1And it came to pass in the year in which king Ozias died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of his glory.
2And seraphs stood round about him: each one had six wings: and with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
3And one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4And the lintel shook at the voice they uttered, and the house was filled with smoke.
5And I said, Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips; and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.
6And there was sent to me one of the seraphs, and he had in his hand a coal, which he had taken off the altar with the tongs:
7and he touched my mouth, and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquities, and will purge off your sins.
8And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, behold, I am here, send me. And he said, Go, and say to this people,
9You⌃ shall hear indeed, but you⌃ shall not understand; and you⌃ shall see indeed, but you⌃ shall not perceive.
10For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
11And I said, How long, O Lord? And he said, Until cities be deserted by reason of their not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate.
12And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.
Genesis 5.1-24 (Vespers)
1This is the genealogy of men in the day in which God made Adam; in the image of God he made him:
2male and female he made them, and blessed them; and he called his name Adam, in the day in which he made them.
3And Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot a son after his own form, and after his own image, and he called his name Seth.
4And the days of Adam, which he lived after his begetting Seth, were seven hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.
5And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
6Now Seth lived two hundred and five years, and begot Enos.
7And Seth lived after his begetting Enos, seven hundred and seven years, and he begot sons and daughters.
8And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
9And Enos lived one hundred and ninety years, and begot Cainan.
10And Enos lived after his begetting Cainan, seven hundred and fifteen years, and he begot sons and daughters.
11And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died.
12And Cainan lived one hundred and seventy years, and he begot Maleleel.
13And Cainan lived after his begetting Maleleel, seven hundred and forty years, and he begot sons and daughters.
14And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.
15And Maleleel lived one hundred and sixty and five years, and he begot Jared.
16And Maleleel lived after his begetting Jared, seven hundred and thirty years, and he begot sons and daughters.
17And all the days of Maleleel were eight hundred and ninety and five years, and he died.
18And Jared lived one hundred and sixty and two years, and begot Enoch:
19and Jared lived after his begetting Enoch, eight hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.
20And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty and two years, and he died.
21And Enoch lived one hundred and sixty and five years, and became the father of Mathusala.
22And Enoch was well-pleasing to God after his begetting Mathusala, two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.
23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty and five years.
24And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.
Proverbs 6.3-20 (Vespers)
3My son, do what I command you, and deliver yourself; for on your friend's account you are come into the power of evil men: faint not, but stir up even your friend for whom you are become surety.
4Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber with your eyelids;
5that you may deliver yourself as a doe out of the toils, and as a bird out of a snare.
6Go to the ant, O sluggard; and see, and emulate his ways, and become wiser than he.
7For whereas he has no husbandry, nor any one to compel him, and is under no master,
8he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; whose labors kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom.
9How long will you lie, O sluggard? and when will you awake out of sleep?
10You sleep a little, and you rest a little, and you slumber a short time, and you fold your arms over your breast a little.
11Then poverty comes upon you as an evil traveller, and lack as a swift courier: but if you be diligent, your harvest shall arrive as a fountain, and poverty shall flee away as a bad courier.
12A foolish man and a transgressor goes in ways that are not good.
13And the same winks with the eye, and makes a sign with his foot, and teaches with the beckonings of his fingers.
14His perverse heart devises evils: at all times such a one causes troubles to a city.
15Therefore his destruction shall come suddenly; overthrow and irretrievable ruin.
16For he rejoices in all things which God hates, and he is ruined by reason of impurity of soul.
17The eye of the haughty, a tongue unjust, hands shedding the blood of the just;
18and a heart devising evil thoughts, and feet hastening to do evil, —are hateful to God.
19An unjust witness kindles falsehoods, and brings on quarrels between brethren.
20My son, keep the laws of your father, and reject not the ordinances of your mother:
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