Daily Readings:
The Third Day
Morning Prayer
In the name of the Father and……..
Opening Prayer
Lord our heavenly Father, grant us your help as we pray, and protect us day and night, so through your Fatherly support we may be able to pursue what makes for peace and mutual up building in righteousness, now and forever. Amen. Our Father...
Psalm 15: 1 – end
15:1 O Lord, who shall abide in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill? 15:2 He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 15:3 He that backbites not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour. 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honours them that fear the Lord. He that swears to his own hurt, and changeth not. 15:5 He that puts not out his money to usury, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Psalm 16: 1 – end
16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 16:2 O my soul, you have said to the Lord, You are my Lord: my goodness extends not to thee; 16:3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 16:4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 16:5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 16:6 The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 16:7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 16:8 I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer your Holy One to see corruption. 16:11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Psalm 17: 1 – end
17:1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of feigned lips. 17:2 Let my sentence come forth from your presence; let your eyes behold the things that are equal. 17:3 You have proved mine heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 17:4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 17:5 Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps slip not. 17:6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline your ear to me, and hear my speech. 17:7 Show your marvellous loving-kindness , O thou that savest by your right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings, 17:9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. 17:10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. 17:11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; 17:12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 17:13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword: 17:14 From men which are your hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with your hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. 17:15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning…
Scripture Readings
1st Reading
Proverbs 1: 2 – 5
1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels: He who receives the prophet by the name of the prophet shall receive the prophet’s reward. Amen
2nd Reading
Romans 7: 21 – 25
7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. He who receives the Apostle by the name of the Apostle, shall receive the Apostle reward.
3rd Reading (Chant)
Psalm 47: 1 – 2
47:1 O clap your hands, all ye people; shout to God with the voice of triumph. 47:2 For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. Halleluiah! Stand up and harken to the Holy Gospel, the message of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
4th Reading
The Gospel of St. Matthew 7: 7 – 12
7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Heaven and earth shall pass away….
Concluding Prayer:
Lord Jesus, who did not demand very much of those who came to you for help. But the one thing you did ask was faith. Without faith you did not seem to be able to do very much. We humbly ask you to grant us your grace, to stand firm in faith in you, in your Father and in the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Our Father… etc
Day 3
Evening Prayer
In the name of the Father…
Opening Prayer
Lord our heavenly Father, grant us your help as we pray, and protect us day and night, so through your Fatherly support we may be able to pursue what makes for peace and mutual up building in righteousness, now and forever. Amen.
Our Father...
Psalm 18: 1 – 50
18:1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 18:3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 18:4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 18:5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. 18:7 then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 18:8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. 18:9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. 18:10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 18:12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. 18:13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 18:14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightning, and discomfited them. 18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 18:16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. 18:18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. 18:19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 18:20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. 18:21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 18:22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. 18:23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. 18:24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 18:25 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; 18:26 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward. 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. 18:29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 18:31 For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? 18:32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and makes my way perfect. 18:33 He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me upon my high places. 18:34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 18:35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand hath holden me up, and your gentleness hath made me great. 18:36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. 18:37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 18:38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. 18:39 For you have girded me with strength to the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me. 18:40 You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. 18:41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even to the Lord, but he answered them not. 18:42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 18:43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. 18:44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves to me. 18:45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 18:46 The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 18:47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me. 18:48 He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lift me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man. 18:49 Therefore will I give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises to your name. 18:50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning…
Scripture Readings
1st Reading
Daniel 4: 1 – 3
4:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to shows signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell the earth…He who receives the prophet by the name of the prophet shall receive the prophet’s reward. Amen
2nd Reading
Romans 14: 8 – 12
14:8 For whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost you judge your brother? or why dost you set at nought your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. He who receives the Apostle by the name of the Apostle, shall receive the Apostle reward.
3rd Reading (Chant)
Psalm 147: 1 – 2
147:1 Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 147:2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Halleluiah! Stand up and harken to the Holy Gospel, the message of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
4th Reading
The Gospel of St. Luke 11: 1 – 13
11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. And he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say to you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs. And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one title of the law to fall.
Concluding prayer
God of power and mercy, enlighten us with the grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit that our entire lives may be filled with faith, justice and all spiritual acts. Then we may be able to proclaim humbly your mercy in our evening prayer. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Holy Son. Amen.
Our Father… O my Lady Mary, I salute you… Priest Benediction.
Synaxarium:
THE SECOND MONTH
TEKEMT 23
(November 02)
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT,
ONE GOD. AMEN.
On this day died Saint Abba Joseph, the fifty-second Archbishop of Alexandria. This man was the son of one of the elders of the city of Manuf, and he had very many possessions. When his parents died and left him an orphan a certain God-fearing man brought him up, and when he arrived at man’s estate he took his goods and gave them to the poor and the beggars. Then he went up into the desert of Scete, to the monastery of Saint Abba Macarius, and he became a monk under the direction of a certain holy old man. When Abba Mark the second was appointed archbishop, and he heard that the natural disposition and intelligence of this Saint Abba Joseph were good, he sent and had him brought unto him, and established him in his house. After many days Abba Joseph asked Abba Mark the archbishop, saying, “Let me depart to the desert of Scete,” and straightway Abba Mark made him a priest and sent him away to the desert of Scete. And he remained there many years, until the holy father Abba Simon the archbishop died, and the country of Egypt remained without an archbishop for many years. After the death of Abba Jacob, the bishops, made an agreement with a certain scribe in the king’s house, who had married and whose wife had died, now he had never been a monk, and the bishops took bribes from him, and they made an agreement with one-half of the men of the city of Alexandria, to appoint that scribe archbishop. And all the bishops rose up against him, and they said unto him, “This scheme which thou hast planned is not good, but bad, for the holy Canon saith that all those who shall either take or receive bribes in respect of appointments to the priesthood, are to be excommunicated. And more especially shall it be so in this case, for this man hath married twice, and he is wholly unsuited for the office of archbishop; and besides, up to the present none but a virgin hath been appointed to sit on the throne of Mark the evangelist.” And these men then joined with them in this good counsel, and they rose up and came into the church, and prayed to God and entreated Him to make clear unto them who were the best man for this office. And straightway God heard their petition, and He made them to remember this Abba Joseph, and they sent a letter ordering the monks to bring him from the desert of Scete. And those who had been sent prayed unto God and said, “We beseech Thee to reveal the matter unto us clearly; if Thou hast chosen this father Abba Joseph to be the archbishop, give us the following sign, that is to say, let us find the door of his cell open.” And when they came to his cell they found the door of his cell open, and they found Abba Joseph bidding farewell to a certain monk, and he was wishing to go into his cell and to shut the door. When he saw them he embraced them with a holy embrace, and received them with joy, and brought them into his house. When they came into his house they seized him and bound him, saying, “He is worthy, He is worthy, Abba Joseph is worthy of the archiepiscopate.” And he cried out and wept, and he said unto them, “I have committed very many sins, far more than any other man”; but they would not accept this excuse from him, but they took him to the city of Alexandria and appointed him archbishop. Having taken his seat upon the throne of Mark the apostle, he thought about the Church exceedingly, and with what remained of his own stipend he bought plots of ground, which had been dedicated to pious works, and endowed the churches with them. And he taught the people at all times, and he never neglected any one of them. Now, Satan was jealous of him, and he schemed schemes and brought sorrow upon him, and the immediate cause was that the Bishop of the city of Tenes (Tanis), and the Bishop of the city of Mesr (Cairo), behaved wrongly towards the people and oppressed them in the matter of dues and afflicted them, and Abba Joseph said unto them, “Forbear and do not afflict them.” And on several occasions he had entreated them to look upon their flocks with the eye of mercy, but they would not accept his behests, and they set them aside. And these holy bishops having afflicted their people [to excess], all the people came to the Archbishop Abba Joseph, and they all cried out before him, and said unto him, “If thou wilt not remove these bishops from over us we shall embrace another Faith.” And Abba Joseph fought very, very hard to make peace between them, but he was not able to do so. Then he brought all the bishops from all the land of Egypt, and when they were assembled, he told them how these two bishops had afflicted their people. And the archbishop sent and had those two bishops brought before him, and he wished to make peace between them and their people; but they would listen neither to his commands nor to those of his brother bishops. And straightway the archbishop said unto them before all the bishops, “I am innocent of your sins,” and the bishops were witnesses against the two bishops that they had transgressed the command of the Archbishop Abba Joseph. And they all wrote with their own hands to this effect; “It is meet for these two bishops to be cut off from their sees” and straightway the archbishop cut them from their sees. And when he had cut them off from their sees, these two bishops went to the King of Egypt, and made false accusations against this father Abba Joseph before him, and the king sent his brother and a company of soldiers to bring the archbishop to him. When he had come to him the king’s brother drew his sword and wanted to kill him, and when he was about to smite the archbishop with the sword, God thrust aside the hand of that nobleman, and his sword struck a pillar, and broke, and he was furiously angry. And another man drew his dagger and drove it into the side of the archbishop with all his might, and his apparel and his girdle were cut through, but the dagger did not enter the flesh of the archbishop. Then that nobleman knew that the archbishop was a righteous man, and that there was in him divine grace, which would preserve him from every evil, and from murder. And he brought him to the king his brother with great honor, and he told him what he had done to the archbishop, and how he had been smitten twice with the sword and had escaped unhurt. When the king heard this he marveled, and he was afraid of the archbishop and paid him honor, and then he asked him questions about the two bishops who had made accusations against him before him. And the archbishop told him what had happened in the matter of the bishops, and he proved to him that the accusations, which they had made against him, were falsehoods. And the king knew that those bishops were liars, and evil men, and accursed oppressors, and straightway he commanded [his soldiers] to slay them. And the archbishop said unto him, “Our Lord Christ in the Holy Gospel commanded us to do good in return for evil. These bishops made false accusations against me, but behold, God hath established it in thy heart that I am innocent of the false charges which they laid against me to thee; I therefore beseech thee to have mercy upon them, and to forgive them for God’s sake.” When the king saw the piety of the archbishop, he marveled exceedingly, and he paid him honor, and he had mercy upon those two bishops for his sake. And he wrote for him an authorization and gave it to him, and in it he ordered: “Neither officials nor bishops shall resist the archbishop, and they shall not disobey his command, and whatsoever he is pleased to do in his see he shall do, whether it be to remove a man from his office or to appoint a new one.” And in the days of this father the King of Ethiopia sent him a letter, saying, “I do homage to the throne of Mark the evangelist, whereon to sit thou art worthy, and by his grace my kingdom hath waxed strong. I beseech thee to have compassion upon me and to send unto us as bishop Abba John. There are certain men of our city who have gone astray from the light of the throne of Saint Mark the evangelist, and who have set their feet on the road, which is full of thorns, and they have driven out Abba John our bishop. Because of this great tribulation hath come upon our land and all our men are dying of the plague, and our beasts and cattle have perished, and God hath restrained the heavens so that they cannot rain upon our land, and our enemies have risen up against us and have conquered us, because we have not obeyed the commandments of God. And now, O holy Abuna, have mercy upon us and upon our folly. Send us our Bishop John so that he may entreat God, and pray for us, and deliver us from this tribulation through thy prayer and his own. And I will inform thee, O my father, what hath been the cause of this. I thy son was blessed by my father Abba John the bishop, and he bade me farewell as he set me on my way with my soldiers, and he blessed me and then returned and dwelt in his diocese. And we departed to the war, and we continued to fight for very many days, and our enemies conquered us, and they destroyed our soldiers, and we took to flight and returned to our own country, and we missed Abba John our bishop. And I enquired for him, and they told me that my wife, the queen, had driven him into exile because certain evil men had counseled her to do so, even as Queen Eudoxia had in days of old driven John of the Golden Mouth (Chrysostom) into exile, and that they had appointed another bishop who was their choice; they have transgressed the command of the holy Canon, and therefore our country is destroyed. And now have pity upon us and send Abba John to pray for us.” Now when they drove that bishop out of Ethiopia he went and dwelt in the monastery wherein he had become a monk, and that was the monastery of Saint Abba Moses of the desert of Scete. When Abba Joseph the archbishop had read the letter of the King of Ethiopia, he rejoiced exceedingly because of his confidence, and he sent quickly to the desert of Scete and brought back Abba John, and he comforted him, and encouraged him, and sent brave men with him to the country of Ethiopia. As soon as he arrived, the plague ceased, and rain fell from heaven, and the king rejoiced with very great joy at his arrival; and this father rebuked the wicked sinners and converted them to the Orthodox Faith. And he likewise encouraged all Christian people in the right and good Faith, which they had received from their fathers. And he used to interpret for them obscure passages in the Holy Scriptures, and declare their meaning unto them, and he preserved them by his teachings and prayers. And God made manifest through this holy father Abba Joseph great signs and wonders, and having finished his good and divine fight, and pleased God, he died in peace, having sat upon the throne of Mark the evangelist nineteen years. He lived the life of a monk for nine and thirty years, and he had lived ten years before he adopted the life of a monk; and all the days of his life were eight and sixty years.
And on this day also Saint Dionysius, Bishop of the city of Corinth, became a martyr in the days of Diocletian and Maximianus, the wicked emperors. They condemned this holy man to be tortured very severely, and when they were tired of torturing him they cut off his head with a sword, and he received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens.
Salutation to Archbishop Joseph of the city of Manuf, unto whom was given the knowledge of Letters. Salutation to Dionysius the Bishop of Corinth whose head was cut off.
And on this day also [are commemorated] the deaths of Tenkeyake (or Tayanke), and Theodosius, the Laos (Talawos), Taxis, and Josab (or Joseph), and the strife of Andrew, the martyrs.
Glory be to God Who is glorified in His Saints. Amen.
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