Tubah 26, 1740 AM <-> February 4 2024 <->The Readings for today

Readings for Sunday 4 February 2024
26 Tubah 1740
Fourth Sunday of Tubah

Vespers Psalm & Gospel

From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.

Psalms 78 : 20,23

²⁰	Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, And the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?\|"

²³	Yet He had commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven,

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 5 : 31 - 46

³¹	"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.

³²	There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.

³³	You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

³⁴	Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

³⁵	He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

³⁶	But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish--the very works that I do--bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷	And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

³⁸	But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.

³⁹	You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

⁴⁰	But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

⁴¹	"I do not receive honor from men.

⁴²	But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.

⁴³	I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

⁴⁴	How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵	Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust.

⁴⁶	For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

Glory be to God forever.

↑ Top of Page ↑

Matins Psalm & Gospel

From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.

Psalms 88 : 7,18

⁷	Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves.Selah

¹⁸	Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.

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 : 47 - 58

⁴⁷	Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

⁴⁸	I am the bread of life.

⁴⁹	Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

⁵⁰	This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹	I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

⁵²	The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"

⁵³	Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

⁵⁴	Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

⁵⁵	For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

⁵⁶	He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

⁵⁷	As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

⁵⁸	This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."

Glory be to God forever.

↑ Top of Page ↑

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 11 : 13 - 36

¹³	For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

¹⁴	if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.

¹⁵	For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

¹⁶	For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷	And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

¹⁸	do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹	You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in."

²⁰	Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

²¹	For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

²²	Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

²³	And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

²⁴	For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵	For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

²⁶	And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

²⁷	For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

²⁸	Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

²⁹	For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

³⁰	For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,

³¹	even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.

³²	For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

³³	Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁴	"For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?"

³⁵	"Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"

³⁶	For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The grace of God the Father be with you all. Amen.

↑ Top of Page ↑

Catholic Epistle

A Reading from Epistle of St. John . May his blessings be upon us. Amen.

1 John 5 : 9 - 21

⁹	If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.

¹⁰	He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.

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.

↑ Top of Page ↑

Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us. Amen.

Acts 11 : 2 - 18

²	And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him,

³	saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

⁴	But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying:

⁵	"I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me.

⁶	When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.

⁷	And I heard a voice saying to me, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat.'

⁸	But I said, "Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.'

⁹	But the voice answered me again from heaven, "What God has cleansed you must not call common.'

¹⁰	Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹	At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

¹²	Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.

¹³	And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, "Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter,

¹⁴	who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.'

¹⁵	And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶	Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷	If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"

¹⁸	When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."

The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God. Amen.

↑ Top of Page ↑

Synaxarium

Day 26 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Tubah.
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-Sixth Day of the Blessed Month of Tubah

Martyrdom of the Forty-Nine Saints, the Elders of Sheheat (Scetis)

On this day, the forty-nine elder priests of Sheheat, Martinos, the envoy of the emperor, and his son, were martyred. Emperor Theodosius the Less, the son of Emperor Arcadius, did not have a son. He wrote to the elders of Sheheat asking them to pray to God to grant him a son. St. Isidor wrote back to him saying that God did not will for him to have a son who would participate with the heretics after him. When the Emperor read the message, he offered thanks to God. Some people gave him the advice to marry another wife to have offspring from her to inherit the empire after him. He said to them, "I cannot do anything except what the elders of Sheheat demanded." He sent an envoy whose name was Martinos to consult with them about that. Martinos had a son named Zius who accompanied him on his visit to the elders in order to receive their blessings. When they arrived and the elders read the message, they took the messenger to the body of St.Isidor, for he had departed. They called on him saying, "Our father, we have received a letter from the Emperor. What shall we say to him?" A voice came from the pure body saying, "What I had said before, I also say now, that the Lord will never give him a son to participate with the heretics, even if he marries ten women." The elders wrote back to the Emperor recounting what they heard. When the messenger wanted to return, the pagan berbers attacked the monastery. One of their great elders, whose name was Anba Yuannis, called upon the brethren and said, "The berbers have come to kill us. Whoever amongst you would like to become a martyr, let him stand, and whoever is afraid, let him hide in the palace." Some of them hid in the palace, but he remained with the forty-eight elders, who were all slaughtered by the berbers.

Martinos and his son were hiding. The son looked up and saw the angels placing the crowns of glory on the elders who were killed. The son said to his father, "I see spiritual beings putting crowns on the heads of the elders. I shall go to receive a crown like them." His father replied, "And I also shall go with you, my son." Both revealed themselves to the berbers. They were killed and received the crown of martyrdom. After the berbers had gone, the monks who were hiding in the palace came down, took the bodies, and placed them in a cave. They sang and said praises before the cave every night. Some people from the city of Batanoon came and took the body of Anba Yuannis and returned to their city. The elders of the monastery returned the body after a while. Also, some people from El-Fayyoum came and stole the body of Zius, the son of Martinos. When they arrived at the lake of El-Fayyoum, the angel of the Lord returned him to where the body of his father was. The elders also tried to separate the body of Zius, the son, from the body of his father several times, but they could not. Every time they moved the body of Zius, the angel of the Lord would return it to its place. One of the fathers heard one night, in a vision, someone saying, "Praise God, we were not separated in the flesh, nor are we separated when we are with Christ. Why do you want to separate our bodies?"

When persecution became rampant and the attacks on the monastery continued, the fathers relocated the bodies, to a cave which they built beside the church of St. Macarius. At the time of Anba Theodosius, 33rd Pope of Alexandria, they built a church for them. When Anba Benjamin, 38th pope, came to the wilderness, he established a feast day for them on the 5th of Amshir, which was the day of the relocation of their bodies to this church. In time, the church building deteriorated, and they moved the bodies to one of the cells until the time of Ibrahim El-Gohary, who built a church for them around the end of the 18th century, where they placed the bodies of the saints. The church is still in existence today in the monastery of St. Macarius. The cell in which the bodies were kept is known today in Coptic as the cell of Ehme' Epseet, or the cell of the forty-nine.

May Their prayers be with us. Amen.

Departure of St.Anastasia

On this day also, St. Anastasia departed. She was from a noble family in the city of Constantinople. She was very beautiful and had a great moral character. Emperor Justin, who was married, wanted to marry her. She refused and went and told his wife. The Empress sent her to Alexandria on a private ship. She built her a convent outside the city of Alexandria and named it after her. When the Emperor knew where she was, he sent for her, but Anastasia escaped and hid herself in the wilderness of Sheheat (Scetis), disguised as a prince. She met with Anba Daniel, the archpriest of the wilderness, and revealed her story to him. He brought her to a cave, and asked one of the elders to fill a water pot for her once every week, and to place the pot at the door of the cave and leave. She remained in this place for 28 years, without anyone knowing that she was a woman. She used to write her thoughts on pieces of pottery, and leave them at the door of her cave. The elder who brought her the water used to take the pieces of pottery without knowing what was written on them and give them to St. Daniel. One day he brought a piece of pottery to St. Daniel who wept when he read it, and said to his disciple, "Come with me now to bury the body of the saint in that cave." When they entered her cave, they received blessings from each other. St. Anastasia said to Anba Daniel, "For the sake of God, bury me with what I have on my body." Then she prayed and bade them farewell and departed in peace. They wept and buried her. When the disciple was caring for her burial, he found out that she was a woman, and he marvelled in silence. After they buried her, and they returned to their place, the disciple knelt before St. Daniel and said, "For the sake of God, tell me her story, for I have seen that she was a woman." The elder told him her story, that she was from one of the noble families of Constantinople, and how she surrendered herself to Christ, forsaking the vain glory of this world.

May Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.

↑ Top of Page ↑

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 36 : 9 - 10

⁹	For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

¹⁰	Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

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 9 : 1 - 38

¹	Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

²	And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

³	Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

⁴	I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

⁵	As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

⁶	When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.

⁷	And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸	Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"

⁹	Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he."

¹⁰	Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"

¹¹	He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, "Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."

¹²	Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

¹³	They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.

¹⁴	Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

¹⁵	Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

¹⁶	Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.

¹⁷	They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

¹⁸	But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

¹⁹	And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

²⁰	His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

²¹	but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself."

²²	His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

²³	Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

²⁴	So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner."

²⁵	He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."

²⁶	Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"

²⁷	He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?"

²⁸	Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.

²⁹	We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."

³⁰	The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!

³¹	Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.

³²	Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.

³³	If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."

³⁴	They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.

³⁵	Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"

³⁶	He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"

³⁷	And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."

³⁸	Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.

Glory be to God forever.

↑ Top of Page ↑

Return to previous page.
Reference