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
Ven. Theophanes the Confessor
He was born in 760 to an illustrious and very wealthy family — he was a kinsman of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian. In early life he lived in great luxury, married, and became a member of the Emperor’s court. Later, with his wife’s consent, he abandoned his home, his fortune and his rank to live humbly in a monastery. (His wife also entered monastic life; both of them entered monasteries that they had established with their wealth). Theophanes, though accustomed to a life of splendor and ease, joyfully lived as the lowest of monks for many years. He became so well-known for his faith, purity and wisdom that he was invited to the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787. He prayed unceasingly for the sick and distressed, and was granted the gift of wonder working: his prayers healed all kinds of illnesses, but especially mania and madness. When he himself fell seriously ill for a long period, he refused to pray for his own healing, but accepted his infirmity with thanksgiving.
When a second iconoclast period arose under the Emperor Leo the Armenian, Theophanes, who was widely known for his defense of the holy icons, was taken to Constantinople and imprisoned under extremely harsh conditions for two years. The Emperor then sent him into exile on the island of Samothrace. There, his body broken by his cruel imprisonment, he lived for only twenty-three days before giving up his soul to God.
St Gregory the Great (the Dialogist), Pope of Rome (604)
He was born in Rome to a wealthy senatorial family. He received a good education in secular and spiritual learning, and became Prefect of Rome. While still in the world, he used his great wealth mostly for the good of the Church, building six monasteries in Sicily and another in Rome itself. At this monastery, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, Gregory was tonsured a monk. He was appointed Archdeacon of Rome, then, in 579, Papal legate to Constantinople, where he lived for nearly seven years. He returned to Rome in 585 and was elected Pope in 590.
He is famed for his many writings, his generous charity (he gave almost all his income to the poor, and often invited the poor to share his table), and for initiating missionary work among the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated on Wednesday and Friday evenings during Great Lent, was compiled by him. St Gregory introduced elements of the chanting that he had heard in Constantinople into Western Church chant: The Gregorian Chant which beautified the Western churches for many years is named for him. Its system of modes is related to the eight tones of the Eastern church. He is called ‘the Dialogist’ after his book The Dialogues, an account of the lives and miracles of Italian saints.