From antiochan.org, dynamispublications.org, biblegateway.com and rongolini.com:
Daily Readings and Prayers:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: The Week of Forgiveness, Memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Cyrene in Cyprus
Scriptural Readings:
Joel 2:12-26 (3/2-3/15) First Vesperal Reading, Wednesday of the Week of Forgiveness
Fasting III ~ Repentance that Changes Us: Joel 2:12-26, SAAS, especially vs. 13: “...rend your hearts, and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate. He is long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils.” Fasting can be viewed, at bare minimum, as limitations imposed on types and quantities of food, sleep, and other pleasures. But as Father Georges Florovsky noted, “Asceticism does not exist of prohibitions. Asceticism is activity, a ‘working out,’ a perfection of one’s self....inspired by the task of inspiration.” Thus, fasting may direct attention to sinful deeds, but we benefit most when it prompts us to repudiate the evil thoughts that precede sinful acts, when both thoughts and acts are repugnant to God. The Prophet teaches us to rend the heart when turning to God the Lord.
The significance of evil thoughts is twofold: 1) the inward corruption they work in the heart, and, of course, 2) the resulting sinful acts and consequences that follow from wicked thoughts. Do remember that among the consequences that follow our evil thoughts and actions are the Divine judgments that befall us. Through His Prophet Joel, the Lord kindly invites us to heartfelt repentance and promises to “...restore to you the years the grasshopper and the locust have eaten, and for the blight, and the caterpillar...” (Joel 2:25).
We pay a heavy price for unrestrained evil thoughts and passions. Like locusts, they eat up our hearts and souls, a process Saint Gregory of Nyssa summarizes: “...man was a thing divine before his humanity got within reach of the assault of evil...then, however, with the inroad of evil...afflictions broke in upon him.” Our passions rise from their natural state and turn into a destructive swarm of marauding insects, eating our hearts – wrath, fear, cowardice, impudence, depression and indulgence, hatred, strife, merciless cruelty, envy as well as flattery and brutality together with brooding over injuries. These turn into a ravenous plague within us. Joel likens these swarming passions to conquering nations who desolate and mock ‘the good land’ we inherit in Christ (vs. 17). The image of God in us becomes despoiled! But the Lord promises to drive away the desolating adversary (vs. 26) and restore those things necessary for life (vs. 24).
Thus, our loving Lord connects fasting with repentance: “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and wailing and with mourning; rend your heart and not your garments” (vss. 12,13). He holds up repentance, as one would an icon of promise, to encourage us. Let the Priests sound the trumpet, God’s people gather, and even newly-weds set aside their nuptial joys. Let God’s People weep for both inward and outward sins crying to God, “O Lord, spare Your people, do not give Your inheritance to reproach...” with godless powers ruling over us (vss. 15-17).
God declares that He will turn His “...face away from [our] sins, and blot out all [our] iniquities” (Ps. 50:9). He desires not the death of sinners but that we should repent and live. He describes Himself as “...merciful and compassionate...longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and repents of evils” (Joel 2:13). The Lord is inviting us to embrace the coming Great Fast, and “...be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He gives food that is right for you” (vs. 21).
Joel declares God’s promises: “He will shower you as before with the early and the late rain” (vs. 23). So let us sow well in our hearts. He will “restore to [us] the years” eaten away by our sins (vs. 25). As Metropolitan Hierotheos says, “Repentance...in deep mourning and joined with confession is what unveils the eyes of the soul to see the great things of God.” Repentance is the promise of Great Lent. Let us pursue it diligently and we shall be able to “...praise the name of the Lord [our] God for what He has so wondrously done unto [us]” (vs. 26).
Grant, O Lord, that we may complete the remaining time of our life in repentance.
Joel 3:12-21 (3/2-3/15) Second Vesperal Reading, Wednesday of the Week of Forgiveness
Judgment Time: Joel 3:12-21, especially vs. 12: “Let all the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I shall sit to judge all the nations round about.” This Week of Forgiveness draws us inexorably to the Great Fast, to Pure Monday and Lent that climax in the Feast of Great and Holy Pascha. Those glorious days that conclude in Bright Week seem far ahead, yet, time being what it is, the Lord hastens to call us to self-examination and renewed effort in our spirits before the time. As this reading says, we are to ‘rouse’ ourselves, to kick away the restraints of spiritual sloth, and to wake up. Notice how the pattern of readings changes during this week with a special ‘note’ on Wednesday and Friday. The ‘normal’ Epistle and Gospel readings are canceled. There is to be “No Liturgy” celebrated on these two days. Instead we are given a prophetic reading that announces ‘judgment.’ God shall sit as Judge (vs. 12). That is what we face now, to cope with judgment in the midst of whatever else we may be doing.
Old Testament prophecy, such as this reading from Joel, compels us to embrace Scripture on its own terms. It introduces images and allusions that are not of ‘everyday’ speech. Names confront us that seem far away, and from unfamiliar geography: Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, Zion, Judah, the Valley of Acacias, Egypt, and Edom. So first, let us see how these names fit with our life in Christ and the Gospel - how they are part of the ongoing process that first led us to renounce Satan, unite ourselves unto Christ, and believe in Him as King and God, and to continue bowing down before the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Key is the word ‘Jehoshaphat,’ which actually the text translates for us as “...the valley of Judgment...” (vs. 14). The initial images are pleasant, speaking of harvest time: cutting the grain-come-ripe with the sickle and treading grapes that have been cut from their vines and must be pressed for their juice. The jarring note is that “...wickedness is multiplied” (vs. 13). This explains why the judgment of God will cause “...the sun and moon [to] become dark, and the stars [to] withdraw their light” (vs. 15). Times of accountability, when performance is reviewed, means opening the books, studying the records of everyone, examining what we have done. In the spiritual realm it means delving into our deep motives and attitudes. Some of these we might like to skip over, to avoid having uncovered, but that it not God’s call here. On the one hand, the Lord’s judgment will cause “...the heavens and earth [to] quake...” yet with it is the assurance that “...the Lord shall keep His people safe and shall strengthen the sons of Israel” (vs. 16).
Next, we must realize that the Holy Land language of Joel speaks to the situation of the contemporary Christian in today’s Church. Terms like “Zion, the holy mountain, Jerusalem, and the holy city” refer to the Orthodox Church. While Judah, Israel, and ‘the people,’ describe the ancient people of God, today they must be applied to us who constitute the Church. We are the people of God. For wrongs done against the Church, like those committed anciently by Egypt or Edom against Judah, God will “...avenge their blood and shall not let it go unpunished” (vs. 21). This is the reason for announcing judgment, so that we will be prepared for what will come.
The plus side of God’s pronouncement of judgment is “...that the mountains shall drip sweetness and milk shall flow from the hills, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with water. And a fountain shall flow out from the house of the Lord, and it will supply water to the Valley of Acacias” (vs. 18). Anciently, the Valley of the Acacias was unproductive, barren, desolate, and arid, but the promise is for a lush recovery, for “the Lord shall dwell in Zion” (vs. 21).
Yea, Lord Jesus Christ, according to Thine unfailing promise come and make Thine abode in us together with the Father and Holy Spirit from everlasting to everlasting.
The Synaxarion:
March 2
Memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos,
Bishop of Cyrene in Cyprus (+ca. 321)
Saint Theodotos lived under Emperor Licinius and Sibinus, the governor of Cyprus. Led before the governor for Christ's faith, he was cruelly beaten with ox ligaments. Then he was suspended and stretched across an iron bedstead heated in the fire. As he remained there unhurt, nails were driven into his feet and he was finally delivered when the persecution ended. He died two years later.
Fifth Class Feast.
Daily Readings and Prayers:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: The Week of Forgiveness, Memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos, Bishop of Cyrene in Cyprus
Scriptural Readings:
Joel 2:12-26 (3/2-3/15) First Vesperal Reading, Wednesday of the Week of Forgiveness
Fasting III ~ Repentance that Changes Us: Joel 2:12-26, SAAS, especially vs. 13: “...rend your hearts, and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate. He is long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils.” Fasting can be viewed, at bare minimum, as limitations imposed on types and quantities of food, sleep, and other pleasures. But as Father Georges Florovsky noted, “Asceticism does not exist of prohibitions. Asceticism is activity, a ‘working out,’ a perfection of one’s self....inspired by the task of inspiration.” Thus, fasting may direct attention to sinful deeds, but we benefit most when it prompts us to repudiate the evil thoughts that precede sinful acts, when both thoughts and acts are repugnant to God. The Prophet teaches us to rend the heart when turning to God the Lord.
The significance of evil thoughts is twofold: 1) the inward corruption they work in the heart, and, of course, 2) the resulting sinful acts and consequences that follow from wicked thoughts. Do remember that among the consequences that follow our evil thoughts and actions are the Divine judgments that befall us. Through His Prophet Joel, the Lord kindly invites us to heartfelt repentance and promises to “...restore to you the years the grasshopper and the locust have eaten, and for the blight, and the caterpillar...” (Joel 2:25).
We pay a heavy price for unrestrained evil thoughts and passions. Like locusts, they eat up our hearts and souls, a process Saint Gregory of Nyssa summarizes: “...man was a thing divine before his humanity got within reach of the assault of evil...then, however, with the inroad of evil...afflictions broke in upon him.” Our passions rise from their natural state and turn into a destructive swarm of marauding insects, eating our hearts – wrath, fear, cowardice, impudence, depression and indulgence, hatred, strife, merciless cruelty, envy as well as flattery and brutality together with brooding over injuries. These turn into a ravenous plague within us. Joel likens these swarming passions to conquering nations who desolate and mock ‘the good land’ we inherit in Christ (vs. 17). The image of God in us becomes despoiled! But the Lord promises to drive away the desolating adversary (vs. 26) and restore those things necessary for life (vs. 24).
Thus, our loving Lord connects fasting with repentance: “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and wailing and with mourning; rend your heart and not your garments” (vss. 12,13). He holds up repentance, as one would an icon of promise, to encourage us. Let the Priests sound the trumpet, God’s people gather, and even newly-weds set aside their nuptial joys. Let God’s People weep for both inward and outward sins crying to God, “O Lord, spare Your people, do not give Your inheritance to reproach...” with godless powers ruling over us (vss. 15-17).
God declares that He will turn His “...face away from [our] sins, and blot out all [our] iniquities” (Ps. 50:9). He desires not the death of sinners but that we should repent and live. He describes Himself as “...merciful and compassionate...longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and repents of evils” (Joel 2:13). The Lord is inviting us to embrace the coming Great Fast, and “...be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He gives food that is right for you” (vs. 21).
Joel declares God’s promises: “He will shower you as before with the early and the late rain” (vs. 23). So let us sow well in our hearts. He will “restore to [us] the years” eaten away by our sins (vs. 25). As Metropolitan Hierotheos says, “Repentance...in deep mourning and joined with confession is what unveils the eyes of the soul to see the great things of God.” Repentance is the promise of Great Lent. Let us pursue it diligently and we shall be able to “...praise the name of the Lord [our] God for what He has so wondrously done unto [us]” (vs. 26).
Grant, O Lord, that we may complete the remaining time of our life in repentance.
Joel 3:12-21 (3/2-3/15) Second Vesperal Reading, Wednesday of the Week of Forgiveness
Judgment Time: Joel 3:12-21, especially vs. 12: “Let all the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I shall sit to judge all the nations round about.” This Week of Forgiveness draws us inexorably to the Great Fast, to Pure Monday and Lent that climax in the Feast of Great and Holy Pascha. Those glorious days that conclude in Bright Week seem far ahead, yet, time being what it is, the Lord hastens to call us to self-examination and renewed effort in our spirits before the time. As this reading says, we are to ‘rouse’ ourselves, to kick away the restraints of spiritual sloth, and to wake up. Notice how the pattern of readings changes during this week with a special ‘note’ on Wednesday and Friday. The ‘normal’ Epistle and Gospel readings are canceled. There is to be “No Liturgy” celebrated on these two days. Instead we are given a prophetic reading that announces ‘judgment.’ God shall sit as Judge (vs. 12). That is what we face now, to cope with judgment in the midst of whatever else we may be doing.
Old Testament prophecy, such as this reading from Joel, compels us to embrace Scripture on its own terms. It introduces images and allusions that are not of ‘everyday’ speech. Names confront us that seem far away, and from unfamiliar geography: Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, Zion, Judah, the Valley of Acacias, Egypt, and Edom. So first, let us see how these names fit with our life in Christ and the Gospel - how they are part of the ongoing process that first led us to renounce Satan, unite ourselves unto Christ, and believe in Him as King and God, and to continue bowing down before the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Key is the word ‘Jehoshaphat,’ which actually the text translates for us as “...the valley of Judgment...” (vs. 14). The initial images are pleasant, speaking of harvest time: cutting the grain-come-ripe with the sickle and treading grapes that have been cut from their vines and must be pressed for their juice. The jarring note is that “...wickedness is multiplied” (vs. 13). This explains why the judgment of God will cause “...the sun and moon [to] become dark, and the stars [to] withdraw their light” (vs. 15). Times of accountability, when performance is reviewed, means opening the books, studying the records of everyone, examining what we have done. In the spiritual realm it means delving into our deep motives and attitudes. Some of these we might like to skip over, to avoid having uncovered, but that it not God’s call here. On the one hand, the Lord’s judgment will cause “...the heavens and earth [to] quake...” yet with it is the assurance that “...the Lord shall keep His people safe and shall strengthen the sons of Israel” (vs. 16).
Next, we must realize that the Holy Land language of Joel speaks to the situation of the contemporary Christian in today’s Church. Terms like “Zion, the holy mountain, Jerusalem, and the holy city” refer to the Orthodox Church. While Judah, Israel, and ‘the people,’ describe the ancient people of God, today they must be applied to us who constitute the Church. We are the people of God. For wrongs done against the Church, like those committed anciently by Egypt or Edom against Judah, God will “...avenge their blood and shall not let it go unpunished” (vs. 21). This is the reason for announcing judgment, so that we will be prepared for what will come.
The plus side of God’s pronouncement of judgment is “...that the mountains shall drip sweetness and milk shall flow from the hills, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with water. And a fountain shall flow out from the house of the Lord, and it will supply water to the Valley of Acacias” (vs. 18). Anciently, the Valley of the Acacias was unproductive, barren, desolate, and arid, but the promise is for a lush recovery, for “the Lord shall dwell in Zion” (vs. 21).
Yea, Lord Jesus Christ, according to Thine unfailing promise come and make Thine abode in us together with the Father and Holy Spirit from everlasting to everlasting.
The Synaxarion:
March 2
Memory of the Holy Hieromartyr Theodotos,
Bishop of Cyrene in Cyprus (+ca. 321)
Saint Theodotos lived under Emperor Licinius and Sibinus, the governor of Cyprus. Led before the governor for Christ's faith, he was cruelly beaten with ox ligaments. Then he was suspended and stretched across an iron bedstead heated in the fire. As he remained there unhurt, nails were driven into his feet and he was finally delivered when the persecution ended. He died two years later.
Fifth Class Feast.
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