6And he said to me, It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel: behold, I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth.
7Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the God of Israel, Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes: kings shall behold him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen you.
8Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I succored you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages:
9saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth; and bidding them that are in darkness show themselves. They shall be fed in all the ways, and in all the paths shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall he lead them.
Genesis 31.3-16 (Vespers)
3And the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your father, and to your family, and I will be with you.
4And Jacob sent and called Lea and Rachel to the plain where the flocks were.
5And he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father was with me.
6And you⌃ too know that with all my might I have served your father.
7But your father deceived me, and changed my wages for the ten lambs, yet God gave him not power to hurt me.
8If he should say thus, The speckled shall be your reward, then all the cattle would bear speckled; and if he should say, The white shall be your reward, then would all the cattle bear white.
9So God has taken away all the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
10And it came to pass when the cattle conceived and were with young, that I saw with my eyes in sleep, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots.
11And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob; and I said, What is it?
12And he said, Look up with your eyes, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots; for I have seen all things that Laban does to you.
13I am God that appeared to you in the place of God where you anointed a pillar to me, and vowed to me there a vow; now then arise and depart out of this land, depart into the land of your nativity, and I will be with you.
14And Rachel and Lea answered and said to him, Have we yet a part or inheritance in the house of our father?
15Are we not considered strangers by him? for he has sold us, and quite devoured our money.
16All the wealth and the glory which God has taken from our father, it shall be our's and our children's; now then do whatever God has said to you.
Proverbs 21.3-21 (Vespers)
3To do justly and to speak truth, are more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices.
4A high-minded man is stout-hearted in his pride; and the lamp of the wicked is sin.
6He that gathers treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity on to the snares of death.
7Destruction shall lodge with the ungodly; for they refuse to do justly.
8To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right.
9It is better to dwell in a corner on the house-top, than in plastered rooms with unrighteousness, and in an open house.
10The soul of the ungodly shall not be pitied by any man.
11When an intemperate man is punished the simple becomes wiser: and a wise man understanding will receive knowledge.
12A righteous man understands the hearts of the ungodly: and despises the ungodly for their wickedness.
13He that stops his ears from hearing the poor, himself also shall cry, and there shall be none to hear him.
14A secret gift calms anger: but he that forbears to give stirs up strong wrath.
15It is the joy of the righteous to do judgment: but a holy man is abominable with evil-doers.
16A man that wanders out of the way of righteousness, shall rest in the congregation of giants.
17A poor man loves mirth, loving wine and oil in abundance;
18and a transgressor is the abomination of a righteous man.
19It is better to dwell in a wilderness than with a quarrelsome and talkative and passionate woman.
20A desirable treasure will rest on the mouth of the wise; but foolish men will swallow it up.
21The way of righteousness and mercy will find life and glory.
Commemorations
Martyr Sabinas of Egypt
He was the administrator (we would say mayor) of the city of Hermopolis in Egypt. During a persecution, he and many other Christians fled to the mountains, where Sabinas shut himself in a hut and spent his days in fasting and prayer. But a poor man who brought him food (and whom Sabinas had helped in many ways) betrayed him to the authorities for two pieces of gold. Sabinas and six others were arrested, bound and brought before the governor Arian. After harsh torture, Sabinas was drowned in the Nile.
Our Holy Father Christodoulos, Wonderworker of Patmos (1111)
He was from the region of Nicaea, and was named John by his parents Theodore and Anna. He took up the monastic life at an early age, and was renamed Christodoulos (‘Slave of Christ’). After going far in the ascetical life, he was given permission by the Emperor Alexis I (1081-1118) to establish a church and monastery on the island of Patmos, dedicated to St John the Evangelist. Both the church and the monastery stand and continue in use to this day. When Patmos was attacked by the Arabs, he and his disciples fled to Euboea, where he reposed. The Saint’s disciples brought his relics back to his own monastery, where they continue to work miracles today.
Holy Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy, first Bishop of Britain (1st c.)
“He was the brother of the Apostle Barnabas and was born in Cyprus. He was a follower of the Apostle Paul, who mentions him in his Epistle to the Romans (16:10). When the great Apostle Paul created many bishops for different parts of the world, he made this Aristobulus bishop of Britain (i.e. England). In Britain there was a wild people, pagan and wicked, and Aristobulus endured among them unmentionable torments, misfortunes and malice. They smote him without mercy, dragged him through the streets, mocked him and jeered at him. But in the end this holy man came to success by the power of the grace of God. He enlightened the people, baptised them in the name of Christ the Lord, built churches, ordained priests and deacons and finally died there in peace and went to the Kingdom of the Lord whom he had served so faithfully.” (Prologue)
Note: in the Greek calendar he is commemorated on March 15.