[Readingsandsaints] Readings and saints

Thu Mar 29 04:00:32 CST 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Thu Mar 29 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Isaiah 65:8-16  (6th Hour)
8 Thus says the Lord: As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one
says, Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it, So will I do for My
servants sake, That I may not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of
My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell
there.
10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, And the Valley of Achor a place
for herds to lie down, For My people who have sought Me.
11 But you are those who forsake the Lord, Who forget My holy
mountain, Who prepare a table for Gad, And who furnish a drink
offering for Meni.
12 Therefore I will number you for the sword, And you shall all bow
down to the slaughter; Because, when I called, you did not answer;
When I spoke, you did not hear, But did evil before My eyes, And chose
that in which I do not delight.
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, My servants shall eat,
But you shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, But you
shall be thirsty; Behold, My servants shall rejoice, But you shall be
ashamed;
14 Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, But you shall cry
for sorrow of heart, And wail for grief of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lord God
will slay you, And call His servants by another name;
16 So that he who blesses himself in the earth Shall bless himself in
the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Shall swear by the
God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because
they are hidden from My eyes.
Scripture Reading 1 of 3

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Genesis 46:1-7  (Vespers, 1st Reading)
1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to
Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said,
Jacob, Jacob! And he said, Here I am.
3 So He said, I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down
to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.
4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you
up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.
5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried
their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts
which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had
acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his
descendants with him.
7 His sons and his sons sons, his daughters and his sons daughters,
and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.
Scripture Reading 2 of 3

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Proverbs 23:15-24:5  (Vespers, 2nd Reading)
15 My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoiceindeed, I
myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right
things.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of
the Lord all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.
20 Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And
drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother
when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and
understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets
a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you
rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful
among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has
complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed
wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the
cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter
perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or
like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I
did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?
1 Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;
2 For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of
troublemaking.
3 Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is
established;
4 By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant
riches.
5 A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
Scripture Reading 3 of 3

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Hieromartyr Mark the Bishop of Arethusa, who suffered under
Julian the Apostate
Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, suffered for his faith in Christ
under the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). By order of the
emperor Constantine (May 21), St Mark had once destroyed a pagan
temple and built a Christian church.
When Julian came to the throne, he persecuted Christians and tried to
restore paganism. Some citizens of Arethusa renounced Christianity and
became pagans. Then St Mark's enemies decided to take revenge on him.
The old bishop hid himself from the persecutors at first, but then
gave himself up when he learned that the pagans had tortured many
people in their search for him.
The holy Elder was led through the city and given over to torture.
They tore out his hair, slashed his body, dragged him along the
street, dumped him in a swamp, tied him up, and cut him with knives.
The pagans demanded that the holy bishop pay them a large sum of money
to rebuild the pagan temple, and he refused to do so. The persecutors
invented several new torments: they squeezed the Elder in a
foot-press, and they cut off his ears with linen cords. Finally, they
smeared the holy martyr's body with honey and grease, then hung him up
in a basket in the hot mid-day sun to be eaten by bees, wasps, and
hornets. St Mark did not seem to notice the pain, and this irritated
the tormentor all the more.
The pagans kept lowering the price he had to pay for their temple, but
St Mark refused to give them a single coin. Admiring him for his
courage and endurance, the pagans stopped asking him for money and set
him free. Many of them returned to Christ after hearing his talks.
St Gregory the Theologian (January 25) describes the sufferings of St
Mark in his First Oration against Julian. Theodoritus of Cyrrhus also
mentions him in his CHURCH HISTORY (Book 3, Ch. 6)
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Martyr Cyril the Deacon of Heliopolis, who suffered under
Julian the Apostate
The Holy Martyr Cyril the Deacon The historian Theodoritus relates
that during the reign of St Constantine the Great St Cyril destroyed
many idols and pagan temples in Heliopolis, Phoenicia. He was put to
death for this during the reign of Julian the Apostate. Pagans cut
open his stomach and, like wild beasts, they ate his liver and
intestines, for which the Lord punished them with blindness, boils and
other terrible afflictions.
During this time the pagans killed many Christians in the Palestinian
cities of Ascalon and Gaza: priests, women and children who had
dedicated themselves to God. The torturers cut up their bodies,
covered them with barley and fed them to pigs.
The holy martyrs received crowns of victory in the Kingdom of Heaven,
and the torturers also received their just recompense: eternal torment
in Hell.
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Martyrs who suffered under Julian the Apostate
The historian Theodoritus relates that during the reign of St
Constantine the Great St Cyril destroyed many idols and pagan temples
in Heliopolis, Phoenicia. He was put to death for this during the
reign of Julian the Apostate. Pagans cut open his stomach and, like
wild beasts, they ate his liver and intestines, for which the Lord
punished them with blindness, boils and other terrible afflictions.
During this time the pagans killed many Christians in the Palestinian
cities of Ascalon and Gaza: priests, women and children who had
dedicated themselves to God. The torturers cut up their bodies,
covered them with barley and fed them to pigs.
The holy martyrs received crowns of victory in the Kingdom of Heaven,
and the torturers also received their just recompense: eternal torment
in Hell.
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Venerable John the Anchorite of Egypt
Saint John the Anchorite: During a persecution against Christians, the
devout widow Juliania of Armenia hid from pursuers together with her
two young children John and Themistea. She taught her children to pray
and to read the Holy Scriptures.
>From time to time John secretly visited a nearby monastery, thereby
placing himself in danger. Once, a pious old man advised him to find a
more secluded place for prayer. Returning home, the saint told his
mother that he was going to visit the Elder. Thinking that her son
would soon return, she let him go.
John went to the desert-dweller Pharmutios and received his blessing
to live alone in the wilderness. The young ascetic found an abandoned
well, which was filled with snakes, scorpions and other vile
creatures. He lowered himself into the well and lived there for ten
years in fasting, vigil, and prayer.
The angel who brought food to the hermit Pharmutios also brought bread
for St John. The angel did not bring the bread directly to John,
however, lest the young ascetic become filled with pride. Food was
sent to him through his spiritual Father, Pharmutios.
St John had many temptations from the devil to test him. Demons
assumed the appearance of his mother, his sister, his relatives and
acquaintances in order to sadden the ascetic and compel him to give up
his ascetic struggles. With tears they approached the well one after
the other, begging St John to leave with them. All this time the saint
did not cease to pray. Finally he said, "Be gone from me," and the
demons vanished.
St John lived in the well until the time of his blessed repose.
Through God's providence St Chrysikhios, who had struggled in the
desert for thirty years, came to bury him. On the eve of his repose,
St John told Chrysikhios of his life and struggles for salvation.
After his death, numerous miracles occurred at the place of his
ascetic deeds.
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St Eustathius (Eustace) the Confessor the Bishop of Bithynia
Saint Eustathius the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia, was already at the
beginning of his spiritual struggle a pious monk, meek and wise,
filled with great faith and love for his neighbor. For his virtuous
life he was made bishop of the city of Bithynia (a Roman province in
northwest Asia Minor) and for many years he guided his flock, giving
them an example of virtuous life and perfection.
During the Iconoclast heresy, St Eustathius boldly came out against
the heretics and defended the veneration of holy icons. Iconoclasts
denounced him to the emperor, and the saint suffered imprisonment and
fierce beatings. Finally, they deprived St Eustathius of his See and
sent him to prison.
The holy confessor died in exile during the ninth century, after
suffering insults, deprivation, hunger, and want for three years.
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Venerable Mark of the Pskov Caves
Saints Mark, Jonah and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the
Pskov Caves monastery.
It is not known exactly when the first hermit monks settled by the
Kamenets stream in the natural caves of the hill, which the local
inhabitants called "the holy hill." The monastery Chronicle presents
an account of eyewitnesses, hunter-trappers from Izborsk nicknamed
Selishi: "We came with our father to the outlying hill where the
church of the Mother of God is now, and heard what seemed to be church
singing. They sang harmoniously and reverently, but the singers could
not be seen, and the air was filled with the fragrance of incense."
Of the first Elders of the Pskov Caves monastery only Mark is known by
name. The Chronicle says of him: "In the beginning, a certain Elder
was living at the Kamenets near the cave. Some fishermen saw him by
the three rocks above the cave of the Most Holy Theotokos church, but
they were unable to discover who he was, his lineage, how and from
whence he came to this place, how long he dwelt there, or how he
died."
The second igumen of the Caves monastery is identified as Elder Mark
in the monastery Synodikon. St Cornelius (February 20) doubted the
veracity of this inscription and ordered that the name be removed from
the Synodikon. Suddenly he became grievously ill and it was revealed
to him that this was his punishment for ordering the name of St Mark
to be stricken from the monastery diptychs.
After begging forgiveness at the grave of the Elder Mark, Igumen
Cornelius restored his name. When the cave church of the Dormition of
the Most Holy Theotokos was dug out and the burial caves expanded, the
igumen Dorotheus found the grave of St Mark in a state of neglect, but
his relics and clothing were preserved.
In the year 1472, the peasant Ivan Dementiev cut down the forest on
the hill. One of the felled trees rolled down the hill, uprooting
another tree from the ground. The slide opened up the entrance to a
cave, over which was the inscription: "The cave built by God" (There
is a tradition that St Barlaam, a fool-for-Christ, frequently came to
the cave and wiped out this inscription, but it miraculously
reappeared every time).
The priest John (nicknamed "Shestnik") came to this holy spot, where
the first ascetics prayed. He was a native of "the Moscow lands" and
served as priest at Iuriev (now Tartu) in "a right-believing church,
established by people from Pskov" and dedicated to St Nicholas and the
Great Martyr George. He and the priest Isidore spiritually nourished
the Russians living there.
In 1470, Father John was compelled to flee to Pskov with his family
because of persecution by the German Catholics. When he learned of the
martyric death of St Isidore (January 8), Father John decided to
settle in the newly-appeared "cave built by God," so that there, on
the very boundary with the Livonians, he might found a monastery as an
outpost of Orthodoxy.
Soon his wife fell ill and died after receiving monastic tonsure with
the name Bassa. Her righteousness was evidenced immediately after her
death. Her husband and her spiritual Father buried St Bassa (March 19)
in the wall of "the cave built by God," but at night her coffin was
"taken from the ground by an invisible power of God."
Father John and St Bassa's Father Confessor were upset, thinking that
this had occurred because they had not done the complete Service for
the Departed. So they sang the funeral service a second time, and they
buried the body again. In the morning, however, it was found above
ground. Then it was clear that this was a sign from God, so they dug
St Bassa's grave on the left side of the cave. Shaken by the miracle,
John became a monk with the name Jonah and devoted himself even more
fervently to spiritual struggles.
He dug out the cave church and built two cells on pillars, then
petitioned the clergy of the Pskov Trinity cathedral to consecrate it,
but they decided not to do so at the time "because of its unusual
location." Then St Jonah sought the blessing of Archbishop Theophilus
of Novgorod.
On August 15, 1473 the cave church was consecrated in honor of the
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. During the consecration there
was a miracle from an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy
Theotokos: a blind woman "sent by the merciful God, beginning His
great gifts to His All-Pure Mother" received her sight (This icon,
which they call the "old" to distinguish it from another wonderworking
icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos with scenes of Her
life around the borders, was painted around 1421 by the Pskov
iconographer Alexis Maly, and is now kept in the altar of the
Dormition church. The icon with scenes around the border is the Cave
church's patronal icon).
The date of the consecration of the cave church is regarded as the
official date of the founding of the Pskov Caves monastery. St Jonah
labored at the Cave monastery until 1480, then peacefully fell asleep
in the Lord. Upon his death they discovered a chain mail coat on his
body. This was hung over his grave as a sign of his secret asceticism,
but it was stolen during a German invasion.
The relics of St Jonah rest in the Caves beside the relics of the
Elder Mark and St Bassa. Once, when the monastery was besieged, the
Livonian knights wanted to open the lid of St Bassa's coffin with a
sword, but fire spurted forth from the coffin. Traces of this
punishing fire may still be seen on the coffin of St Bassa.
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Venerable Jonah (John) of the Pskov Caves
Saints Jonah, Mark and Bassa are venerated as the founders of the
Pskov Caves monastery.
The priest John (nicknamed "Shestnik") came to this holy spot, where
the first ascetics prayed. He was a native of "the Moscow lands" and
served as priest at Iuriev (now Tartu) in "a right-believing church,
established by people from Pskov" and dedicated to St Nicholas and the
Great Martyr George. He and the priest Isidore spiritually nourished
the Russians living there.
In 1470, Father John was compelled to flee to Pskov with his family
because of persecution by the German Catholics. When he learned of the
martyric death of St Isidore (January 8), Father John decided to
settle in the newly-appeared "cave built by God," so that there, on
the very boundary with the Livonians, he might found a monastery as an
outpost of Orthodoxy.
Soon his wife fell ill and died after receiving monastic tonsure with
the name Bassa. Her righteousness was evidenced immediately after her
death. Her husband and her spiritual Father buried St Bassa (March 19)
in the wall of "the cave built by God," but at night her coffin was
"taken from the ground by an invisible power of God."
Father John and St Bassa's Father Confessor were upset, thinking that
this had occurred because they had not done the complete Service for
the Departed. So they sang the funeral service a second time, and they
buried the body again. In the morning, however, it was found above
ground. Then it was clear that this was a sign from God, so they dug
St Bassa's grave on the left side of the cave. Shaken by the miracle,
John became a monk with the name Jonah and devoted himself even more
fervently to spiritual struggles.
He dug out the cave church and built two cells on pillars, then
petitioned the clergy of the Pskov Trinity cathedral to consecrate it,
but they decided not to do so at the time "because of its unusual
location." Then St Jonah sought the blessing of Archbishop Theophilus
of Novgorod.
On August 15, 1473 the cave church was consecrated in honor of the
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. During the consecration there
was a miracle from an icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy
Theotokos: a blind woman "sent by the merciful God, beginning His
great gifts to His All-Pure Mother" received her sight (This icon,
which they call the "old" to distinguish it from another wonderworking
icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos with scenes of Her
life around the borders, was painted around 1421 by the Pskov
iconographer Alexis Maly, and is now kept in the altar of the
Dormition church. The icon with scenes around the border is the Cave
church's patronal icon).
The date of the consecration of the cave church is regarded as the
official date of the founding of the Pskov Caves monastery. St Jonah
labored at the Cave monastery until 1480, then peacefully fell asleep
in the Lord. Upon his death they discovered a chain mail coat on his
body. This was hung over his grave as a sign of his secret asceticism,
but it was stolen during a German invasion.
The relics of St Jonah rest in the Caves beside the relics of the
Elder Mark and St Bassa. Once, when the monastery was besieged, the
Livonian knights wanted to open the lid of St Bassa's coffin with a
sword, but fire spurted forth from the coffin. Traces of this
punishing fire may still be seen on the coffin of St Bassa.
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