12And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes.
13For he said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their strength.
14And I will shake the inhabited cities: and I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me.
15Shall the axe glorify itself without him that hews with it? or shall the saw lift up itself without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff? but it shall not be so;
16but the Lord of hosts shall send dishonor upon your honor, and burning fire shall be kindled upon your glory.
17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with burning fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass.
18In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and the forests, and fire shall devour both soul and body: and he that flees shall be as one fleeing from burning flame.
19And they that are left of them shall be a small number, and a child shall write them.
20And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob shall no more trust in, them that injured them; but they shall trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth.
Genesis 7.6-9 (Vespers)
6And Noe was six hundred years old when the flood of water was upon the earth.
7And then went in Noe and his sons and his wife, and his sons' wives with him into the ark, because of the water of the flood.
8And of clean flying creatures and of unclean flying creatures, and of clean cattle and of unclean cattle, and of all things that creep upon the earth,
9pairs went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noe.
Proverbs 9.12-18 (LXX) (Vespers)
12Son, if you be wise for yourself, you shall also be wise for your neighbors; and if you should prove wicked, you alone will bear the evil. He that stays himself upon falsehoods, attempts to rule the winds, and the same will pursue birds in their fight: for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and he has caused the axles of his own husbandry to go astray; and he goes through a dry desert, and a land appointed to drought, and he gathers barrenness with his hands.
13A foolish and bold woman, who knows not modesty, comes to lack a morsel.
14She sits at the doors of her house, on a seat openly in the streets,
15calling to passers by, and to those that are going right on their ways;
16saying, Whoso is most senseless of you, let him turn aside to me; and I exhort those that lack prudence, saying,
17Take and enjoy secret bread, and the sweet water of theft.
18But he knows that mighty men die by her, and he falls in with a snare of hell. But hasten away, delay not in the place, neither fix your eye upon her: for thus shall you go through strange water; but do you abstain from strange water, and drink not of a strange fountain, that you may live long, and years of life may be added to you.
Commemorations
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)