Isaiah 43.9-14
(Vespers, Martyrs)
9All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them: who will declare these things? or who will declare to you things from the beginning? let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth.
10Be you⌃ my witnesses, and I too am a witness, says the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you⌃ may know, and believe, and understand that I am he: before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none.
11I am God; and beside me there is no Saviour.
12I have declared, and have saved; I have reproached, and there was no strange god among you: you⌃ are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God,
13even from the beginning; and there is none that can deliver out of my hands: I will work, and who shall turn it back?
14Thus says the Lord God that redeems you, the Holy One of Israel; for your sakes I will send to Babylon, and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships.
Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9
(Vespers, Martyrs)
1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.
2In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,
3And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.
4For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.
5And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.
6As gold in the furnace has he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.
7And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.
8They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
9They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he has care for his elect.
Wisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3
(Vespers, Martyrs)
15But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.
16Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.
17He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armor, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.
18He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.
19He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.
20His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.
21Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.
22And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.
23Yes, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.
1Hear therefore, O you⌃ kings, and understand; learn, you⌃ that be judges of the ends of the earth.
2Give ear, you⌃ that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations.
3For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.
Luke 21.12-19
(Matins Gospel, Martyrs)
12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
13It will turn out as a testimony for you.
14Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer,
15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
16You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.
17You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.
18And not a hair of your head will perish.
19“By your endurance you will win your lives.
2 John 1.1-13
(Epistle)
1The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also all those who know the truth,
2for the truth’s sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever:
3Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.
5Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
6This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
7For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist.
8Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
9Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ doesn’t have God. He who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
10If anyone comes to you and doesn’t bring this teaching, don’t receive him into your house, and don’t welcome him,
11for he who welcomes him participates in his evil deeds.
12Having many things to write to you, I don’t want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full.
13The children of your chosen sister greet you. Amen.
Hebrews 12.1-10
(Epistle, Martyrs)
1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.
5You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children.
9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
Mark 15.22, 25, 33-41
(Gospel)
22They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.”
25It was the third hour when they crucified him.
33When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
35Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
36One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
37Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
38The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.
39When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
41who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
Matthew 20.1-16
(Gospel, Martyrs)
1“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
4He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.
5Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
6About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
7“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’
8“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
9“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
10When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
11When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
12saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’
13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?
14Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
16So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”