10 Bashans 1739
Readings for Thursday of fifth of of the Holy Fifty Days
Vespers Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 18 : 46 - 47
| 46 | The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted. |
| 47 | It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me; |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
John 6 : 70 - 7 : 1
| 70 | Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" |
| 71 | He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. |
| 1 | After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. |
Glory be to God forever.
Matins Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 118 : 26 - 27
| 26 | Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD. |
| 27 | God is the LORD, And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint Mark the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Mark 7 : 5 - 8
| 5 | Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" |
| 6 | He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. |
| 7 | And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' |
| 8 | For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." |
Glory be to God forever.
Divine Liturgy
Pauline Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God. A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to the Romans.
May his blessings be with us. Amen.
Romans 6 : 5 - 11
| 5 | For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, |
| 6 | knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. |
| 7 | For he who has died has been freed from sin. |
| 8 | Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, |
| 9 | knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. |
| 10 | For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. |
| 11 | Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all. Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. John . May his blessings be upon us. Amen.
1 John 4 : 18 - 5 : 1
| 18 | There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. |
| 19 | We love Him because He first loved us. |
| 20 | If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? |
| 21 | And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. |
| 1 | Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. |
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Amen.
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us. Amen.
Acts 7 : 51 - 54
| 51 | "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. |
| 52 | Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, |
| 53 | who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." |
| 54 | When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God. Amen.
Divine Liturgy Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 39 : 12
| 12 | "Hear my prayer, O LORD, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were. |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
John 17 : 18 - 21
| 18 | As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. |
| 19 | And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. |
| 20 | "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; |
| 21 | that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. |
Glory be to God forever.
Not to be read in the Church during this time of the year.
Synaxarium
Day 10 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Bashans.
May God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins are forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers. Amen.
The Tenth Day of the Blessed Month of Bashans
Departure of the Three Hebrew Young Men : Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael
On this day is the commemoration
of the departure of the three young men the Saints: Hananiah (Ananias),
Azariah (Azarias) and Mishael (Misael). These Saints were the sons of Jehoiakim
king of Judah. They were exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar
chose some of the exiled young men to be in his service. These young men
and Daniel, their cousin, among those who were chosen. Ashpenaz the master
of the eunuchs gave them other names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar,
to Hananiah : Shadrach; to Mishael : Meshach; and to Azariah : Abed-Nego.
These young men purposed in their heart that they would not defile themselves
with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank;
therefore they requested of the chief of the eunuchs that they might not
defile themselves. The chief of the eunuchs said to them, "I fear my lord
the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see
your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you
would endanger my head before the king." They said to the steward whom
the chief of the eunuchs had set over them: "Please test your servants
for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Then let our countenances be examined before you, and the countenances
of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you
see fit, so deal with your servants." So he consented with them in this
matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenance
appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the
portion of the king's delicacies. As for these four young men, God gave
them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had
said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them
in before Nebuchadnezzar. When the king interviewed them, and among them
all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore
they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding
about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than
all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm, and he appointed them governors on all the provinces of Babylon.
(Daniel 1:8-20)
When the king made an image
of gold, and the three Hebrew young men did not worship it, those envious
of them, accused them before the king that they did not worship the image.
The king brought them and asked them about that and they confessed that
they only worship the true God. He commanded them to be casted in a burning
fiery furnace. The Lord sent His angel, who protected them and made the
fire as a cool dew although it burnt the men that threw them in the fiery
furnace. When the king saw that, he believed in their God and promoted
them in the province of Babylon. On the tenth day of Bashans, while they
were praying, and kneeling down, they gave up the spirit at the hand of
the Lord. A great earthquake occurred. The king was terrified, and inquired
from Daniel about what had happened, who told him that the three Hebrew
young men had died. The king came to the place and mourned them. He ordered
that three beds made of ebony be made, and their bodies be wrapped in silk,
and then placed on the beds. He also ordered a bed made of gold for himself,
so that when he died, they would place him on it among them. Pope Theophilos,
the 23rd. Patriarch, built a church after their names and wanted to relocate
their bodies to it. He delegated St. John the short and sent him to Babylon.
When he arrived to the place where they were buried, he heard a voice saying:
"The Lord has ordained that our bodies remain in this place, but because
of your labor of love, when you return, say to the Patriarch to fill the
oil lamps with oil on the night of the consecration of the church, and
the power of God will be revealed." When he returned, and told the Pope,
he did as he was commanded, and the oil lamps (Kandeels) lighted up. They
glorified God, and completed the consecration after the names of these
Saints.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
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