Orthodox Calendar

Wednesday, March 14, 2108
Cheesefare Wednesday

Fast — Meat Fast — Abstain from meat

Service Notes

  • No Liturgy

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

Joel 2.12-26 (Sixth Hour)

12Now therefore, says the Lord your God, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation: 13and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils. 14Who knows if he will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering to the Lord your God? 15Sound the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service: 16gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants at the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17Between the porch and the altar let the priests that minister to the Lord weep, and say, Spare your people, O Lord, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them, lest they should say among the heathen, Where is their God? 18But the Lord was jealous of his land, and spared his people. 19And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you⌃ shall be satisfied with them: and I will no longer make you a reproach among the Gentiles. 20And I will chase away from you the northern adversary, and will drive him away into a dry land, and I will sink his face in the former sea, and his back parts in the latter sea, and his ill savor shall come up, and his stink come up, because he has wrought great things. 21Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things. 22Be of good courage, you⌃ beasts of the plain, for the plains of the wilderness have budded, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded their strength. 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.

Joel 3.12-21 (Vespers)

12Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about. 13Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread the grapes, for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied. 14Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light. 16And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel. 17And you⌃ shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her anymore. 18And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the fountains of Juda shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of flags. 19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea shall be a desolate plain, because of the wrongs of the children of Juda, because they have shed righteous blood in their land. 20But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 21And I will make inquisition for their blood, and will by no means leave it unavenged: and the Lord shall dwell in Sion.

Commemorations

Ven. Benedict of Nursia

His name, Benedictus, means “Blessed” in Latin. He was born in 480 in Nursia, a small town northeast of Rome. He had only rudimentary schooling: he wrote later of his fear that through book-learning he might ‘lose the great understanding of my soul.’ At an early age he fled to a monastery where he was tonsured; he then withdrew to a remote mountain, where he lived or several years in a cave, perfecting himself in prayer. His only food was some bread brought to him by Romanus, the monk who had tonsured him. When he became known in the area, he fled his cave to escape the attentions of the pious; but flight proved useless, and in time a community of monks formed around him. He was granted many spiritual gifts: he healed the sick and drove out evil spirits, raised the dead, and appeared in visions to others many miles away.

Benedict founded twelve monasteries, most famously that at Monte Cassino. Initially, each monastic house had twelve monks, to imitate the number of the Twelve Apostles. The Rule that he established for his monks was based on the works of St John Cassian and St Basil the Great, and became a standard for western monasteries. Thus he is sometimes called the first teacher of monks in the West.

Six days before his death, the Saint ordered that his grave be opened, gathered all his monks together, gave them counsel, then gave his soul back to God on the day that he had predicted. At the moment of his death, two monks in different places had the same vision: they saw a path from earth to heaven, richly adorned and lined on either side with ranks of people. At the top of the path stood a man, clothed in light and unspeakably beautiful, who told them that the path was prepared for Benedict, the beloved of God. In this way, the monks learned that their abbot had gone to his rest.

St Theognostus, Metropolitan of Kiev (1353)

He was born in Greece and succeeded St Peter of Kiev as Metropolitan of that city. Some of his enemies among his own flock denounced him to the Mongol ruler, saying that he had collected no tribute from his churches to pay to the Mongols. Summoned before the Mongol prince and asked about this, he answered ‘Christ our God bought His Church from the unbelievers with His precious Blood. For what do we pay tribute to unbelievers?’ Returning home, he governed the Church for twenty-five more years and reposed in peace in 1353.