Isaiah 1.19-2.3 (6th Hour)

19And if you⌃ be willing, and listen to me, you⌃ shall eat the good of the land: 20but if you⌃ be not willing, nor listen to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this. 21How has the faithful city Sion, once full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers. 22Your silver is worthless, your wine merchants mix the wine with water. 23Your princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows. 24Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty men of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against my adversaries, and I will execute judgment on my enemies. 25And I will bring my hand upon you, and purge you completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from you all transgressors. 26And I will establish your judges as before, and your counselors as at the beginning: and afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city of Sion. 27For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy. 28And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed. 29For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted. 30For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. 31And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench them.

1The word which came to Esaias the son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem. 2For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it. 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.

Genesis 1.14-23 (Vespers)

14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. 15And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so. 16And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also. 17And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, 18and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20And God said, Let the waters bring forth reptiles having life, and winged creatures flying above the earth in the firmament of heaven, and it was so. 21And God made great whales, and every living reptile, which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every creature that flies with wings according to its kind, and God saw that they were good. 22And God blessed them saying, Increase and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the creatures that fly be multiplied on the earth. 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Proverbs 1.20-33 (Vespers)

20Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly. 21And she makes proclamation on the top of the walls, and sits by the gates of princes; and at the gates of the city boldly says, 22So long as the simple cleave to justice, they shall not be ashamed: but the foolish being lovers of haughtiness, having become ungodly have hated knowledge, and are become subject to reproofs. 23Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of my breath, and I will instruct you in my speech. 24Since I called, and you⌃ did not listen; and I spoke at length, and you⌃ gave no heed; 25but you⌃ set at nothing my counsels, and disregarded my reproofs; 26therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; and I will rejoice against you when ruin comes upon you: 27yes when dismay suddenly comes upon you, and your overthrow shall arrive like a tempest; and when tribulation and distress shall come upon you, or when ruin shall come upon you. 28For it shall be that when you⌃ call upon me, I will not listen to you: wicked men shall seek me, but shall not find me. 29For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the word of the Lord: 30neither would they attend to my counsels, but derided my reproofs. 31Therefore shall they eat the fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own ungodliness. 32For because they wronged the simple, they shall be slain; and an inquisition shall ruin the ungodly. 33But he that hearkens to me shall dwell in confidence, and shall rest securely from all evil.

Hieromartyr Basil of Ancyra

St Basil labored for the Church during the reign of Julian the Apostate, who briefly attempted to return the Roman empire to paganism after the reign of St Constantine. The Saint had already suffered for the Faith as bishop of Anycra (now Ankara,the capital of Turkey), and when Julian came to power, fresh persecutions began. Basil openly denounced the Emperor’s anti-Christian policies, for which he was tortured and thrown in prison.

When the Emperor came to Ancyra, Basil was brought before him, and Julian urged the bishop to renounce the Faith, promising him wealth and position if he would do so. Basil replied, ‘I believe in my Christ, whom you have denied and who gave you this earthly kingdom, but He will shortly take this from you. How can you have no shame before the altar under which you were saved from death as an eight-year-old child when they sought to kill you? Therefore He will soon make this earthly kingdom from you, and your body shall not be buried when you have spewed forth your soul in bitter torments.’ The enraged Emperor ordered that seven strips be torn from Basil’s body every day, a torture which was carried out for seven days. When the Saint was once again brought before the Emperor, he tore off a strip of his own flesh and threw it to Julian, saying ‘Take this and eat it, Julian, if such food is sweet to you, but Christ is life for me.’ At this the Emperor ordered that red-hot iron spits be driven through Basil; and thus the holy bishop at last received the crown of martyrdom.

Martyr Drosida of Antioch, and five nuns (104)

‘The daughter of the Emperor Trajan, she was seized with five other women when they were gathering the bodies of the martyrs who had suffered for Christ by night, and was for this cruelly mutilated by the Emperor. The five women were terribly tortured and at last thrown into molten copper, where they surrendered their souls to their Lord. But Drosida remained under strict imperial guard. However, she escaped from the court and baptised herself in a river. After eight days she gave her soul into God’s hands.’ (Prologue)