[Readingsandsaints] Readings and saints

Wed Feb 14 05:00:16 CST 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Wed Feb 14 2007

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Joel 2:12-26  (6th Hour)
12 Now, therefore, says the Lord, Turn to Me with all your heart, With
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your
God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great
kindness; And He relents from doing harm.
14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind
Him-- A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred
assembly;
16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from
his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room.
17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch
and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not
give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over
them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "
18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people.
19 The Lord will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send
you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I
will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 But I will remove far from you the northern army, And will drive
him away into a barren and desolate land, With his face toward the
eastern sea And his back toward the western sea; His stench will come
up, And his foul odor will rise, Because he has done monstrous things.
21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done
marvelous things!
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures
are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the
vine yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your
God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will
cause the rain to come down for you-- The former rain, And the latter
rain in the first month.
24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall
overflow with new wine and oil.
25 So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has
eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing
locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty
and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has
dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame.
Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord
your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.
And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on
all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men
shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of
the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people
shall never be put to shame.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Joel 3:12-21  (Vespers)
12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding
nations.
13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the
winepress is full, The vats overflow-- For their wickedness is great."
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of
the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their
brightness.
16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from
Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a
shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
17 "So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, Dwelling in Zion My
holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, And no aliens shall ever
pass through her again."
18 And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip
with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of
Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the
house of the Lord And water the Valley of Acacias.
19 "Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness,
Because of violence against the people of Judah, For they have shed
innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to
generation.
21 For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not
acquitted; For the Lord dwells in Zion."
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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Venerable Auxentius of Bithynia
Saint Auxentius, by origin a Syrian, served at the court of the
emperor Theodosius the Younger (418-450). He was known as a virtuous,
learned and wise man, and he was, moreover, a friend of many of the
pious men of his era.
Distressed by worldly vanity, St Auxentius was ordained to the holy
priesthood, and then received monastic tonsure. After this he went to
Bithynia and found a solitary place on Mount Oxia, not far from
Chalcedon, and there he began the life of a hermit (This mountain was
afterwards called Mt. Auxentius). The place of the saint's efforts was
discovered by shepherds seeking their lost sheep. They told others
about him, and people began to come to him for healing. St Auxentius
healed many of the sick and the infirm in the name of the Lord.
In the year 451 St Auxentius was invited to the Fourth Ecumenical
Council at Chalcedon, where he denounced the Eutychian and Nestorian
heresies. Familiar with Holy Scripture and learned in theology, St
Auxentius easily bested those opponents who disputed with him. After
the end of the Council, St Auxentius returned to his solitary cell on
the mountain. With his spiritual sight he saw the repose of St Simeon
the Stylite (459) from a great distance.
St Auxentius died about the year 470, leaving behind him disciples and
many monasteries in the region of Bithynia. He was buried in the
Monastery of St Hypatius at Rufiananas, Syria.
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Repose of St Cyril, Equal of the Apostles and Teacher of the
Slavs
Saint Cyril Equal of the Apostles, Teacher of the Slavs (Constantine
in the schema), and his older brother Methodius (April 6), were Slavs,
born in Macedonia in the city of Thessalonica.
St Cyril received the finest of educations, and from the age of
fourteen he was raised with the son of the emperor. Later, he was
ordained as a priest. Upon his return to Constantinople, he worked as
a librarian of the cathedral church, and as a professor of philosophy.
St Cyril successfully held debates with iconoclast heretics and with
Moslems.
Yearning for solitude, he went to Mount Olympos to his older brother
Methodius, but his solitude lasted only a short while. Both brothers
were sent by the emperor Michael on a missionary journey to preach
Christianity to the Khazars in the year 857. Along the way they
stopped at Cherson and discovered the relics of the Hieromartyr
Clement of Rome (November 25).
Arriving at the territory of the Khazars, the holy brothers spoke with
them about the Christian Faith. Persuaded by the preaching of St
Cyril, the Khazar prince together with all his people accepted
Christianity. The grateful prince wanted to reward the preachers with
rich presents, but they refused this and instead asked the prince to
free and send home with them all the Greek captives. St Cyril returned
to Constantinople together with 200 such captives set free.
In the year 862 began the chief exploit of the holy brothers. At the
request of Prince Rostislav, the emperor sent them to Moravia to
preach Christianity in the Slavic language. Sts Cyril and Methodius by
a revelation from God compiled a Slavonic alphabet and translated the
Gospel, Epistles, the Psalter and many Service books into the Slavonic
language. They introduced divine services in Slavonic.
The holy brothers were then summoned to Rome at the invitation of the
Roman Pope. Pope Adrian received them with great honor, since they
brought with them the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement. Sickly by
nature and in poor health, St Cyril soon fell ill from his many
labors, and after taking the schema, he died in the year 869 at the
age of forty-two. Before his death, he expressed his wish for his
brother to continue the Christian enlightenment of the Slavs. St Cyril
was buried in the Roman church of St Clement, whose own relics also
rest there, brought to Italy from Cherson by the Enlighteners of the
Slavs.
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Venerable Isaac the Recluse of the Kiev Near Caves
Saint Isaac was the first person in northern lands to live as a fool
for Christ. His name in the world was Chern. Before becoming a monk,
he was a rich merchant in the city of Toropets in the Pskov lands.
Having distributed all his substance to the poor, he went to Kiev and
received the monastic tonsure from St Anthony (July 10).
He led a very strict life of reclusion, eating only a single prosphora
and a little water at the end of the day. After seven years as a
hermit, he was subjected to a fierce temptation by the devil. Having
mistaken the Evil One for Christ, he worshipped him, after which he
fell down terribly crippled. Sts Anthony and Theodosius took care of
him and nursed him. Only after three years did he begin to walk and to
speak. He did not wish to attend church, but he was brought there by
force.
Upon his return to health he took upon himself the exploit of holy
foolishness, enduring beatings, nakedness and cold. Before his death
he went into seclusion, where again he was subjected to an onslaught
of demons, from which he was delivered by the Sign of the Cross and by
prayer.
After his healing he spent about twenty years in asceticism. He died
in the year 1090. His relics rest in the Caves of St Anthony, and part
of them were transferred to Toropets by the igumen of the Kudin
monastery in the year 1711. The Life of the Blessed Isaac was recorded
by St Nestor in the Chronicles (under the year 1074). The account in
the Kiev Caves Paterikon differs somewhat from that of St Nestor. In
the Great Reading Menaion under April 27 is the "Account of St Isaac
and his Deception by the Devil."
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12 Greeks who built the Dormition Cathedral in the Kiev
Caves, Far Caves, Lavra
The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (May
3) is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in
1073 brought the icon to Sts Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The
architects arrived at the monks' cave and asked, "Where do you want to
build the church?" The saints answered, "Go, the Lord will point out
the place."
"How is it that you, who are about to die, have still not designated
the place?" the architects wondered. "And they gave us much gold."
Then the monks summoned all the brethren and they began to question
the Greeks, saying, "Tell us the truth. Who sent you, and how did you
end up here?"
The architects answered, "One day, when each of us was asleep in his
own home, handsome youths came to us at sunrise, and said, 'The Queen
summons you to Blachernae.' We all arrived at the same time and,
questioning one another we learned that each of us had heard this
command of the Queen, and that the youths had come to each of us.
Finally, we beheld the Queen of Heaven with a multitude of warriors.
We bowed down to Her, and She said, 'I want to build Myself a Church
in Rus, at Kiev, and so I ask you to do this. Take enough gold for
three years.'"
"We bowed down and asked, 'Lady Queen! You are sending us to a foreign
land. To whom are we sent?' She answered, 'I send you to the monks
Anthony and Theodosius.'"
"We wondered, 'Why then, Lady, do You give us gold for three years?
Tell us that which concerns us, what we shall eat and what we shall
drink, and tell us also what You know about it.'"
"The Queen replied, 'Anthony will merely give the blessing, then
depart from this world to eternal repose. The other one, Theodosius,
will follow him after two years. Therefore, take enough gold.
Moreover, no one can do what I shall do to honor you. I shall give you
what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not
entered into the heart of man (1 Cor.2:9). I, Myself, shall come to
look upon the church and I shall dwell within it.'"
"She also gave us relics of the holy martyrs Menignus, Polyeuctus,
Leontius, Acacius, Arethas, James, and Theodore, saying, 'Place these
within the foundation.' We took more than enough gold, and She said,
'Come out and see the resplendant church.' We went out and saw a
church in the air. Coming inside again, we bowed down and said, 'Lady
Queen, what will be the name of the church?'"
"She answered, 'I wish to call it by My own name.' We did not dare to
ask what Her name was, but She said again, 'It will be the church of
the Mother of God.' After giving us this icon, She said, 'This will be
placed within.' We bowed down to Her and went to our own homes, taking
with us the icon we received from the hands of the Queen."
After hearing this account, everyone glorified God, and St Anthony
said, "My children, we never left this place. Those handsome youths
summoning you were holy angels, and the Queen in Blachernae was the
Most Holy Theotokos. As for those who appeared to be us, and the gold
they gave you, the Lord only knows how He deigned to do this with His
servants. Blessed be your arrival! You are in good company: the
venerable icon of the Lady." For three days St Anthony prayed that the
Lord would show him the place for the church.
After the first night there was a dew throughout all the land, but it
was dry on the holy spot. On the second morning throughout all the
land it was dry, but on the holy spot it was wet with dew. On the
third morning, they prayed and blessed the place, and measured the
width and length of the church with a golden sash. (This sash had been
brought long ago by the Varangian Shimon, who had a vision about the
building of a church.) A bolt of lightning, falling from heaven by the
prayer of St Anthony, indicated that this spot was pleasing to God. So
the foundation of the church was laid.
The icon of the Mother of God was glorified by numerous miracles.
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Translation of the relics of the Martyr Michael of Chernigov
On February 14, 1572, at the wish of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the
Terrible, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony, the relics of
the holy martyrs Michael and his councilor Theodore were transferred
to Moscow, to the temple dedicated to them. From there in 1770 they
were transferred to the Visitation cathedral, and on November 21, 1774
to the Archangel cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. See September 20 for
their Life.
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Translation of the relics of the Martyr Theodore of Chernigov
On February 14, 1572, at the wish of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the
Terrible, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony, the relics of
the holy martyrs Michael and his councilor Theodore were transferred
to Moscow, to the temple dedicated to them. From there in 1770 they
were transferred to the Visitation cathedral, and on November 21, 1774
to the Archangel cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. See September 20 for
their Life.
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Venerable Maron the Hermit of Syria
Saint Maron was born in the fourth century near the city of Cyrrhus in
Syria. He spent almost all his time beneath the open sky in prayer,
vigil, ascetical works and strict fasting. He obtained from God the
gift of healing the sick and casting out demons. He counselled those
who turned to him for advice to be temperate, to be concerned for
their salvation, and to guard against avarice and anger.
St Maron, a friend of St John Chrysostom, died before 423 at an
advanced age.
Some of St Maron's disciples were James the Hermit (November 26),
Limnius (February 23), and Domnina (March 1). St Maron founded many
monasteries around Cyrrhus, and converted a pagan temple near Antioch
into a Christian church.
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St Abraham the Bishop of Charres in Mesopotamia
Saint Abraham, Bishop of Charres, lived during the mid-fourth and
early fifth centuries, and was born in the city of Cyrrhus. In his
youth he entered a monastery. Later he became a hermit in Lebanon, a
place where many pagans lived.
St Abraham suffered much vexation from the pagans, who wanted to expel
him from their area. He once saw tax-collectors beating those who were
unable to pay. Moved to pity, he paid the taxes for them, and those
people later accepted Christ.
The Christian inhabitants of this village built a church and they
fervently besought St Abraham to accept the priesthood and become
their pastor. The monk fulfilled their wish. Having encouraged his
flock in the faith, he left them in place of himself another priest,
and he again retired to a monastery.
For his deep piety he was made bishop of Charres; his pastors the
saint constantly taught by his God-pleasing life. From the time of his
accepting of the priesthood, he never used cooked food. The emperor
Theodosius the Younger wanted to meet the bishop and made him an
invitation. After he arrived in Constantinople, St Abraham soon died.
His remains were solemnly transferred to the city of Charres and there
given over to burial.
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The Vilno Icon of the Mother of God
No information available at this time.
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