13Sanctify you⌃ the Lord himself; and he shall be your fear.
14And if you shall trust in him, he shall be to you for a sanctuary; and you⌃ shall not come against him as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.
15Therefore many among them shall be weak, and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw near, and men shall be taken securely.
16Then shall those who seal themselves that they may not learn the law be made manifest.
17And one shall say, I will wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him.
18Behold I and the children which God has given me: and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion.
19And if they should say to you, Seek those who have in them a divining spirit, and them that speak out of the earth, them that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly: shall not a nation diligently seek to their God? why do they seek to the dead concerning the living?
20For he has given the law for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it.
21And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass, that when you⌃ shall be hungry, you⌃ shall be grieved, and you⌃ shall speak ill of the prince and your fathers' ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven above,
22and they shall look on the earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and anguish, and darkness so that one can’t see; and he that is in anguish shall not be distressed only for a time.
1Drink this first. Act quickly, O land of Zabulon, land of Nephthalim, and the rest inhabiting the sea-coast, and the land beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: you⌃ that dwell in the region and shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you.
3The multitude of the people which you have brought down in your joy, they shall even rejoice before you as they that rejoice in harvest, and as they that divide the spoil.
4Because the yoke that was laid upon them has been taken away, and the rod that was on their neck: for he has broken the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Madiam.
5For they shall compensate for every garment that has been acquired by deceit, and all raiment with restitution; and they shall be willing, even if they were burnt with fire.
6For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him.
7His government shall be great, and of his peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The seal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
Genesis 6.9-22 (Vespers)
9And these are the generations of Noe. Noe was a just man; being perfect in his generation, Noe was well-pleasing to God.
10And Noe begot three sons, Sem, Cham, Japheth.
11But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity.
12And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted; because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
13And the Lord God said to Noe, A period of all men is come before me; because the earth has been filled with iniquity by them, and, behold, I destroy them and the earth.
14Make therefore for yourself an ark of square timber; you shall make the ark in compartments, and you shall pitch it within and without with pitch.
15And thus shall you make the ark; three hundred cubits the length of the ark, and fifty cubits the breadth, and thirty cubits the height of it.
16You shall narrow the ark in making it, and in a cubit above you shall finish it, and the door of the ark you shall make on the side; with lower, second, and third stories you shall make it.
17And behold I bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven, and whatever things are upon the earth shall die.
18And I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
19And of all cattle and of all reptiles and of all wild beasts, even of all flesh, you shall bring by pairs of all, into the ark, that you may feed them with yourself: male and female they shall be.
20Of all winged birds after their kind, and of all cattle after their kind, and of all reptiles creeping upon the earth after their kind, pairs of all shall come in to you, male and female to be fed with you.
21And you shall take to yourself of all kinds of food which you⌃ eat, and you shall gather them to yourself, and it shall be for you and them to eat.
22And Noe did all things whatever the Lord God commanded him, so did he.
Proverbs 8.1-21 (Vespers)
1You shall proclaim wisdom, that understanding may be obedient to you.
2For she is on lofty eminences, and stands in the midst of the ways.
3For she sits by the gates of princes, and sings in the entrances, saying,
4You, O men, I exhort; and utter my voice to the sons of men.
5O you⌃ simple, understand subtlety, and you⌃ that are untaught, imbibe knowledge.
6Listen to me; for I will speak solemn truths; and will produce right sayings from my lips.
7For my throat shall meditate truth; and false lips are an abomination before me.
8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing in them wrong or perverse.
9They are all evident to those that understand, and right to those that find knowledge.
10Receive instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than tried gold.
11For wisdom is better than precious stones; and no valuable substance is of equal worth with it.
12I wisdom have lived with counsel and knowledge, and I have called upon understanding.
13The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness, and insolence, and pride, and the ways of wicked men; and I hate the perverse ways of bad men.
14Counsel and safety are mine; prudence is mine, and strength is mine.
15By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16By me nobles become great, and monarchs by me rule over the earth.
17I love those that love me; and they that seek me shall find me.
18Wealth and glory belong to me; yes, abundant possessions and righteousness.
19It is better to have my fruit than to have gold and precious stones; and my produce is better than choice silver.
20I walk in ways of righteousness, and am conversant with the paths of judgment;
21that I may divide substance to them that love me, and may fill their treasures with good things. If I declare to you the things that daily happen, I will remember also to recount the things of old.
Commemorations
Ven. Alexius the Man of God
He was born of pious and noble parents in Rome in the time of the Emperor Honorius. His parents, Euphemianus and Agalais, set a high standard of godly living: his father, though wealthy, sat down to dine only once a day, at sunset. By his parents’ arrangement Alexis was married at a young age. However, without ever living with his new wife, he fled to Edessa in Mesopotamia, where he lived in asceticism for eighteen years, presenting himself as a beggar in order to avoid the praise of men. When, despite his efforts, he began to be known as a holy man, he fled the city and took ship for Laodicea. By divine providence, the ship was blown off course and forced to land in Rome. Taking this as a sign, Alexis, still disguised as a beggar, returned to his parents’ house, where he sat at the gates, unrecognized by any of his family. His father, not knowing who he was, allowed him to live in a hut in his courtyard. There Alexis spent another seventeen years, living only on bread and water. He died clutching a piece of paper on which he had revealed his true identity. At the time of his death, the pope of Rome heard a voice saying “Look for the Man of God,” and revealing where he should look. It is said that the Emperor Honorius, the Pope and a large retinue came to the house, where they found Alexis dead in his tiny hut, his face shining like the sun. His parents and wife were at first overcome with grief to learn that their son and husband had been secretly living near them, but they were comforted when they saw that his body healed the sick and exuded a fragrant myrrh. Thus they knew that God had glorified him. His head is preserved at the Church of St Laurus on the Peloponnese.
St Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland (ca. 461)
“Saint Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, was seized from his native Britain by Irish marauders when he was sixteen years old. Though the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, it was not until his captivity that he sought out the Lord with his whole heart. In his Confession, the testament he wrote towards the end of his life, he says, ‘After I came to Ireland — every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed — the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was so moved that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many at night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain; and I would rise for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm.”
After six years of slavery in Ireland, he was guided by God to make his escape, and afterwards struggled in the monastic life in Aesir in Gaul [now France], under the guidance of the holy Bishop Germanus. Many years later he was ordained bishop and sent to Ireland once again, about the year 432, to convert the Irish to Christ. His arduous labours bore so much fruit that within seven years, three bishops were sent from Gaul to help him shepherd his flock, ‘my brethren and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord — so many thousands of people,’ he says in his Confession.
His apostolic work was not accomplished without much ‘weariness and painfulness,’ long journeys through difficult country, and many perils; he says his very life was in danger twelve times. When he came to Ireland, as its enlightener, it was a pagan country; when he ended his earthly life some thirty years later, about 461, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner.” (Great Horologion)
The work of St Patrick and his brethren has been called the most successful single missionary venture in the history of the Church.
It is said of St Patrick that he chanted the entire Psalter every day.