3And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
4And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
5And now, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6For he has forsaken his people the house of Israel, because their land is filled as at the beginning with divinations, as the land of the Philistines, and many strange children were born to them.
7For their land is filled with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures; their land also is filled with horses, and there was no number of chariots.
8And the land is filled with abominations, even the works of their hands; and they have worshipped the works which their fingers made.
9And the mean man bowed down, and the great man was humbled: and I will not pardon them.
10Now therefore enter you⌃ into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of his might, when he shall arise to strike terribly the earth.
11For the eyes of the Lord are high, but man is low; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Genesis 1.24-2.3 (Vespers)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, quadrupeds and reptiles and wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and it was so.
25And God made the wild beasts of the earth according to their kind, and cattle according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the earth according to their kind, and God saw that they were good.
26And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
27And God made man, according to the image of God he made him, male and female he made them.
28And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seas and flying creatures of heaven, and all the cattle and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
29And God said, Behold I have given to you every seed-bearing herb sowing seed which is upon all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed that is sown, to you it shall be for food.
30And to all the wild beasts of the earth, and to all the flying creatures of heaven, and to every reptile creeping on the earth, which has in itself the breath of life, even every green plant for food; and it was so.
31And God saw all the things that he had made, and, behold, they were very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them.
2And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.
3And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do.
Proverbs 2.1-22 (Vespers)
1My son, if you will receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with you;
2your ear shall listen to wisdom; you shall also apply your heart to understanding, and shall apply it to the instruction of your son.
3For if you shall call to wisdom, and utter your voice for understanding;
4and if you shall seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;
5then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
6For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence come knowledge and understanding,
7and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;
8that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.
9Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment; and shall direct all your course aright.
10For if wisdom shall come into your understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to your soul,
11good counsel shall guard you, and holy understanding shall keep you;
12to deliver you from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.
13Alas for those who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness;
14who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness;
15whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding;
16to remove you far from the straight way, and to estrange you from a righteous purpose. My son, let not evil counsel overtake you,
17of her who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God.
18For she has fixed her house near death, and guided her wheels near Hades with the giants.
19None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life.
20For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy.
21For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it.
22The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.
Commemorations
St Parthenius, Bishop of Lampsacus
He was an illiterate fisherman, but always listened carefully to the readings of Holy Scripture in church, and strove to put their teaching into practice. Whatever he earned from his trade he gave to the poor, keeping back nothing for himself. His charity became so well-known that Philetus, Bishop of Melitopolis, ordained him to the priesthood, charging him to travel throughout the diocese visiting Christians. Parthenius fulfilled his mission admirably, and his many miracles and healings — even raising the dead to life — showed that divine favor rested on him. Ascalus, Metropolitan of Cyzicus, made him Bishop of Lampsacus, at that time an almost completely pagan city. By virtue of his preaching, prayer and fasting, St Parthenius in time converted the whole city to Christ.
Miracles of healing poured forth from the holy bishop so reliably (according to the Synaxarion) the city’s doctors became superfluous. Demons took flight at the Saint’s approach. Once, when he commanded a demon to depart from a poor man, the spirit begged him, ‘Give me a place to live, even swine!’ ‘No,’ the bishop replied, ‘But you may come and dwell in me!’ The demon fled, crying as though burned, ‘How can I enter God’s house? Great is the power of the Christians!’
Once Parthenius visited Heraclea in Thrace, whose Bishop Hypatian was extremely ill. The Saint revealed to the bishop that avarice was the true cause of his ailment. ‘Give to the poor the goods that you are withholding from them, and you will recover.’ The Metropolitan had himself carried to the church on a stretcher and publicly gave all his possessions to the poor. Three days later he was completely cured. On leaving the city, Parthenius told the Metropolitan that his own death was near and, soon after returning to Lampsacus, reposed in peace.
Our Venerable Father Luke the New of Mount Stirion (ca. 950)
Is there such a thing as a natural monk? Saint Luke was born in 896 to pious parents who came from Aegina but were forced to settle on the Greek mainland due to Saracen raids. From his earliest years, he showed a desire for a life of ascesis and contemplation usually only found in seasoned elders. He abstained from all flesh, cheese, eggs, and delicacies, drank only water, and kept a total fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. While herding cattle or tilling the family fields, he would often give away his food and even his clothing to the poor, returning home naked. When his father died, he abandoned farm work to devote himself entirely to prayer, making such progress that he was often lifted above the ground while praying. After a time he secretly left home and entered a monastery in Athens (he was now only fourteen years old), but the abbot sent him home after seeing his mother every night in dream, tearfully calling for her son. He returned home for a while, but when he had obtained her permission to leave once again set out upon the monastic life. He traveled widely, living as a hermit in various places, sometimes attached to a monastery and sometimes not. Often he would be forced to move by the number of visitors who learned of his holiness, no matter how secretly he tried to live, and came to him for prayer or a word of counsel or prophecy. Once he lived for three years on the island of Ampelon; his sister would occasionally bring him some bread, but he gave much of it away to the needy or to passing sailors. Finally, his health damaged, he returned to the mainland at the entreaties of his disciples and settled at a place called Stirion (which may be a corruption of Soterion), where he built a hermitage.
Saint Luke fell ill in his seventh year at Stirion. Embracing his disciples, he asked them to pray for him, prophesying that the place where he died would someday be the site of a great church and monastery; he then reposed in peace and joy.
His tomb exuded a fragrant oil which was collected and burned in a lamp, and many miracles and healings were wrought at the tomb. As the Saint had predicted, two churches and a monastery were built there, and the monastery of Hosios Lukas became a great place of pilgrimage, as it remains to this day.