6And he said to me, It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel: behold, I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth.
7Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the God of Israel, Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes: kings shall behold him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen you.
8Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I succored you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages:
9saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth; and bidding them that are in darkness show themselves. They shall be fed in all the ways, and in all the paths shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall he lead them.
Genesis 31.3-16 (Vespers)
3And the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your father, and to your family, and I will be with you.
4And Jacob sent and called Lea and Rachel to the plain where the flocks were.
5And he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father was with me.
6And you⌃ too know that with all my might I have served your father.
7But your father deceived me, and changed my wages for the ten lambs, yet God gave him not power to hurt me.
8If he should say thus, The speckled shall be your reward, then all the cattle would bear speckled; and if he should say, The white shall be your reward, then would all the cattle bear white.
9So God has taken away all the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
10And it came to pass when the cattle conceived and were with young, that I saw with my eyes in sleep, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots.
11And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob; and I said, What is it?
12And he said, Look up with your eyes, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots; for I have seen all things that Laban does to you.
13I am God that appeared to you in the place of God where you anointed a pillar to me, and vowed to me there a vow; now then arise and depart out of this land, depart into the land of your nativity, and I will be with you.
14And Rachel and Lea answered and said to him, Have we yet a part or inheritance in the house of our father?
15Are we not considered strangers by him? for he has sold us, and quite devoured our money.
16All the wealth and the glory which God has taken from our father, it shall be our's and our children's; now then do whatever God has said to you.
Proverbs 21.3-21 (Vespers)
3To do justly and to speak truth, are more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices.
4A high-minded man is stout-hearted in his pride; and the lamp of the wicked is sin.
6He that gathers treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity on to the snares of death.
7Destruction shall lodge with the ungodly; for they refuse to do justly.
8To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right.
9It is better to dwell in a corner on the house-top, than in plastered rooms with unrighteousness, and in an open house.
10The soul of the ungodly shall not be pitied by any man.
11When an intemperate man is punished the simple becomes wiser: and a wise man understanding will receive knowledge.
12A righteous man understands the hearts of the ungodly: and despises the ungodly for their wickedness.
13He that stops his ears from hearing the poor, himself also shall cry, and there shall be none to hear him.
14A secret gift calms anger: but he that forbears to give stirs up strong wrath.
15It is the joy of the righteous to do judgment: but a holy man is abominable with evil-doers.
16A man that wanders out of the way of righteousness, shall rest in the congregation of giants.
17A poor man loves mirth, loving wine and oil in abundance;
18and a transgressor is the abomination of a righteous man.
19It is better to dwell in a wilderness than with a quarrelsome and talkative and passionate woman.
20A desirable treasure will rest on the mouth of the wise; but foolish men will swallow it up.
21The way of righteousness and mercy will find life and glory.
Commemorations
Martyr Quadratus and Companions
‘In a time of persecution of Christians, many of the faithful fled to the mountains and caves. The mother of this Codratus did so. She was pregnant at that time, and gave birth to Codratus in a forest, dying almost at once. He was kept safe and fed by the providence of God and his guardian angel. Codratus grew up in solitude with nature. He who gave manna from heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness released a sweet dew from a cloud onto the mouth of the child Codratus. When he was twelve years old, he went down to the town, and there some good people took a fancy to him and educated him. He studied medicine and then began to heal the sick, using both natural medicines and, more importantly, the spiritual power and prayer which had been with him from childhood. When a new persecution arose under Decius, Codratus was taken for trial and thrown into prison. Five of his friends stood beside him and confessed the name of Christ. They were: Cyprian, Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescens. They were all dragged through the streets and struck with sticks and stones by the unbelievers, especially by the children, until they arrived at the scaffold. Here the martyrs prayed to God and were beheaded with the sword. A spring of water gushed out onto the earth at the spot, which to this day is called by Codratus’ name and commemorates the heroic death for Christ of the holy six. They suffered with honour for the truth in Corinth in the year 250, in the time of the Emperor Decius and his governor Jason.’ (Prologue)
Our Holy Mother Anastasia (563)
She was a noble lady at the Imperial court under the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. But when she was widowed she left Constantinople and all her privileges behind and fled to the Egyptian desert. There Abba Daniel tonsured her and, at her request, presented her to the brethren as the eunuch Anastasius, so that she might avoid discovery by imperial investigators. She closed herself in a small cell, where she spent twenty-eight years in prayer and askesis. Shortly before her death, her elder Daniel saw her face shining like the sun.