Readings for Friday 30 August 2024
24 Misra 1740
Vespers Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 89 : 19 - 21
| 19 | Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, And said: "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. |
| 20 | I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, |
| 21 | With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. |
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 Matthew the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Matthew 10 : 34 - 42
| 34 | "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. |
| 35 | For I have come to "set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; |
| 36 | and "a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' |
| 37 | He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. |
| 38 | And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. |
| 39 | He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. |
| 40 | "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. |
| 41 | He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. |
| 42 | And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." |
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 132 : 9,10,17,18
| 9 | Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your saints shout for joy. |
| 10 | For Your servant David's sake, Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed. |
| 17 | There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. |
| 18 | His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish." |
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 6 : 17 - 23
| 17 | And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, |
| 18 | as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. |
| 19 | And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. |
| 20 | Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. |
| 21 | Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. |
| 22 | Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. |
| 23 | Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. |
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 7:18-28 Hebrews 8:1-13
| 18 | For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, |
| 19 | for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. |
| 20 | And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath |
| 21 | (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: "The LORD has sworn And will not relent, "You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek"'), |
| 22 | by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. |
| 23 | Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. |
| 24 | But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. |
| 25 | Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. |
| 26 | For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; |
| 27 | who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. |
| 28 | For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. |
| 1 | Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, |
| 2 | a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. |
| 3 | For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. |
| 4 | For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; |
| 5 | who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." |
| 6 | But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. |
| 7 | For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. |
| 8 | Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- |
| 9 | not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. |
| 10 | For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. |
| 11 | None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, "Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. |
| 12 | For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." |
| 13 | In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. |
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.
3 John 1 : 1 - 14
| 1 | The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: |
| 2 | Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. |
| 3 | For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. |
| 4 | I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. |
| 5 | Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, |
| 6 | who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, |
| 7 | because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. |
| 8 | We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth. |
| 9 | I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. |
| 10 | Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. |
| 11 | Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. |
| 12 | Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true. |
| 13 | I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; |
| 14 | but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. |
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 15:36-41 Acts 16:1-5
| 36 | Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing." |
| 37 | Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. |
| 38 | But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. |
| 39 | Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; |
| 40 | but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. |
| 41 | And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. |
| 1 | Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. |
| 2 | He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. |
| 3 | Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. |
| 4 | And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. |
| 5 | So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God. Amen.
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Synaxarium
Day 24 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Misra.
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 Twenty-Fourth Day of the Blessed Month of Misra
Departure of St.Takla Haymanot, the Ethiopian
On this day, the great hermit and the
blessed St. Takla Haymanot, the Ethiopian, departed. He was born in a village
nearby Jerusalem which was the share of Zadok and Abia-thar the priests
during the reign of King Soliman, son of King David. Zadok begot Azariah,
Azariah begot Zadok, who was named after his grandfather, and Zadok begot
Levi, and so forth till the father of this saint was born. His name was
Tsega Ze-Ab (which means the Grace of the Father) and he married a woman
whose name was Sarah. They were righteous, God fearing and very rich. They
always celebrated the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael
on the twelfth day of each Coptic month, and gave alms to the poor and
the needy. Sarah, the mother of this saint, was very beautiful, meek and
adorned with many virtues, hence they called her "Egezi-Hareya" (i.e. God
has chosen her). However, She and her husband were bitter and sad because
they did not have any children. She went daily to the church imploring
God to give her a child that would delight her heart. Her husband also
went to the church at the time of the offering of the incense and taught
the congregation the fundamentals of faith. Every time he went to the church
he took from his own money an offering to the house of God. They both agreed
to disperse their money to the poor, the needy, the monasteries and the
churches.
Meanwhile the king died,
and another king reigned who worshipped the idols. The new king demolished
the churches and built pagan temples. He was unjust and he plundered and
captured women, among them "Egezi-Hareya", the mother of St. Takla. Later
she returned safely to her husband and both glorified God and praised His
Holy Name. Afterwards, the angel of the Lord appeared to them in a vision
at night, and announced to them the birth of this saint. When the saint
was about one and half years old, a famine befell Ethiopia. When the twelfth
day of the blessed month of Baramhat, the commemoration of the honorable
head of the Heavenly hosts, drew near, Sarah, the mother of the child, was crying
because she was not able to celebrate this occasion. The child wiped away
her tears with his little hands and yet he was still unable to talk. He
pointed to her to carry him to where there was a plate with a little flour
in it. She took him to the plate where he dipped his hand in the flour.
The flour increased until it was pouring onto the floor. She brought baskets
and every time she emptied the plate, it became full again, until she had
filled twelve baskets. His mother then knew that God was with the child.
Then she brought to him the empty container of oil. He placed his hand
over it and it was filled with the power of God. In the same fashion, other
containers in the house were filled. When Tsega Ze-Ab, the father of the
child, returned from the church and knew what happened, he glorified God.
They celebrated the commemoration of the archangel Michael, fed the poor
and all the neighbors. God honored this saint with many miracles that he
performed during his life and also after his departure. When St. Takla
Haymanot completed his good strife, he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Departure of St.Thomas, Bishop of Mar'ash
(Syria)
On this day also, the fighter
father, St. Thomas, Bishop of Mar'ash, departed. He was an ascetic worshipper,
who fasted and prayed continually, with many merciful deeds. Therefore,
they ordained him a bishop for the city of Mar'ash. He shepherded the flock
of Christ with the best of care. When the infidel Emperor Diocletian reigned,
he sent one of his representatives to the city of Mar'ash to torture the
Christians. He started with this saint. He ordered the saint to worship
the idols. The saint not only disobeyed him but also rebuked him on his
idolatry. He tortured the saint severely by flogging, and dismemberment,
then he cast him in an abandoned prison. From time to time, he ordered
to dismember one of his organs. First they cut his ears, then nose, lips,
his legs, then they smashed his teeth. He was left in this prison for twenty-two
years. His congregation thought that he had died, and they celebrated an
annual commemoration for him. A faithful woman came to him by night, and
threw to him provisions through a small opening.
The saint remained in this
condition until the righteous Emperor Constantine reigned and declared
the glory of the Christian faith, and ordered the release of the faithful
from prisons. The woman informed some priests of the whereabouts of this
saint. The priests came to the saint, carried him to the church with songs
and hymns. The people came forward for his blessing and kissed the places
where he was dismembered. When the Emperor assembled the council of Nicea,
this saint was one of those attended. As the Emperor came to the council,
he knelt before the fathers and kissed their hands. When he knew what had
happened to this father, he asked for his blessings. As the council adjourned,
he and the other bishops returned to their dioceses. He gathered his priests
and congregation, read to them the creed that was instiTutd by the council,
and also explained to them what was difficult to understand. Afterwards
the saint lived for a short period then departed in peace, when his episcopate
was about forty years.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. 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 99 : 6 - 7
| 6 | Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called upon His name; They called upon the LORD, and He answered them. |
| 7 | He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; They kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them. |
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 16 : 20 - 33
| 20 | Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. |
| 21 | A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. |
| 22 | Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. |
| 23 | "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. |
| 24 | Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. |
| 25 | "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. |
| 26 | In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; |
| 27 | for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. |
| 28 | I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." |
| 29 | His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! |
| 30 | Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God." |
| 31 | Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? |
| 32 | Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. |
| 33 | These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." |
Glory be to God forever.
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