Friday, February 18, 2011

Greek Orthodox Church In America Daily Readings For Friday, 18 February

From The Greek Orthodox Arch-Diocese of America:

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Daily Scripture Readings and Lives of the Saints for Friday, February 18, 2011



Fast Free



Readings for today:



St. John's First Universal Letter 2:7-17

Mark 14:3-9



Feasts and Saints celebrated today:



Friday of Prodigal Son

Leo the Great, Pope of Rome

Agapetus the Confessor, Bishop of Sinai

Flavian the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople





Epistle Reading



The reading is from St. John's First Universal Letter 2:7-17



Brethren, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment which

you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you

have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in

him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true

light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his

brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the

light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his

brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know

where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am

writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his

sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from

the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have

overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the

Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the

beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word

of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not

love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the

world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,

the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,

is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes

away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for

ever.



(C) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America



Gospel Reading



The reading is from Mark 14:3-9



At that time, while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the

leper, as he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of

ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it

over his head. But there were some who said to themselves

indignantly, "Why was the ointment thus wasted? For this ointment might have

been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor."

And they reproached her. But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do

you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you

always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do good to

them; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could;

she has anointed my body beforehand for burying. And truly, I say to

you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has

done will be told in memory of her."



(C) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America





Leo the Great, Pope of Rome



Reading from the Synaxarion:



According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in

Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of

Rome in 440. In 448, when Saint Flavian, Archbishop of

Constantinople, summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give

account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after

the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to Saint Leo in Rome. After Saint

Leo had carefully examined Eutyches's teachings, he wrote an epistle

to Saint Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person

of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that,

should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received

back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which

was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which

Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the

first to call "The Robber Council"), Dioscorus, having military might

behind him, did not allow Saint Leo's epistle to Flavian to be read,

although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was

held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches

back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing

to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent

four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers

gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the

teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo's epistle to

Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy

Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate person of our Lord; it

is also called the "Tome of Leo." The Saint wrote many works in

Latin; he reposed in 461. See also Saint Anatolius, July 3.



Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

The truth of things hath revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of

faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause,

thou hast achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O

Father and Hierarch Leo, intercede with Christ God that our souls be

saved.



Kontakion in the Third Tone

Seated on the priestly throne, O great and glorious Leo, with the Holy

Trinity's inspired and God-given doctrines thou didst stop the gaping

mouths of spiritual lions and didst shine upon thy flock the light of

God-knowledge, and art glorified now as a divine initiate of the sublime grace

of God.



Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery



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