Isaiah 58.1-11 (6th Hour)

1Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up your voice as with a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. 2They seek me day by day, and desire to know my ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God: they now ask of me righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God, 3saying, Why have we fasted, and you regard not? why have we afflicted our souls, and you did not know it? Nay, in the days of your fasts you⌃ find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power you⌃ wound. 4If you⌃ fast for quarrels and strifes, and strike the lowly with your fists, therefore do you⌃ fast to me as you⌃ do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying? 5I have not chosen this fast, nor such a day for a man to afflict his soul; neither though you should bend down your neck as a ring, and spread under you sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall you⌃ call a fast acceptable. 6I have not chosen such a fast, says the Lord; but do you loose every burden of iniquity, do you untie the knots of hard bargains, set the bruised free, and cancel every unjust account. 7Break your bread to the hungry, and lead the unsheltered poor to your house: if you see one naked, clothe him, and you shall not disregard the relations of your own seed. 8Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall speedily spring forth: and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall compass you. 9Then shall you cry, and God shall listen to you; while you are yet speaking he will say, Behold, I am here. If you remove from you the band, and the stretching forth of the hands, and murmuring speech; 10and if you give bread to the hungry from your heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light spring up in darkness, and your darkness shall be as noon-day: 11and your God shall be with you continually, and you shall be satisfied according as your soul desires; and your bones shall be made fat, and shall be as a well-watered garden, and as a fountain from which the water has not failed.

Genesis 43.26-31, 45.1-16 (Vespers)

26And Joseph entered into the house, and they brought him the gifts which they had in their hands, into the house; and they did him reverence with their face to the ground. 27And he asked them, How are you⌃? and he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom you⌃ spoke, well? Does he yet live? 28And they said, Your servant our father is well; he is yet alive. And he said, Blessed be that man by God; —and they bowed, and did him reverence. 29And Joseph lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said, Is this your younger brother, whom you⌃ spoke of bringing to me? and he said, God have mercy on you, my son. 30And Joseph was troubled, for his bowels yearned over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went into his chamber, and wept there. 31And he washed his face and came out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

1And Joseph could not refrain himself when all were standing by him, but said, Dismiss all from me; and no one stood near Joseph, when he made himself known to his brethren. 2And he uttered his voice with weeping; and all the Egyptians heard, and it was reported to the house of Pharao. 3And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph; does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled. 4And Joseph said to his brethren, Draw near to me; and they drew near; and he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you⌃ sold into Egypt. 5Now then be not grieved, and let it not seem hard to you that you⌃ sold me hither, for God sent me before you for life. 6For this second year there is famine on the earth, and there are yet five years remaining, in which there is to be neither plowing, nor mowing. 7For God sent me before you, that there might be left to you a remnant upon the earth, even to nourish a great remnant of you. 8Now then you⌃ did not send me hither, but God; and he has made me as a father of Pharao, and lord of all his house, and ruler of all the land of Egypt. 9Hasten, therefore, and go up to my father, and say to him, These things says your son Joseph; God has made me lord of all the land of Egypt; come down therefore to me, and wait not. 10And you shall dwell in the land of Gesem of Arabia; and you shall be near me, you and your sons, and your sons' sons, your sheep and your oxen, and whatever things are your. 11And I will nourish you there: for the famine is yet for five years; lest you be consumed, and your sons, and all your possessions. 12Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13Report, therefore, to my father all my glory in Egypt, and all things that you⌃ have seen, and make haste and bring down my father hither. 14And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept on him; and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15And he kissed all his brethren, and wept on them; and after these things his brethren spoke to him. 16And the report was carried into the house of Pharao, saying, Joseph's brethren are come; and Pharao was glad, and his household.

Proverbs 21.23-22.4 (Vespers)

23He that keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble. 24A bold and self-willed and insolent man is called a pest: and he that remembers injuries is a transgressor. 25Desires kill the sluggard; for his hands do not choose to do anything. 26An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day: but the righteous is unsparingly merciful and compassionate. 27The sacrifices of the ungodly are abomination to the Lord, for they offer them wickedly. 28A false witness shall perish; but an obedient man will speak cautiously. 29An ungodly man impudently withstands with his face; but the upright man himself understands his ways. 30There is no wisdom, there is no courage, there is no counsel against the ungodly. 31A horse is prepared for the day of battle; but help is of the Lord.

1A fair name is better than much wealth, and good favor is above silver and gold. 2The rich and the poor meet together; but the Lord made them both. 3An intelligent man seeing a bad man severely punished is himself instructed, but fools pass by and are punished. 4The fear of the Lord is the offspring of wisdom, and wealth, and glory, and life.

Martyrs Terence, Pompeius, Africanus and Companions

These African Christians suffered during the persecution of the Church by the emperor Decius, during which a great many Christians denied the faith rather than suffer. These faithful few boldly upheld the Faith and, after many torments, were condemned to death by beheading. The went to their execution singing psalms and hymns of thanksgiving, and received the crown of martyrdom in 250.

In the early centuries of the Church, North Africa, especially the region of Carthage, was one of the centers of the Christian Faith, comparable to Asia Minor.

Six Thousand Holy Martyrs in Georgia (1615)

“In the wilderness of David-Garejeli in Georgia there were twelve monasteries, in which monks had lived the ascetic life for centuries. In 1615, Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia, laid it waste and slew innumerable Christians. One day, while out hunting at dawn on Easter Day intself, he saw the light of many candles shining in the hills. This was the monks of all twelve monasteries in procession all round the Church of the Resurrection, walking with candles in their hands. When the Shah discovered that it was monks, he asked in disbelief: ‘Isn’t the whole of Georgia put to the sword by now?’, and ordered his generals to go and slaughter the monks at once. An angel of God appeared to Abbot Arsenius, and revealed their imminent death to him, and Arsenius informed the brethren. They then all received Communion in the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. Then the attackers arrived, hacked the abbot to pieces when he came out ahead of the others, and then killed all the rest. They all suffered with honour and were crowned with unfading wreaths in 1615. Thus ended the history of these famous monasteries, which had been like a flame of spiritual enlightenment in Georgia for more than 1,000 years. There remain just two today: St David and St John the Baptist. The King of Georgia, Archil, gathered the remains of all the martyrs and buried them. Their relics are to this day full of myrrh for the healing of those in sickness.” (Prologue)

New Hieromartyr Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople (1821)

He was born on the Peloponnese, and became Archbishop of Smyrna in 1785. He served at a time when revolutionary feeling and activity was increasing among the Greek people, and witnessed the cruel retribution that the Ottoman Turks visited on any evidence of rebellion among their subject people.

Once in Smyrna, seeing that an action he had taken was causing discord in his dioceses, he came down from the hierarchical throne during a service, prostrated himself before the faithful and asked their forgiveness.

He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 1797. Under the Turkokratia, the Patriarch was not only the head of the Greek churches but the secular ruler of the Greek people, bound by oath to respect the authority of the Sultan. This, combined with Gregory’s personal experience of the treatment of Greek rebels, made him a staunch opponent of revolutionary activity among his people. Still, when revolutionaries on the Peloponnese declared Greek independence from Turkey on March 25, 1821, Turkish retribution was harsh: On Pascha, April 10, after serving the Paschal Liturgy, the aged Patriarch was arrested by the Turkish authorities. He was tortured in an effort to have him reveal the names of those heading the revolution, then was offered his freedom if he would convert to Islam. Gregory answered, ‘You ask in vain: the Patriarch of Christians dies a Christian.’ He (along with other clergy and hierarchs) was hanged as a traitor on the gate of the patriarchal compound. An eyewitness, a British clergyman visiting Constantinople, wrote: ‘His body, attenuated by abstinence and emaciated by age, had not sufficient weight to cause immediate death. He continued for a long time in pain which no friendly hand dared abridge, and the darkness of night came on before his final convulsions were over.’ His body was left hanging for three days, then sold by the Turkish authorities to a Jewish mob, who mutilated the body, then weighted it about the neck with a stone and threw it into the sea. Despite this, the body was found floating at sea by a Greek merchant ship captain. When the body was identified as that of the martyred Patriarch, it was secretly taken to Odessa, where Orthodox church leaders took it under their care. Tsar Alexander I ordered a state funeral for the holy hierarch, which was celebrated on June 17 1821 in Odessa.

In 1871 the relics were returned to Greece by Tsar Alexander III. They were incorrupt, though fifty years had passed since his death. Saint Gregory was officially glorified in 1921. His relics may be venerated at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens.