Saturday 24 May 2025
16 Bashans 1741
Readings for Saturday 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 135 : 19 - 20
| 19 | Bless the LORD, O house of Israel! Bless the LORD, O house of Aaron! |
| 20 | Bless the LORD, O house of Levi! You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! |
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 Luke the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Luke 14 : 1 - 6
| 1 | Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. |
| 2 | And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. |
| 3 | And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" |
| 4 | But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. |
| 5 | Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" |
| 6 | And they could not answer Him regarding these things. |
Glory be to God forever.
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Matins Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 36 : 5 - 6
| 5 | Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. |
| 6 | Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast. |
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 7 : 37 - 46
| 37 | On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. |
| 38 | He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." |
| 39 | But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. |
| 40 | Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." |
| 41 | Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? |
| 42 | Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" |
| 43 | So there was a division among the people because of Him. |
| 44 | Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. |
| 45 | Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" |
| 46 | The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" |
Glory be to God forever.
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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 Hebrews.
May his blessings be with us. Amen.
Hebrews 10 : 1 - 13
| 1 | For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. |
| 2 | For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. |
| 3 | But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. |
| 4 | For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. |
| 5 | Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. |
| 6 | In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. |
| 7 | Then I said, "Behold, I have come--In the volume of the book it is written of Me--To do Your will, O God."' |
| 8 | Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), |
| 9 | then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. |
| 10 | By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. |
| 11 | And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. |
| 12 | But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, |
| 13 | from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all. Amen.
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Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. John . May his blessings be upon us. Amen.
1 John 5 : 11 - 21
| 11 | And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. |
| 12 | He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. |
| 13 | These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. |
| 14 | Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. |
| 15 | And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. |
| 16 | If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. |
| 17 | All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. |
| 18 | We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. |
| 19 | We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. |
| 20 | And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. |
| 21 | Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. |
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.
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Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us. Amen.
Acts 23 : 6 - 11
| 6 | But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!" |
| 7 | And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. |
| 8 | For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection--and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. |
| 9 | Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, "We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God." |
| 10 | Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks. |
| 11 | But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome." |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God. Amen.
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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 135 : 3,5
| 3 | Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. |
| 5 | For I know that the LORD is great, And our Lord is above all gods. |
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 14 : 1 - 11
| 1 | "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. |
| 2 | In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. |
| 3 | And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. |
| 4 | And where I go you know, and the way you know." |
| 5 | Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" |
| 6 | Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. |
| 7 | "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." |
| 8 | Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." |
| 9 | Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father'? |
| 10 | Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. |
| 11 | Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. |
Glory be to God forever.
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Not to be read in the Church during this time of the year.
Synaxarium
Day 16 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 Sixteenth Day of the Blessed Month of Bashans
Commemoration of St.John the Evangelist
On this day the church commemorates
St. John the Evangelist and his preaching in Asia Minor, the city of Ephesus,
and the cities that are around it. Commemorates, the afflictions that he
suffered and what befell him from the evil men who worshipped idols until
he brought them to the knowledge of God and delivered them from the error
of Satan by his teachings. The miracles that God performed through him.
The writing of his Gospel, uttering in it with the eternity of the Son
and His incarnation. His ascension to heaven in the Spirit, he saw the
heavenly ranks and heard their praising and wrote about it in the book
of Revelation. This was during the reign of Emperor Domitianus (Domitian),
when he exiled St. John, after he placed him in a cauldron filled with
boiling oil, and was not harmed, to the island of Patmos, where he wrote
the book of Revelation. After Domitian had been killed in the year 96 A.D.,
St. John returned to Ephesus. He found some heretics of the Nicolaitans
(Rev. 2:6) who taught that Christ's birth was a natural birth from both
Joseph and Mary. For this reason, he wrote his Gospel to refute their heresy.
St. John had ardent zeal for the salvation of sinners. Once he saved a
youth, delivered him to the bishop, and told him: "I entrust you with the
safe keeping of this soul," but the youth, because of his bad conduct and
the evil company that he kept, spoiled his morals and he became the head
of a band of robbers. When St. John returned, he asked the bishop about
the young man, who expressed his sorrow to St. John for the condition that
became of this young man and told him what had happened. St. John rode
a horse, took with him a guide, and travelled to his place. When he arrived
to that place, he was caught by the thieves and they took him to their
leader. When the leader saw St. John, he knew him, and was ashamed and
tried to flee. St. John told him: "My son, be merciful to yourself, because
the door of hope is still open for your salvation, and I will be your intercessor
before the Lord Christ." Then, the young man wept, returned repenting,
and St. John administered to him the Holy Communion to strengthen him.
The biography of St. John is written under the fourth day of Tubah. This
feast is a commemoration for his evangelism, and also because on this day
a church was consecrated after his name in the city of Alexandria.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
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