5Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that tread on it:
6I the Lord God have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will strengthen you: and I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles:
7to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison-house.
8I am the Lord God: that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praises to graven images.
9Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and so will the new things which I tell you: yes, before I tell them they are made known to you.
10Sing a new hymn to the Lord: you⌃ who are his dominion, glorify his name from the end of the earth: you⌃ that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them.
11Rejoice, you wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the dwellers in Kedar: the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains.
12They shall give glory to God, and shall proclaim his praises in the islands.
13The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies.
14I have been silent: shall I also always be silent and forbear: I have endured like a travailing woman: I will now amaze and wither at once.
15I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools.
16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and will not forsake them.
Genesis 18.20-33 (Vespers)
20And the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha has been increased towards me, and their sins are very great.
21I will therefore go down and see, if they completely correspond with the cry which comes to me, and if not, that I may know.
22And the men having departed thence, came to Sodom; and Abraam was still standing before the Lord.
23And Abraam drew near and said, Wouldest you destroy the righteous with the wicked, and shall the righteous be as the wicked?
24Should there be fifty righteous in the city, will you destroy them? will you not spare the whole place for the sake of the fifty righteous, if they be in it?
25By no means shall you do as this thing is so as to destroy the righteous with the wicked, so the righteous shall be as the wicked: by no means. You that judge the whole earth, shall you not do right?
26And the Lord said, If there should be in Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole city, and the whole place for their sakes.
27And Abraam answered and said, Now I have begun to speak to my Lord, and I am earth and ashes.
28But if the fifty righteous should be diminished to forty-five, will you destroy the whole city because of the five lacking? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there forty-five.
29And he continued to speak to him still, and said, But if there should be found there forty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the forty's sake.
30And he said, Will there be anything against me, Lord, if I shall speak? but if there be found there thirty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the thirty's sake.
31And he said, Since I am able to speak to the Lord, what if there should be found there twenty? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there twenty.
32And he said, Will there be anything against me, Lord, if I speak yet once? but if there should be found there ten? And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.
33And the Lord departed, when he left off speaking to Abraam, and Abraam returned to his place.
Proverbs 16.17-17.17 (Vespers)
17The paths of life turn aside from evil; and the ways of righteousness are length of life. He that receives instruction shall be in prosperity; and he that regards reproofs shall be made wise. He that keeps his ways, preserves his own soul; and he that loves his life will spare his mouth.
18Pride goes before destruction, and folly before a fall.
19Better is a meek-spirited man with lowliness, than one who divides spoils with the proud.
20He who is skillful in business finds good: but he that trusts in God is most blessed.
21Men call the wise and understanding evil: but they that are pleasing in speech shall hear more.
22Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessors; but the instruction of fools is evil.
23The heart of the wise will discern the things which proceed from his own mouth; and on his lips he will wear knowledge.
24Good words are honeycombs, and the sweetness thereof is a healing of the soul.
25There are ways that seem to be right to a man, but the end of them looks to the depth of hell.
26A man who labors, labors for himself, and drives from him his own ruin.
27But the perverse bears destruction upon his own mouth: a foolish man digs up evil for himself, and treasures fire on his own lips.
28A perverse man spreads mischief, and will kindle a torch of deceit with mischiefs; and he separates friends.
29A transgressor tries to ensnare friends, and leads them in ways that are not good.
30And the man that fixes his eyes devises perverse things, and marks out with his lips all evil: he is a furnace of wickedness.
31Old age is a crown of honor, but it is found in the ways of righteousness.
32A man slow to anger is better than a strong man; and he that governs his temper better than he that takes a city.
33All evils come upon the ungodly into their bosoms; but all righteous things come of the Lord.
1Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house full of many good things and unjust sacrifices, with strife.
2A wise servant shall have rule over foolish masters, and shall divide portions among brethren.
3As silver and gold are tried in a furnace, so are choice hearts with the Lord.
4A bad man hearkens to the tongue of transgressors: but a righteous man attends not to false lips.
5He that laughs at the poor provokes him that made him; and he that rejoices at the destruction of another shall not be held guiltless: but he that has compassion shall find mercy.
6Children's children are the crown of old men; and their fathers are the glory of children. The faithful has the whole world full of wealth; but the faithless not even a farthing.
7Faithful lips will not suit a fool; nor lying lips a just man.
8Instruction is to them that use it a gracious reward; and wherever it may turn, it shall prosper.
9He that conceals injuries seeks love; but he that hates to hide them separates friends and kindred.
10A threat breaks down the heart of a wise man; but a fool, though scourged, understands not.
11Every bad man stirs up strifes: but the Lord will send out against him an unmerciful messenger.
12Care may befall a man of understanding; but fools will meditate evils.
13Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not be removed from his house.
14Rightful rule gives power to words; but sedition and strife precede poverty.
15He that pronounces the unjust just, and the just unjust, is unclean and abominable with God.
16Why has the fool wealth? for a senseless man will not be able to purchase wisdom. He that exalts his own house seeks ruin; and he that turns aside from instruction shall fall into mischief.
17Have you a friend for every time, and let brethren be useful in distress; for on this account are they born.
Commemorations
Martyrs Terence, Pompeius, Africanus and Companions
These African Christians suffered during the persecution of the Church by the emperor Decius, during which a great many Christians denied the faith rather than suffer. These faithful few boldly upheld the Faith and, after many torments, were condemned to death by beheading. The went to their execution singing psalms and hymns of thanksgiving, and received the crown of martyrdom in 250.
In the early centuries of the Church, North Africa, especially the region of Carthage, was one of the centers of the Christian Faith, comparable to Asia Minor.
Six Thousand Holy Martyrs in Georgia (1615)
“In the wilderness of David-Garejeli in Georgia there were twelve monasteries, in which monks had lived the ascetic life for centuries. In 1615, Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia, laid it waste and slew innumerable Christians. One day, while out hunting at dawn on Easter Day intself, he saw the light of many candles shining in the hills. This was the monks of all twelve monasteries in procession all round the Church of the Resurrection, walking with candles in their hands. When the Shah discovered that it was monks, he asked in disbelief: ‘Isn’t the whole of Georgia put to the sword by now?’, and ordered his generals to go and slaughter the monks at once. An angel of God appeared to Abbot Arsenius, and revealed their imminent death to him, and Arsenius informed the brethren. They then all received Communion in the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. Then the attackers arrived, hacked the abbot to pieces when he came out ahead of the others, and then killed all the rest. They all suffered with honour and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615. Thus ended the history of these famous monasteries, which had been like a flame of spiritual enlightenment in Georgia for more than 1,000 years. There remain just two today: St David and St John the Baptist. The King of Georgia, Archil, gathered the remains of all the martyrs and buried them. Their relics are to this day full of myrrh for the healing of those in sickness.” (Prologue)
New Hieromartyr Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople (1821)
He was born on the Peloponnese, and became Archbishop of Smyrna in 1785. He served at a time when revolutionary feeling and activity was increasing among the Greek people, and witnessed the cruel retribution that the Ottoman Turks visited on any evidence of rebellion among their subject people.
Once in Smyrna, seeing that an action he had taken was causing discord in his dioceses, he came down from the hierarchical throne during a service, prostrated himself before the faithful and asked their forgiveness.
He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 1797. Under the Turkokratia, the Patriarch was not only the head of the Greek churches but the secular ruler of the Greek people, bound by oath to respect the authority of the Sultan. This, combined with Gregory’s personal experience of the treatment of Greek rebels, made him a staunch opponent of revolutionary activity among his people. Still, when revolutionaries on the Peloponnese declared Greek independence from Turkey on March 25, 1821, Turkish retribution was harsh: On Pascha, April 10, after serving the Paschal Liturgy, the aged Patriarch was arrested by the Turkish authorities. He was tortured in an effort to have him reveal the names of those heading the revolution, then was offered his freedom if he would convert to Islam. Gregory answered, ‘You ask in vain: the Patriarch of Christians dies a Christian.’ He (along with other clergy and hierarchs) was hanged as a traitor on the gate of the patriarchal compound. An eyewitness, a British clergyman visiting Constantinople, wrote: ‘His body, attenuated by abstinence and emaciated by age, had not sufficient weight to cause immediate death. He continued for a long time in pain which no friendly hand dared abridge, and the darkness of night came on before his final convulsions were over.’ His body was left hanging for three days, then sold by the Turkish authorities to a Jewish mob, who mutilated the body, then weighted it about the neck with a stone and threw it into the sea. Despite this, the body was found floating at sea by a Greek merchant ship captain. When the body was identified as that of the martyred Patriarch, it was secretly taken to Odessa, where Orthodox church leaders took it under their care. Tsar Alexander I ordered a state funeral for the holy hierarch, which was celebrated on June 17 1821 in Odessa.
In 1871 the relics were returned to Greece by Tsar Alexander III. They were incorrupt, though fifty years had passed since his death. Saint Gregory was officially glorified in 1921. His relics may be venerated at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens.