24Thus says the Lord of hosts, As I have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so the matter shall remain:
25even to destroy the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains: and they shall be for trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall be taken away from their shoulders.
26This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole earth: and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations.
27For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
28In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
29Rejoice not, all you⌃ Philistines, because the yoke of him that struck you is broken: for out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth flying serpents,
30And the poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy your seed with hunger, and shall destroy your remnant.
31Howl, you⌃ gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry, even all the Philistines: for smoke is coming from the north, and there is no possibility of living.
32And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion, and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.
Genesis 8.21-9.7 (Vespers)
21And the Lord God smelled a smell of sweetness, and the Lord God having considered, said, I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more strike all living flesh as I have done.
22All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night.
1And God blessed Noe and his sons, and said to them, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and have dominion over it.
2And the dread and the fear of you shall be upon all the wild beasts of the earth, on all the birds of the sky, and on all things moving upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, I have placed them under your power.
3And every reptile which is living shall be to you for meat, I have given all things to you as the green herbs.
4But flesh with blood of life you⌃ shall not eat.
5For your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of all wild beasts, and I will require the life of man at the hand of his brother man.
6He that sheds man's blood, instead of that blood shall his own be shed, for in the image of God I made man.
7But do you⌃ increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it.
Proverbs 11.19-12.6 (Vespers)
19A righteous son is born for life: but the persecution of the ungodly ends in death.
20Perverse ways are an abomination to the Lord: but all they that are blameless in their ways are acceptable to him.
21He that unjustly strikes hands shall not be unpunished: but he that sows righteousness he shall receive a faithful reward.
22As an ornament in a swine's snout, so is beauty to an ill-minded woman.
23All the desire of the righteous is good: but the hope of the ungodly shall perish.
24There are some who scatter their own, and make it more: and there are some also who gather, yet have less.
25Every sincere soul is blessed: but a passionate man is not graceful.
26May he that hoards corn leave it to the nation: but blessing be on the head of him that gives it.
27He that devises good counsels seeks good favor: but as for him that seeks after evil, evil shall overtake him.
28He that trusts in wealth shall fall; but he that helps righteous men shall rise.
29He that deals not graciously with his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise man.
30Out of the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life; but the souls of transgressors are cut off before their time.
31If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1He that loves instruction loves sense, but he that hates reproofs is a fool.
2He that has found favor with the Lord is made better; but a transgressor shall be passed over in silence.
3A man shall not prosper by wickedness; but the roots of the righteous shall not be taken up.
4A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but as a worm in wood, so a bad woman destroys her husband.
5The thoughts of the righteous are true judgments; but ungodly men devise deceits.
6The words of ungodly men are crafty; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
Commemorations
Martyr Conon of Isauria
The holy Martyr Conon lived in the days of the holy Apostles; he was born in the village of Bydane of Isauria in Asia Minor, to parents named Nestor and Nada. He was instructed in the Faith and baptised into Christ by the Archangel Michael himself, who, it is said, accompanied him for the rest of his life. His parents joined him in marriage to a pagan maiden named Anna; but on their wedding night he took a candle, put it under a vessel, and asked her ‘Which is better, light or darkness?’ She answered ‘Light,’ and he told her of the Christian faith and the joys of the spiritual life. She accepted Christ, and the two agreed to live in virginity. Conon went on to bring many pagans to Christ, including his own parents. His wife and both parents died after a few years (Nestor as a Martyr) and he gave himself up entirely to prayer, fasting, and contemplation on God. He was known as a wonder-worker, and even evil spirits were compelled to serve him.
During one of the persecutions, Magnus the governor of Isauria imprisoned Conon and had him tortured, beaten and stabbed with knives. Believers obtained some of his blood, and the sick who were anointed with it became well. A large crowd of Christians whom Conon had brought to Faith surrounded the governor’s palace demanding Conon’s release, and the frightened governor let him go. He lived for two more years in his own home, then reposed in peace.
St Mark of Athens (4th c.)
He was born in Athens of pagan parents, but believed and was baptized, and, forsaking everything, lived as a hermit in the desert beyond Egypt. He did not see another human being for ninety-five years, and we would know nothing of his life had not the monk Serapion come upon him. Mark was about to depart this life, and lived only long enough to tell Serapion his story. Serapion then gave him burial.
St Mark the Ascetic (5th c.)
St Mark was a disciple of St John Chrysostom, tonsured a monk at the age of forty by St John himself. He then withdrew to the Nitrian desert and lived for sixty years as a hermit, devoting himself to fasting, prayer, and writing spiritual discourses.
Saint Mark knew all the Holy Scriptures by heart. His compassion was so great that he wept at the distress of any of God’s creatures: once he wept for the blind pup of a hyena, and the pup received its sight. Though he lived alone in the desert, it is said that he received Communion from an angel.
The holy and scholarly Patriarch Photios held his writings in the highest esteem, and at one time there was a saying, ‘sell all that you have, and buy Mark.’ Some of these beautiful and profound writings may be read in English in the first volume of the Philokalia.
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