Isaiah 14.24-32 (6th Hour)

24Thus says the Lord of hosts, As I have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so the matter shall remain: 25even to destroy the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains: and they shall be for trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall be taken away from their shoulders. 26This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole earth: and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations. 27For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand? 28In the year in which king Achaz died this word came. 29Rejoice not, all you⌃ Philistines, because the yoke of him that struck you is broken: for out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth flying serpents, 30And the poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy your seed with hunger, and shall destroy your remnant. 31Howl, you⌃ gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry, even all the Philistines: for smoke is coming from the north, and there is no possibility of living. 32And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion, and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.

Genesis 8.21-9.7 (Vespers)

21And the Lord God smelled a smell of sweetness, and the Lord God having considered, said, I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more strike all living flesh as I have done. 22All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night.

1And God blessed Noe and his sons, and said to them, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and have dominion over it. 2And the dread and the fear of you shall be upon all the wild beasts of the earth, on all the birds of the sky, and on all things moving upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, I have placed them under your power. 3And every reptile which is living shall be to you for meat, I have given all things to you as the green herbs. 4But flesh with blood of life you⌃ shall not eat. 5For your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of all wild beasts, and I will require the life of man at the hand of his brother man. 6He that sheds man's blood, instead of that blood shall his own be shed, for in the image of God I made man. 7But do you⌃ increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it.

Proverbs 11.19-12.6 (Vespers)

19A righteous son is born for life: but the persecution of the ungodly ends in death. 20Perverse ways are an abomination to the Lord: but all they that are blameless in their ways are acceptable to him. 21He that unjustly strikes hands shall not be unpunished: but he that sows righteousness he shall receive a faithful reward. 22As an ornament in a swine's snout, so is beauty to an ill-minded woman. 23All the desire of the righteous is good: but the hope of the ungodly shall perish. 24There are some who scatter their own, and make it more: and there are some also who gather, yet have less. 25Every sincere soul is blessed: but a passionate man is not graceful. 26May he that hoards corn leave it to the nation: but blessing be on the head of him that gives it. 27He that devises good counsels seeks good favor: but as for him that seeks after evil, evil shall overtake him. 28He that trusts in wealth shall fall; but he that helps righteous men shall rise. 29He that deals not graciously with his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise man. 30Out of the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life; but the souls of transgressors are cut off before their time. 31If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

1He that loves instruction loves sense, but he that hates reproofs is a fool. 2He that has found favor with the Lord is made better; but a transgressor shall be passed over in silence. 3A man shall not prosper by wickedness; but the roots of the righteous shall not be taken up. 4A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but as a worm in wood, so a bad woman destroys her husband. 5The thoughts of the righteous are true judgments; but ungodly men devise deceits. 6The words of ungodly men are crafty; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.

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)