16And the Lord said to Moses, Gather me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you yourself know that they are the elders of the people, and their scribes; and you shall bring them to the tabernacle of witness, and they shall stand there with you.
17And I will go down, and speak there with you; and I will take of the spirit that is upon you, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear together with you the burden of the people, and you shall not bear them alone.
24And Moses went out, and spoke the words of the Lord to the people; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and he set them round about the tabernacle.
25And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy men that were elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and ceased.
26And there were two men left in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Modad; and the spirit rested upon them, and these were of the number of them that were enrolled, but they did not come to the tabernacle; and they prophesied in the camp.
27And a young man ran and told Moses, and spoke, saying, Eldad and Modad prophesy in the camp.
28And Joshua the son of Naue, who attended on Moses, the chosen one, said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29And Moses said to him, Are you jealous on my account? and would that all the Lord's people were prophets; whenever the Lord shall put his spirit upon them.
Joel 2.23-32 (Vespers)
23Rejoice then and be glad, you⌃ children of Sion, in the Lord your God: for he has given you food fully, and he will rain on you the early and the latter rain, as before.
24And the floors shall be filled with corn, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil.
25And I will recompense you for the years which the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, and the cankerworm have eaten, even my great army, which I sent against you.
26And you⌃ shall eat abundantly, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God for the things which he has wrought wonderfully with you: and my people shall not be ashamed for ever.
27And you⌃ shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and that there is none else beside me; and my people shall no more be ashamed for ever.
28And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
29And on my servants and on my handmaids in those days will I pour out of my Spirit.
30And I will show wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord come.
32And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall the saved one be as the Lord has said, and they that have glad tidings preached to them, whom the Lord has called.
Ezekiel 36.24-28 (Vespers)
24And I will take you out from the nations, and will gather you out of all the lands, and will bring you into your own land:
25and I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you⌃ shall be purged from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, and I will cleanse you.
26And I will give you a new heart, and will put a new spirit in you: and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.
27And I will put my Spirit in you, and will cause you to walk in my ordinances, and to keep my judgments, and do them.
28And you⌃ shall dwell upon the land which I gave to your fathers; and you⌃ shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God.
John 20.19-23
(Matins Gospel)
19When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
22When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
23If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
Acts 2.1-11 (Epistle)
1Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.
4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.
6When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.
7They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?
8How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?
9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,
10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11Cretans and Arabians—we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”
John 7.37-52, 8.12 (Gospel)
37Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
38He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
39But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
40Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.”
41Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee?
42Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43So a division arose in the multitude because of him.
44Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.
45The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
46The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
47The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you?
48Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him?
49But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is cursed.”
50Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them,
51“Does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
52They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
12Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Commemorations
Ven. Onuphrius the Great
They lived in different times and places, but are commemorated together.
Saint Onuphrios the Great (400). “This holy ascetic had been living a whole sixty years in the desert when the monk Paphnutius visited him. His hair and beard reached down to the ground, and long hair, as white as snow, had grown all overy his body during his years of nakedness. His appearance was cadaverous, unearthly and awe-inspiring. Seeing Paphnutius, he called him by name and then recounted to him his life in the desert. His guardian angel had appeared to him and taken him to that place. He had for a long time only eaten earth, which was hard to find in the desert, and, after that, when he had survived an intensive struggle with diabolical temptations and when his heart had become utterly established in love for God, an angel had brought him bread to eat. And besides that, through God’s gracious providence, a palm tree grew up at one side of his cell, that gave good dates, and a spring of water began to flow there. ‘But especially,’ said Onuphrios, ‘my food and drink are the sweet words of God.’ To Paphnutius’ question about his receiving of Communion, the hermit answered that the angel of God brought him Communion every Saturday. On the next day, the old man told Paphnutius that it was the day of his departure from this world; then he knelt down, prayed to God and gave his spirit into God’s hands. Then Paphnutius saw a heavenly light that illumined the body of the departed saint, and heard a choir of angelic hosts. He buried Onuphrios’ body with honour and returned to his own monastery, there as a living witness to narrate to the brethren, for their edification, the wonderful life of the man of God and the greatness of God’s providence towards those who give themselves wholly to His service.” (Prologue)
The Great Horologion adds that Paphnutius intended to stay in the place where Onuphrios died, but soon the palm tree withered and the spring dried up, which Paphnutius took as a sign that he was meant to leave that place and return to live with the brethren.
Saint Peter of Mt Athos (734). He was born to a noble family in Constantinople and became a soldier. He was taken captive by the Saracens and thrown into prison in chains, in Samarra of Syria. He spent his long imprisonment praying to God to free him and send him to some deserted place where he could devote the rest of his life to ascesis and prayer. One day St Nicholas appeared to him along with St Simeon the God-receiver; when they touched his chains they melted like wax, and Peter instantly found himself outside Samarra. He set out for Rome, where he was tonsured as a monk by the Pope, then set out by ship to return home. During the voyage, the Mother of God appeared to him along with St Nicholas, and Peter heard her tell St Nicholas that she had set Mt Athos apart for Peter to live in solitude. Peter had never heard of Mt Athos, but disembarked there and settled in a cave. There he spent fifty-three years in complete solitude, praying and struggling with the harshness of the elements and the attacks of demonic powers. After he had withstood fierce temptations for awhile, an angel of God began to bring him bread every forty days. Like St Onuphrios, his humble life might have passed completely unrecorded; but by God’s providence, one year before the Saint’s death a deer-hunter found him and heard the tale of Peter’s life, which he recorded. Saint Peter reposed in peace; his relics were taken to Macedonia.