5Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that tread on it:
6I the Lord God have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will strengthen you: and I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles:
7to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison-house.
8I am the Lord God: that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praises to graven images.
9Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and so will the new things which I tell you: yes, before I tell them they are made known to you.
10Sing a new hymn to the Lord: you⌃ who are his dominion, glorify his name from the end of the earth: you⌃ that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them.
11Rejoice, you wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the dwellers in Kedar: the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains.
12They shall give glory to God, and shall proclaim his praises in the islands.
13The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies.
14I have been silent: shall I also always be silent and forbear: I have endured like a travailing woman: I will now amaze and wither at once.
15I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools.
16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and will not forsake them.
Genesis 18.20-33 (Vespers)
20And the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha has been increased towards me, and their sins are very great.
21I will therefore go down and see, if they completely correspond with the cry which comes to me, and if not, that I may know.
22And the men having departed thence, came to Sodom; and Abraam was still standing before the Lord.
23And Abraam drew near and said, Wouldest you destroy the righteous with the wicked, and shall the righteous be as the wicked?
24Should there be fifty righteous in the city, will you destroy them? will you not spare the whole place for the sake of the fifty righteous, if they be in it?
25By no means shall you do as this thing is so as to destroy the righteous with the wicked, so the righteous shall be as the wicked: by no means. You that judge the whole earth, shall you not do right?
26And the Lord said, If there should be in Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole city, and the whole place for their sakes.
27And Abraam answered and said, Now I have begun to speak to my Lord, and I am earth and ashes.
28But if the fifty righteous should be diminished to forty-five, will you destroy the whole city because of the five lacking? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there forty-five.
29And he continued to speak to him still, and said, But if there should be found there forty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the forty's sake.
30And he said, Will there be anything against me, Lord, if I shall speak? but if there be found there thirty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the thirty's sake.
31And he said, Since I am able to speak to the Lord, what if there should be found there twenty? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there twenty.
32And he said, Will there be anything against me, Lord, if I speak yet once? but if there should be found there ten? And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.
33And the Lord departed, when he left off speaking to Abraam, and Abraam returned to his place.
Proverbs 16.17-17.17 (Vespers)
17The paths of life turn aside from evil; and the ways of righteousness are length of life. He that receives instruction shall be in prosperity; and he that regards reproofs shall be made wise. He that keeps his ways, preserves his own soul; and he that loves his life will spare his mouth.
18Pride goes before destruction, and folly before a fall.
19Better is a meek-spirited man with lowliness, than one who divides spoils with the proud.
20He who is skillful in business finds good: but he that trusts in God is most blessed.
21Men call the wise and understanding evil: but they that are pleasing in speech shall hear more.
22Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessors; but the instruction of fools is evil.
23The heart of the wise will discern the things which proceed from his own mouth; and on his lips he will wear knowledge.
24Good words are honeycombs, and the sweetness thereof is a healing of the soul.
25There are ways that seem to be right to a man, but the end of them looks to the depth of hell.
26A man who labors, labors for himself, and drives from him his own ruin.
27But the perverse bears destruction upon his own mouth: a foolish man digs up evil for himself, and treasures fire on his own lips.
28A perverse man spreads mischief, and will kindle a torch of deceit with mischiefs; and he separates friends.
29A transgressor tries to ensnare friends, and leads them in ways that are not good.
30And the man that fixes his eyes devises perverse things, and marks out with his lips all evil: he is a furnace of wickedness.
31Old age is a crown of honor, but it is found in the ways of righteousness.
32A man slow to anger is better than a strong man; and he that governs his temper better than he that takes a city.
33All evils come upon the ungodly into their bosoms; but all righteous things come of the Lord.
1Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house full of many good things and unjust sacrifices, with strife.
2A wise servant shall have rule over foolish masters, and shall divide portions among brethren.
3As silver and gold are tried in a furnace, so are choice hearts with the Lord.
4A bad man hearkens to the tongue of transgressors: but a righteous man attends not to false lips.
5He that laughs at the poor provokes him that made him; and he that rejoices at the destruction of another shall not be held guiltless: but he that has compassion shall find mercy.
6Children's children are the crown of old men; and their fathers are the glory of children. The faithful has the whole world full of wealth; but the faithless not even a farthing.
7Faithful lips will not suit a fool; nor lying lips a just man.
8Instruction is to them that use it a gracious reward; and wherever it may turn, it shall prosper.
9He that conceals injuries seeks love; but he that hates to hide them separates friends and kindred.
10A threat breaks down the heart of a wise man; but a fool, though scourged, understands not.
11Every bad man stirs up strifes: but the Lord will send out against him an unmerciful messenger.
12Care may befall a man of understanding; but fools will meditate evils.
13Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not be removed from his house.
14Rightful rule gives power to words; but sedition and strife precede poverty.
15He that pronounces the unjust just, and the just unjust, is unclean and abominable with God.
16Why has the fool wealth? for a senseless man will not be able to purchase wisdom. He that exalts his own house seeks ruin; and he that turns aside from instruction shall fall into mischief.
17Have you a friend for every time, and let brethren be useful in distress; for on this account are they born.
Commemorations
Holy Fathers Slain at St Sabbas Monastery
The holy Monastery of St Sabbas is still in existence today, by the providence of God, though several times in its history it has been plundered and left empty. At one time it was attacked by Arab raiders. The monks considered fleeing, but their abbot, Thomas, said, ‘We have fled from the world into this wilderness for the love of Christ; it would be shameful for us now to flee from the wilderness for fear of men. If we are killed here, we shall be killed through love for Christ, for whose sake we have come here to live.’ So the monks agreed with one mind to wait their attackers unarmed. The Arabs killed some with arrows, and shut some in the cave of St Sabbas, lighting a fire at the entrance to suffocate them with smoke. The whole company of monks were thus privileged to give their lives for Christ’s sake.
Accounts of the date differ substantially: the Great Horologion says that they died during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, when St Modestus was Patriarch of Jerusalem (632-634); the Prologue that they died in 796 during the reign of Constantine and Irene, when Elias was Patriarch of Jerusalem.
St Photine the Samaritan Woman (66)
See her commemoration on February 26.
St Cuthbert the Wonderworker, Bishop of Lindisfarne (687)
‘Saint Cuthbert was born in Britain about the year 635, and became a monk in his youth at the monastery of Melrose by the River Tweed. After many years of struggle as a true priest of Christ, in the service both of his own brethren and of the neglected Christians of isolated country villages, he became a solitary on Farne Island in 676. After eight years as a hermit, he was constrained to leave his quiet to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, in which office he served for almost two years. He returned to his hermitage two months before he reposed in peace in 687.
‘Because of the miracles he wrought both during his life and at his tomb after death, he is called the “Wonderworker of Britain.” The whole English people honoured him, and kings were both benefactors to his shrine and suppliants of his prayers. Eleven years after his death, his holy relics were revealed to be incorrupt; when his body was translated from Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral in August of 1104, his body was still found to be untouched by decay, giving off “an odour of the sweetest fragrancy,” and “from the flexibility of its joints representing a person asleep rather than dead.” Finally, when the most impious Henry VIII desecrated his shrine, opening it to despoil it of its valuables, his body was again found incorrupt, and was buried in 1542. It is believed that after this the holy relics of Saint Cuthbert were hidden to preserve them from further desecration.’ (Great Horologion)