18To whom have you⌃ compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you⌃ compared him?
19Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude?
20For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved.
21Will you⌃ not know? will you⌃ not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have you⌃ not known the foundations of the earth?
22It is he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in:
23he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
24For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.
25Now then to whom have you⌃ compared me, that I may be exalted? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? even he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by means of his great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped you.
27For say not you, O Jacob, and why have you spoken, Israel, saying, My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away my judgement, and has departed?
28And now, have you not known? have you not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.
29He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
30For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice men shall be powerless:
31but they that wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.
Genesis 15.1-15 (Vespers)
1And after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I shield you, your reward shall be very great.
2And Abram said, Master and Lord, what will you give me? whereas I am departing without a child, but the son of Masek my home-born female slave, this Eliezer of Damascus is my heir.
3And Abram said, I am grieved since you have given me no seed, but my home-born servant shall succeed me.
4And immediately there was a voice of the Lord to him, saying, This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come out of you shall be your heir.
5And he brought him out and said to him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars, if you shall be able to number them fully, and he said, Thus shall your seed be.
6And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
7And he said to him, I am God that brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land to inherit.
8And he said, Master and Lord, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9And he said to him, Take for me an heifer in her third year, and a she-goat in her third year, and a ram in his third year, and a dove and a pigeon.
10So he took to him all these, and divided them in the midst, and set them opposite to each other, but the birds he did not divide.
11And birds came down upon the bodies, even upon the divided parts of them, and Abram sat down by them.
12And about sunset a trance fell upon Abram, and behold! a great gloomy terror falls upon him.
13And it was said to Abram, You shall surely know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them, and humble them four hundred years.
14And the nation whoever they shall serve I will judge; and after this, they shall come forth hither with much property.
15But you shall depart to your fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age.
Proverbs 15.7-19 (Vespers)
7The lips of the wise are bound by discretion: but the hearts of the foolish are not safe.
8The sacrifices of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord; but the prayers of them that walk honestly are acceptable with him.
9The ways of an ungodly man are an abomination to the Lord; but he loves those that follow after righteousness.
10The instruction of the simple is known by them that pass by; but they that hate reproofs die disgracefully.
11Hell and destruction are manifest to the Lord; how shall not also be the hearts of men?
12An uninstructed person will not love those that reprove him; neither will he associate with the wise.
13When the heart rejoices the countenance is cheerful; but when it is in sorrow, the countenance is sad.
14An upright heart seeks discretion; but the mouth of the uninstructed will experience evils.
15The eyes of the wicked are always looking for evil things; but the good are always quiet.
16Better is a small portion with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures without the fear of the Lord.
17Better is an entertainment of herbs with friendliness and kindness, than a feast of calves, with enmity.
18A passionate man stirs up strife; but he that is slow to anger appeases even a rising one. A man slow to anger will extinguish quarrels; but an ungodly man rather stirs them up.
19The ways of sluggards are strewn with thorns; but those of the diligent are made smooth.
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