Composite 2 - Proverbs 10, 3, 8 (Vespers)

1The memory of a just man is praised, and the Lord’s blessing is upon his head. Blessed is one who has found wisdom; a mortal who knows understanding. To import her is better than treasures of gold and silver. She is more valuable than precious stones; nothing of value equals her worth. Justice proceeds from her mouth; she bears law and mercy on her tongue. Therefore, my children, listen to me, for I speak weighty things. And blessed is the one who keeps my ways. For my goings out are the goings out of life, and favour is prepared from the Lord. Therefore I exhort you, and utter my voice to the children of humankind. Because I, Wisdom, have prepared counsel, knowledge and understanding. I have called on them. Counsel and sureness are mine; prudence is mine, strength is mine. I love those who are my friends, while those who seek me will find grace. You innocent, then, understand cunning; you untaught, take it to heart. Listen to me, for I will speak weighty things, and I will open right things from my lips. Because my throat will meditate truth; lying lips are abominable before me. All the words of my mouth are with justice, there is nothing crooked in them nor twisted. They are all straight for those who understand, and right for those who find knowledge. For I teach you what is true, that your hope may be in the Lord and that you may be filled with spirit.

Proverbs 10.31-11.12 (Vespers)

31The mouth of the righteous drops wisdom: but the tongue of the unjust shall perish. 32The lips of just men drop grace: but the mouth of the ungodly is perverse.

1False balances are an abomination before the Lord: but a just weight is acceptable to him. 2Wherever pride enters, there will be also disgrace: but the mouth of the lowly meditates wisdom. 3When a just man dies he leaves regret: but the destruction of the ungodly is speedy, and causes joy. 4Possessions will not profit in a day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death. 5Righteousness traces out blameless paths: but ungodliness encounters unjust dealing. 6The righteousness of upright men delivers them: but transgressors are caught in their own destruction. 7At the death of a just man his hope does not perish: but the boast of the ungodly perishes. 8A righteous man escapes from a snare, and the ungodly man is delivered up in his place. 9In the mouth of ungodly men is a snare to citizens: but the understanding of righteous men is prosperous. 10In the prosperity of righteous men a city prospers: but by the mouth of ungodly men it is overthrown. 11At the blessing of the upright a city shall be exalted. 12A man void of understanding sneers at his fellow citizens: but a sensible man is quiet.

Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15 (Vespers)

7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. 8For honorable age is not that which stands in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9But wisdom is the gray hair to men, and an unspotted life is old age. 10He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. 11Yes speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit decieve his soul. 12For the bewitching of naughtiness does obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence does undermine the simple mind. 13He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: 14For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. 15This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he has respect to his chosen.

John 20.11-18 (8th Matins Gospel)

11But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, 12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

17Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

Acts 16.16-34 (Epistle)

16As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. 17Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”

18She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour. 19But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city 21and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

22The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, then commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. 24Having received such a command, he threw them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

25But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 27The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”

29He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 30brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.

33He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. 34He brought them up into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all his household, having believed in God.

Hebrews 7.26-8.2 (Epistle, Saints)

26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. 28For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

1Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man.

John 9.1-38 (Gospel)

1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”

9Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”

10They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

12Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

13They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

16Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.

17Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”

24So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”

28They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

30The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he listens to him. 32Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

36He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

37Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”

38He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.

Matthew 5.14-19 (Gospel, Saints)

14“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. 15Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 16Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Holy Equals-to-the-Apostles Methodius (885) and Cyril (869), first teachers of the Slavs

The two saints were brothers, born in Thessalonica. St Methodius, the elder brother, served as a soldier for ten years before becoming a monk. Cyril was librarian at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; then he too became a monk.

Their first missionary work was not among the Slavs: When the king of the Khazars (a Mongol people who then inhabited much of what is now Russia) petitioned the Emperor Michael to sent teachers to instruct his people, the Emperor chose Cyril and Methodius as his emissaries. They converted the Khazar king to the Christian faith, along with many of his nobles and commoners.

When King Rostislav of Moravia likewise sought teachers of the Christian faith, Cyril and Methodius were again sent forth. This time they devised an alphabet for the Slavic language and used it to translate many of the Greek service books into the language of the people. (In theory, the Orthodox people have always been privileged to hear the Church’s services in their own tongue, though often attachment to dead languages has prevented this ideal from becoming reality.) Both brothers were repeatedly attacked by Germanic priests of the region, who opposed the use of the common tongue in the liturgy. At different times, both brothers were forced to appeal for exoneration and protection to the Pope of Rome, who supported them warmly each time.

After the two Saints reposed, attacks on their work continued, and their disciples were eventually driven from Moravia. The disciples, fleeing southward, found a warmer welcome among the southern Slavic peoples, and their work bore much fruit in Bulgaria (including modern-day Serbia) and other countries. And, of course, the alphabet that they devised, called Cyrillic after St Cyril, remains the standard alphabet of both the Slavonic service books of the Church and the Slavic languages of today.

Holy Hieromartyr Mocius (288? 295?)

“The holy Hieromartyr Mocius, who was of Roman parents, lived during the reign of Diocletian, and was a priest in Amphilopolis of Thrace. One day as the idolaters were assembled, and the Proconsul Laodicius was offering sacrifice to Dionysius, Mocius entered the temple and overturned the altar. After many torments, through which he was preserved whole by grace divine, he was sent to Byzantium, where he was beheaded about the year 288. Saint Constantine the Great built a magnificent church in honour of Saint Mocius in Constantinople, where his holy relics were enshrined. He is one of the Holy Unmercenaries.” (Great Horologion)

The Prologue and St Herman Calendar give the date of his repose as 295.