7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Juda his beloved plant: I expected it to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry.
8Woe to them that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's: will you⌃ dwell alone upon the land?
9For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and there shall be no inhabitants in them.
10For where ten yoke of oxen plow the land shall yield one , and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.
11Woe to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till evening: for the wine shall inflame them.
12For they drink wine with harp, and lute, and drums, and pipes: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of his hands.
13Therefore my people have been taken captive, because they know not the Lord: and there has been a multitude of dead bodies, because of hunger and of thirst for water.
14Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down into it.
15And the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be disgraced, and the lofty eyes shall be brought low.
16But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.
Genesis 4.8-15 (Vespers)
8And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go out into the plain; and it came to pass that when they were in the plain Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him.
9And the Lord God said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? and he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper?
10And the Lord said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to me out of the ground.
11And now you are cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
12When you till the earth, then it shall not continue to give its strength to you: you shall be groaning and trembling on the earth.
13And Cain said to the Lord God, My crime is too great for me to be forgiven.
14If you cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from your presence, and I shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth, then it will be that any one that finds me shall kill me.
15And the Lord God said to him, Not so, any one that slays Cain shall suffer sevenfold vengeance; and the Lord God set a mark upon Cain that no one that found him might kill him.
Proverbs 5.1-15 (Vespers)
1My son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
5For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established.
6For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7Now then, my son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors come into the houses of strangers;
11And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply my ear.
14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
Commemorations
Hieromartyr Haralambos
“This great saint was bishop in Magnesia, and suffered for Christ at the age of 113. When a violent persecution broke out under the Emperor Septimus Severus, the aged Charalampus did not hide from his persecutors, but freely and openly preached the Christian faith. He endured all tortures as though not in the body, and when they flayed the living flesh from him, the godly saint said to the Emperor’s soldiers: ‘Thank you, my brethren, for scraping off the old body and renewing my soul for new and eternal life.’ He performed many wonders and brought many to the Faith. Even the Emperor’s daughter, Gallina, repudiated the paganism of her father and became a Christian. Condemned to death and led to the place of execution, St Charalampus raised his arms to heaven and prayed for all men, that God would give them bodily health and salvation of soul, and that He would grant them the fruits of the earth in abundance: ‘Lord, Thou knowest that men are flesh and blood; forgive them their sins and pour out Thy blessing on all.’ After praying thus, the saintly elder gave his soul to God before the executioner had laid his sword to his neck. He suffered in 202. Gallina took his body and buried it.” (Prologue)
The Great Horologion puts his age at 103.
St Scholastica of Italy, sister of St Benedict (543)
She was the twin sister of St Benedict, patriarch of monasticism in the West (March 14), and his constant fellow-laborer in the vineyard of Christ. They lived in neighboring monasteries; though they loved one another dearly, they met only once a year, spending the day in prayer and spiritual conversation, then parting after sharing a simple meal. At their meeting in 543, she prevailed on her brother (and the monk who accompanied him) to break his own monastic rule and stay with her in vigil through the night. Three days later, as Benedict looked out his cell window, he saw his sister’s soul in the form of a dove ascending to heaven.
Recommended: The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica, a beautifully illustrated children’s book about the two Saints; by Kathleen Norris, illustrated by Tomie dePaola.
Our Venerable Father Prochorus of the Kiev Caves (1107)
“A wonder-worker of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev, he was named the Orach-eater because the whole time he lived in the monastery, he never tasted bread but fed himself on orach [a kind of wild spinach] prepared according to his own particular method as a sort of bread. When he gave someone some of this bread with his blessing, it was as sweet as honey, but if someone stole some, it was as bitter as wormwood.
“At one time, when there was a dearth of salt in Russia, Prochorus distributed ashes to the people for salt. The ashes that he distributed with his blessing became salt; ashes, however, that anyone took for himself remained ordinary ashes. Prince Svyatopolk ordered that all the ashes from Prochorus’ cell be brought to the court without his permission, let alone his blessing. When the ashes were brought there, it was obvious to everyone that they were ashes and not salt. Then Prochorus told all the people who came to him for salt to go to the prince’s court, and, when the prince threw the ashes away, to take them and use them as salt. This they did, and the ashes again became salt. The prince himself, learning of this, was filled with a deep respect and love for him and, when Prochorus died in 1107, placed him with his own hands in a grave near the great Russian saints, Antony and Theodosius.” (Prologue).