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, you⌃ 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 you⌃ were a curse among the nations, O house of Juda, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and you⌃ 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 you⌃ of good courage. 16These are the things which you⌃ 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 you⌃ shall rejoice; and love you⌃ 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.

St Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem

He was born in Jerusalem in 315, ordained to the priesthood in 346, and succeeded Maximus as Archbishop of Jerusalem in 350. He was exiled three times by the Arian Emperors Constantius and Valens for his unwavering defense of the Faith. Restored by the Emperor Theodosius, he did not return to the throne, but lived for eight years in peace before reposing in 386.

He was known to all his people as a tireless defender of the poor, and as a great ascetic. He was gentle and humble in his bearing, pale and gaunt from fasting. He struggled throughout his time against the Arian heresy, which had become very strong, claiming the allegiance even of the Emperors. In addition, he lived through the reign of Julian the Apostate, who tried by many means to weaken and undermine the Church and the Christian Faith.

Of St Cyril’s many writings, the best-known are his Catecheses, considered the oldest systematic summary of Christian teaching.

St Ananias (Aninus) the Wonderworker (?)

“Born in Chalcedon, he was little of stature, like Zaccheus, but great in spirit and faith. He denied himself to the world at the age of fifteen and settled near the River Euphrates in a little hut, where he atoned for his sins, and prayed to God, at first with his teacher Mayum and then, after Mayum’s death, alone. By the power of his prayers he filled an empty well with water, healed the sick of various pains and tamed wild beasts. There was a tamed lion with him as his servant. He had insight into distant happenings. When robbers attacked a stylite, Pionius, at some distance from him, and beat him up to such an extent that he decided to come down from his pillar and go to complain to the judges, St Aninus saw his intention in his soul and sent him a letter by means of his lion, telling him to set aside his intention, to forgive his assaulters and to continue in his asceticism. He was inexpressibly generous. The bishop of Neo-Caesarea made a gift to him of a donkey, to ease his carrying of water from the river, but he gave this donkey to some poor man who had complained to him of his poverty. The bishop gave him a second donkey, but he gave that away. Then the bishop gave him a third donkey, not for his own but only to serve as a water-carrier, to be kept and returned. At the time of his death, he saw Moses, Aaron and Or coming to him and calling: ‘Aninus, the Lord is calling you. Get up and come with us.’ This he revealed to his disciples, and gave his spirit to the Lord whom he had served so faithfully. He was 110 years old when he finished his earthly course.” (Prologue)

Saint Nikolai (Velimirovic), Bishop of Ochrid and Zica, Serbia (1956)(March 5 OC)

He has been called ‘The New Chrysostom’ for his many grace-filled sermons and writings.

He was born in 1880 in the Serbian village of Lelich. After attending the Seminary of St Sava in Belgrade, he obtained doctoral degrees from both the University of Berne and Oxford University. In 1919, Archimandrite Nikolai was made Bishop of Zica.

In 1941 Bishop Nikolai was arrested by the Nazis and, after three years’ imprisonment in Ljubostir Vojlovici Monastery, was sent to the infamous Dachau concentration camp along with the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo. He both witnessed and personally underwent many tortures there until the camp was liberated by the US army in 1945.

After the war he fled Communist-controlled Yugoslavia and emigrated to the United States, where he taught at St Sava’s Seminary, St Vladimir Seminary and St Tikhon seminary. It was at St Tikhon Seminary that he reposed in 1956. His relics rested for awhile at St Sava’s Seminary in Libertyville IL, then were returned to Serbia, where they now reside.

Throughout his adult life, the holy monk and bishop poured forth a steady stream of beautiful homilies and theological and spiritual writings. He is the author of the Prologue from Ochrid, a Slavic Synaxarion. The luminous homilies included therein, one for each day of the year, give a good sample of his inspired writing.

His feast is kept on this day (March 5 OC, March 18 NC) by Orthodox Christians on both the Old and New Calendars.

Note: With the blessing of Bishop Jovan of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Mitrophan Chin is engaged in a project to translate St Nikolai’s Prologue into Chinese. To learn more about this worthy project, see his web site: http://chineseorthodox.n3.net