anyone who knew the Gerontissa realized that God has not left us without His saints, even down to the present day. The few words recorded here scarcely suggest the clarity and love of her soul. Words are only the tools of this world; the wonder of the Gerontissa was wrapped in the mystery of the silence of the world to come.

“She never sought a reputation. She never allowed anything about her to be published during her long life and only allowed her children to take photographs in her very last years. Those whom God touched through her called her Gerontissa; she never made herself anything but the nun Gabrielia.

“She was humility and love incarnate.”

The Gerontissa embodied an ‘ecumenism’ that might serve as a model for many in our time: she was completely loving and open to all people of all faiths, yet while working freely with protestants and Hindus in service to man, she never compromised any aspect of her Orthodox faith. Once, some protestant fellow-workers suggested that they pray together; Mother Gavrilia thanked them lovingly, but said ‘I only pray in church or alone.’