Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Daily Readings For Monday, 6 December

From armenianchurch-ed.net:

Daily Readings:


Saints/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated:  Fast of the Nativity (Advent) (Hisnag)



Daily Prayer:


1st Prayer: December 06,2010


I am cleansed but am covered with soot.

I am washed but am soiled just the same.

I pretend to be David and act like Saul.

I mouth truths and lie in my heart.

I give with my right hand but steal with my left.

I cultivate wheat but sow tares.

I have retreated from the heights of wisdom and become as I was.

I put on the face of an angel but have the mind of a devil.

I am steady on my feet but wavering in my mind.

I confess my shortcomings falsely but really err.

I feign righteousness but am truly false.

I pretend to be in the choir of the meek but strut

with the demons.

I am praised by humans but reproached by you,

all-seeing God.

I am blessed among the earthly but

pitiful among the children of light.

I am pleasing to the most vulgar but have fallen

from your eyes, great king.

I flee your just tribunal but plea before the impious.

I reject the noble but cavort with the repulsive.

I dress my body up with finery

but my soul in spotted feathers of a jay.

I approach to make a pact but I am rejected as a traitor.

Today I am pure and filled with the Spirit

but tomorrow I am a crazed fool.

I disobeyed the Lord’s commandments but

followed the serpent’s suggestions.

I became high and mighty but submitted like a weakling.

I bear the burdens of the day but leave

without my portion at pay time.

I talk big at a distance but am nonplussed when

called to account.

At sunrise I appear prosperous and at sunset I loiter empty-handed.

I sit upon the elder’s chair but take counsel from fools.

I fall asleep complaining and awake in terror.

I plough the fields of my desires with special

care for evil.



I who am

ever the prodigal son,

banished forever, unrepentant, wayward,

inconsolably dejected, in self-imposed captivity,

servant of death and corruption,

mercilessly tormented, condemned

beyond salvation,

cut off beyond rejoining, extinguished

beyond resuscitation,

bruised beyond healing, destroyed

beyond hope of the next life.

And if sterner reproaches than these are needed

against my unruly soul,

I hereby commit them to writing,

I heap them like kindling

to fuel the flames of Hell.



I am the jealous offspring of the new heavenly Adam

as Cain was in the first instance toward the old and earthly Adam.

And in this world I bear upon my soul the

mark of blame, not with the respiration of breath, but

through the wordy torment of my conscience.

.

Scriptural Readings:

Isaiah 35:4-8.

Isaiah 35:4-84Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”


5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.


2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6.

II Corinthians 3:18-4:618And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.


4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.


Luke 21:12-19


Luke 21:12-1912“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your souls.