Isaiah 3.1-14 (6th Hour)

1Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty man and mighty woman, the strength of bread, and the strength of water, 2the great and mighty man, the warrior and the judge, and the prophet, and the counsellor, and the elder, 3the captain of fifty also, and the honorable counsellor, and the wise artificer, and the intelligent hearer. 4And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have dominion over them. 5And the people shall fall, man upon man, and every man upon his neighbor: the child shall insult the elder man, and the base the honorable. 6For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his father's household, saying, You have raiment, be you our ruler, and let my meat be under you. 7And he shall answer in that day, and say, I will not be your ruler; for I have no bread in my house, nor raiment: I will not be the ruler of this people. 8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judea has fallen, and their tongues have spoken with iniquity, disobedient as they are towards the Lord. 9Therefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of their countenance has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and made it manifest. 10Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying against themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is burdensome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works. 11Woe to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to the works of his hands. 12O my people, your exactors strip you, and extortioners rule over you: O my people, they that pronounce you blessed lead you astray, and pervert the path of your feet. 13But now the Lord will stand up for judgment, and will enter into judgment with his people. 14The Lord himself shall enter into judgment with the elders of the people, and with their rulers: but why have you⌃ set my vineyard on fire, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?

Genesis 2.20-3.20 (Vespers)

20And Adam gave names to all the cattle and to all the birds of the sky, and to all the wild beasts of the field, but for Adam there was not found a help like to himself. 21And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh instead thereof. 22And God formed the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. 23And Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her husband. 24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

1And the two were naked, both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made, and the serpent said to the woman, Therefore has God said, Eat not of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You⌃ shall not eat of it, neither shall you⌃ touch it, lest you⌃ die. 4And the serpent said to the woman, You⌃ shall not surely die. 5For God knew that in whatever day you⌃ should eat of it your eyes would be opened, and you⌃ would be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes to look upon and beautiful to contemplate, and having taken of its fruit she ate, and she gave to her husband also with her, and they ate. 7And the eyes of both were opened, and they perceived that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons to go round them. 8And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the afternoon; and both Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God in the midst of the trees of the garden. 9And the Lord God called Adam and said to him, Adam, where are you? 10And he said to him, I heard your voice as you walked in the garden, and I feared because I was naked and I hid myself. 11And God said to him, Who told you that you were naked, unless you have eaten of the tree concerning which I charged you of it alone not to eat? 12And Adam said, The woman whom you gave to be with me—she gave me of the tree and I ate. 13And the Lord God said to the woman, Why have you done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. 14And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed above all cattle and all the brutes of the earth, on your breast and belly you shall go, and you shall eat earth all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, he shall watch against your head, and you shall watch against his heel. 16And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pains and your groanings; in pain you shall bring forth children, and your submission shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you. 17And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and eaten of the tree concerning which I charged you of it only not to eat—of that you have eaten, cursed is the ground in your labors, in pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. 18Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread until you return to the earth out of which you were taken, for earth you are and to earth you shall return. 20And Adam called the name of his wife Life, because she was the mother of all living.

Proverbs 3.19-34 (Vespers)

19God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence he prepared the heavens. 20By understanding were the depths broken up, and the clouds dropped water. 21My son, let them not pass from you, but keep my counsel and understanding: 22that your soul may live, and that there may be grace round your neck; and it shall be health to your flesh, and safety to your bones: 23that you may go confidently in peace in all your ways, and that your foot may not stumble. 24For if you rest, you shall be undismayed; and if you sleep, you shall slumber sweetly. 25And you shall not be afraid of alarm coming upon you, neither of approaching attacks of ungodly men. 26For the Lord shall be over all your ways, and shall establish your foot that you be not moved. 27Forbear not to do good to the poor, whenever your hand may have power to help him. 28Say not, Come back another time, to-morrow I will give; while you are able to do him good: for you know not what the next day will bring forth. 29Devise not evil against your friend, living near you and trusting in you. 30Be not ready to quarrel with a man without a cause, lest he do you some harm. 31Procure not the reproaches of bad men, neither do you covet their ways. 32For every transgressor is unclean before the Lord; neither does he sit among the righteous. 33The curse of God is in the houses of the ungodly; but the habitations of the just are blessed. 34The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble.

Ven. Gerasimus of the Jordan

He was from Lycia in Asia Minor. After living there as a hermit for many years, he traveled to the Egyptian Thebaid and lived among the Desert Fathers. He then went to Palestine, where he founded the great Lavra, a community of about seventy monks, that remains to this day. The monastery’s rule was simple and strict: During the five weekdays, the monks would stay in their cells, praying and weaving baskets and mats. On these days they ate only a little dry bread and some dates. On Saturdays and Sundays the monks gathered for worship and ate boiled vegetables with a little wine. Each monk owned only one garment; if he left his cell he was required to leave it open so that anyone else could take whatever he needed from it. Saint Gerasimos himself was an example to all of them, exceeding even the rule that he laid upon them: during the Great Fast, he would eat nothing but what he received in Holy Communion.

In the desert, the Saint once saw a lion in great pain from a thorn in its paw. Moved by compassion, Gerasim approached it, made the sign of the Cross and pulled the thorn out. The lion followed the elder back to the monastery and remained there until the Saint’s death. When Gerasimos died, the lion, overcome by grief, soon died also, lying upon the Saint’s grave.

Saint Gerasimos was present at the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon, where he proved a strong champion of Orthodoxy, though he had inclined toward the Monophysite heresy in his youth. He reposed in peace in 475.

St James the Faster of Phoenecia (6th c.)

“He lived in the sixth century. He was so perfected in godliness that he was able to heal the gravest illnesses by his prayers. But the enemy of the human race brought a heavy temptation on him. There was once sent to him a woman who had been corrupted by some mockers. She pretended to weep before him, but enticed him to sin. Seeing that he would fall into sin, James put his left hand into the fire and held it there until it was completely burned. Seeing this, the woman was filled with fear and horror, repented and reformed her life.

“But on a second occasion he did not resist and fell with a young girl whom her parents had brought to him to be healed of her madness. He indeed healed her, but then sinned with her and, in order to conceal the sin, killed her and threw her into a river. As always, the path from lust to murder was not very long. James spent ten years after that as a penitent, living in a grave. He learned after that that God had forgiven him, because, when he at one time prayed for rain in a time of great drought from which both men and cattle were suffering, it fell.

“Here is an example, similar to that of David, of how wicked the evil demon is; how, by the permission of God, the greatest spiritual giants can topple, and how again, by sincere repentance, God in His compassion will forgive the greatest sins and does not punish those who punish themselves.” (Prologue)