Isaiah 1.1-20 (6th Hour)

1The vision which Esaias the son of Amos saw, which he saw against Juda, and against Jerusalem, in the reign of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea. 2Hear, O heaven, and listen, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, saying, I have begotten and reared up children, but they have rebelled against me. 3The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know me, and the people has not regarded me. 4Ah sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children: you⌃ have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 5Why should you⌃ be struck any more, transgressing more and more? the whole head is pained, and the whole heart sad. 6From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering ulcer are healed: it is not possible to apply a plaister, nor oil, nor bandages. 7Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations. 8The daughter of Sion shall be deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9And if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been made like Gomorrha. 10Hear the word of the Lord, you⌃ rulers of Sodoma; attend to the law of God, you people of Gomorrha. 11Of what value to me is the abundance of your sacrifices? says the Lord: I am full of whole burnt offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats: 12neither shall you⌃ come with these to appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? You⌃ shall no more tread my court. 13Though you⌃ bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me; I can’t bear your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day; 14your fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: you⌃ have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins. 15When you⌃ stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and though you⌃ make many supplications, I will not listen to you; for your hands are full of blood. 16Wash you, be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before my eyes; cease from your iniquities; 17learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow. 18And come, let us reason together, says the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool. 19And if you⌃ be willing, and listen to me, you⌃ shall eat the good of the land: 20but if you⌃ be not willing, nor listen to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.

Genesis 1.1-13 (Vespers)

1In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. 2But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water. 3And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so. 7And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament. 8And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared. 10And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good. 11And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Proverbs 1.1-20 (Vespers)

1The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, who reigned in Israel; 2to know wisdom and instruction, and to perceive words of understanding; 3to receive also hard saying, and to understand true justice, and how to direct judgment; 4that he might give subtlety to the simple, and to the young man discernment and understanding. 5For by the hearing of these a wise man will be wiser, and man of understanding will gain direction; 6and will understand a parable, and a dark speech; the saying of the wise also, and riddles. 7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and there is good understanding to all that practise it: and piety toward God is the beginning of discernment; but the ungodly will set at nothing wisdom and instruction. 8Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, and reject not the rules of your mother. 9For you shall receive for your head a crown of graces, and a chain of gold round your neck. 10My son, let not ungodly men lead you astray, neither consent you to them. 11If they should exhort you, saying, Come with us, partake in blood, and let us unjustly hide the just man in the earth: 12and let us swallow him alive, as Hades would, and remove the memorial of him from the earth: 13let us seize on his valuable property, and let us fill our houses with spoils: 14but do you cast in your lot with us, and let us all provide a common purse, and let us have one pouch: 15go not in the way with them, but turn aside your foot from their paths: 16For their feet run to do evil, and are swift to shed blood. 17for nets are not without cause spread for birds. 18For they that are concerned in murder store up evils for themselves; and the overthrow of transgressors is evil. 19These are the ways of all that perform lawless deeds; for by ungodliness they destroy their own life. 20Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly.

St Photios, patriarch of Constantinople (891)

St Photios, along with St Mark of Ephesus and St Gregory Palamas, is counted as one of the Three Pillars of Orthodoxy, who stood against Latinizing influences on the Orthodox Church.

He was born in Constantinople in 810, son of pious parents belonging to one of the prominent families of the City. Both his parents were martyred during the Iconoclast persecution, leaving their son an example of adherence to the True Faith even unto death. He received a superb education, and was widely considered the single most learned person of his time. He was elevated to the Patriarchal throne in 858, after being raised through all the degrees of the priesthood in six days.

Throughout his Patriarchal reign he was troubled by the usual political battles and intrigues and, more importantly, by various threats to the Faith in the form of Manicheans and Iconoclasts.

Photios showed a special concern for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world: it was he who commissioned Sts Cyril and Methodius to embark on their mission to the Slavs.

Most memorably, it was the Patriarch’s lot to stand against the arrogant, uncanonical and heretical claims of Pope Nicholas I of Rome, who openly asserted for the first time the Pope’s pretensions to universal jurisdiction over the Church. When the Patriarch opposed these claims, Pope Nicholas summoned a council of western bishops, which “deposed” Photios and excommunicated all clergy whom he had ordained. In 867 the Emperor Michael III was assassinated, and his successor Basil I deposed Photios, had him imprisoned, and reinstated his predecessor Ignatius. To gain legitimacy for this widely-opposed move, he submitted it to the Pope for approval. Delighted, the Pope ratified the Emperor’s decision and used it to advance the claims of the Papacy. When the eastern bishops realized what was happening they prevailed on the Emperor to release Photios from his three-year imprisonment; and when Ignatius died, the Church unanimously returned Photios to the Patriarchal throne. A Council in Constantinople in 879-880, at which Photios presided, restored communion between the Eastern and Western Churches but at the same time anathematized the heretical addition of the filioque to the Creed, which the Papacy had been promoting.

When Leo VI succeeded Basil I as Emperor, the Patriarch was once again deposed, and was imprisoned in the Monastery of the Armenians for five years. During this time he wrote the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, a learned and eloquent refutation of the filioque heresy. The Saint, still imprisoned, reposed in peace in 893.

Sts Barsanuphius and John the Prophet, monks of Palestine (6th c.)

‘Saint Barsanuphius the Great, who was from Egypt, and his disciple, Saint John the Prophet, struggled in very strict reclusion during the sixth century at the monastery of Abba Seridus at Gaza of Palestine, and were endowed with amazing gifts of prophecy and spiritual discernment. They are mentioned by Saint Dorotheus of Gaza, their disciple, in his writings. Many of the counsels they sent to Christians who wrote to them are preserved in the book which bears their names. Once certain of the Fathers besought Saint Barsanuphius to pray that God stay His wrath and spare the world. Saint Barsanuphius wrote back that there were “three men perfect before God,” whose prayers met at the throne of God and protected the whole world; to them it had been revealed that the wrath of God would not last long. These three, he said, were “John of Rome, Elias of Corinth, and another in the diocese of Jerusalem,” concealing the name of the last, since it was himself.’ (Great Horologion)

Saint Barsanuphius lived in such reclusion that only Abbot Seridus ever saw him: once a week the Abbot would bring him three loaves and some water, and would write down the Saint’s counsels. Some of the brethren came to suspect that Barsanuphius was an invention of the Abbot, and to relieve their minds he came out of his cell for the only time, greeted them, washed their feet, and withdrew again.

It is unknown when St Barsanuphius reposed. When it was suspected that he had died in his cell, the Patriarch of Jerusalem ordered that it be opened, but fire blasted forth from the door, preventing any from entering.