Orthodox Calendar

Friday, March 8, 2030
Cheesefare Friday

Fast — Meat Fast — Abstain from meat

Service Notes

  • No Liturgy

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

Zechariah 8.7-17 (6th Hour)

7Thus says the Lord Almighty; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and the west country; 8and I will bring them in, and cause them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God, in truth and in righteousness. 9Thus says the Lord Almighty; Let your hands be strong, youpl that hear in these days these words out of the mouth of the prophets, from the day that the house of the Lord Almighty was founded, and from the time that the temple was built. 10For before those days the wages of men could not be profitable, and there could be no hire of cattle, and there could be no peace by reason of the affliction to him that went out or to him that came in: for I would have let loose all men, every one against his neighbor. 11But now I will not do to the remnant of this people according to the former days, says the Lord Almighty. 12But I will show peace: the vine shall yield her fruit, and the land shall yield her produce, and the heaven shall give its dew: and I will give as an inheritance all these things to the remnant of my people. 13And it shall come to pass, as youpl were a curse among the nations, O house of Juda, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and youpl shall be a blessing: be of good courage, and strengthen your hands. 14For thus says the Lord Almighty; As I took counsel to afflict you when your fathers provoked me, says the Lord Almighty, and I repented not: 15so have I prepared and taken counsel in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Juda: be youpl of good courage. 16These are the things which youpl shall do; speak truth every one with his neighbor; judge truth and peaceful judgment in your gates: 17and let none of you devise evil in his heart against his neighbor; and love not a false oath: for all these things I hate, says the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 8.19-23 (Vespers)

19Thus says the Lord Almighty, The fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast, shall be to the house of Juda for joy and gladness, and for good feasts; and youpl shall rejoice; and love youpl the truth and peace. 20Thus says the Lord Almighty; Yet shall many peoples come, and the inhabitants of many cities; 21and the inhabitants of five cities shall come together to one city, saying, Let us go to make supplication to the Lord, and to seek the face of the Lord Almighty; I will go also. 22And many peoples and many nations shall come to seek earnestly the face of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem, and to obtain favor of the Lord. 23Thus says the Lord Almighty; In those days my word shall be fulfilled if ten men of all the languages of the nations should take hold—even take hold of the hem of a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.

Commemorations

St Theophylactus, Bishop of Nicomedia

“Theophylact was from the east; his native city is unknown. In Constantinople he became a close friend of Tarasius, who afterwards became Patriarch of Constantinople (see Feb. 25). Theophylact was made Bishop of Nicomedia. After the death of Saint Tarasius, his successor Nicephorus (see June 2) called together a number of Bishops to help him in fighting the iconoclasm of Emperor Leo the Armenian, who reigned from 813 to 820. Among them was Euthymius, Bishop of Sardis (celebrated Dec. 26), who had attended the holy Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787 — he was exiled three times for the sake of the holy icons, and for defying the Emperor Theophilus’ command to renounce the veneration of the icons, was scourged from head to foot until his whole body was one great wound, from which he died eight days later, about the year 830; Joseph of Thessalonica (see July 14); Michael of Synnada (see May 23); Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus (see Aug. 8); and Saint Theophylact, who boldly rebuked Leo to his face, telling him that because he despised the long-suffering of God, utter destruction was about to overtake him, and there would be none to deliver him. For this, Theophylact was exiled to the fortress of Strobilus in Karia of Asia Minor, where after 30 years of imprisonment and hardship, he gave up his holy soul about the year 845. Leo the Armenian, according to the Saint’s prophecy, was slain in church on the eve of our Lord’s Nativity, in 820.” (Great Horologion)

Hieromartyr Theodoretus (362)

The priest Theodoretus was custodian of a great cathedral in Antioch, built by the Emperor Constantine and known in its time as ‘the golden church’ for the beauty and luxury of its appointments. When Julian the Apostate came to the throne, he denied Christ and launched a persecution of Christians. The Emperor’s uncle, also named Julian, came to Antioch to prosecute the persecution there. After plundering the church he brought Theodoretus to trial and demanded that he deny Christ. Instead, the faithful priest confessed Christ fervently and rebuked the Emperor for having denied the faith and returned to idol-worship ‘as a dog returns to its vomit.’ In spite, the judge urinated in the golden church, for which Theodoretus prophesied that he would die a terrible death. Theodoretus was beheaded, and Julian his judge was seized with terrible abdominal pain from the moment he defiled the church until he died in torment.

Note: Theodoretus is commemorated on March 3 in the Greek Calendar.