Monday, May 2, 2011

Greek Orthodox Church Daily Readings For Saturday, 16 April

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Daily Scripture Readings and Lives of the Saints for Saturday, April 16, 2011



Fast Day (Wine and Oil Allowed)



Readings for today:



Hebrews 12:28-29;13:1-8

John 11:1-45



Feasts and Saints celebrated today:



Lazarus Saturday

Agape, Chionia, & Irene, the Holy Martyrs





Epistle Reading



The reading is from Hebrews 12:28-29;13:1-8



BRETHREN, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,

and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and

awe; for our God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly love continue. Do

not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have

entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in

prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in

the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the

marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you

have; for he has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake

you." Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will

not be afraid; what can man do to me?" Remember your leaders,

those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their

life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and

today and for ever.



(C) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America



Gospel Reading



The reading is from John 11:1-45



At that time, a certain man was ill, Lazaros of Bethany, from the

village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord

with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazaros

was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love

is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness is not unto

death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be

glorified by means of it."



Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazaros. So when he heard

that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea

again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking

to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are

there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does

not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one

walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." Thus

he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Lazaros has fallen

asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep." The disciples said to him,

"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken

of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazaros is dead; and for your sake I am

glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to

him." Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us

also go, that we may die with him."



Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazaros had already been in the

tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and

many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them

concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went

and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus,

"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even

now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus

said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I

know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes

in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and

believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him,

"Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who

is coming into the world."



When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying

quietly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard

it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to

the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary

rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was

going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus

was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had

been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her

weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved

in spirit and troubled; and he said, "Where have you laid him?" They

said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See

how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened

the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"



Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a

stone lay upon it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the

sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be

an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I

not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of

God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and

said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you have

heard me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing

by, that they may believe that you did send me." When he had said

this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazaros, come out." The dead man

came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped

with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many

of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he

did, believed in him.



(C) 2011 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America





Lazarus Saturday



Reading from the Synaxarion:



Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, the friends of the Lord Jesus,

had given Him hospitality and served Him many times (Luke 10:38-4z;

John 12:2-3). They were from Bethany, a village of Judea. This village

is situated in the eastern parts by the foothills of the Mount of

Olives, about two Roman miles from Jerusalem. When Lazarus - whose name

is a Hellenized form of "Eleazar," which means "God has helped,"

became ill some days before the saving Passion, his sisters had this

report taken to our Saviour, Who was then in Galilee. Nonetheless, He

tarried yet two more days until Lazarus died; then He said to His

disciples, "Let us go into Judea that I might awake My friend who sleepeth."

By this, of course, He meant the deep sleep of death. On arriving at

Bethany, He consoled the sisters of Lazarus, who was already four days

dead. Jesus groaned in spirit and was troubled at the death of His

beloved friend. He asked, "Where have ye laid his body?" and He wept over

him. When He drew nigh to the tomb, He commanded that they remove the

stone, and He lifted up His eyes, and giving thanks to God the Father,

He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." And he that

had been dead four days came forth immediately, bound hand and foot

with the grave clothes, and Jesus said to those standing there, "Loose

him, and let him go." This is the supernatural wonder wrought by the

Saviour that we celebrate on this day.



According to an ancient tradition, it is said that Lazarus was thirty years

old when the Lord raised him; then he lived another thirty years on

Cyprus and there reposed in the Lord. It is furthermore related that

after he was raised from the dead, he never laughed till the end of his

life, but that once only, when he saw someone stealing a clay vessel,

he smiled and said, "Clay stealing clay." His grave is situated in

the city of Kition, having the inscription: "Lazarus the four days

dead and friend of Christ." In 890 his sacred relics were transferred

to Constantinople by Emperor Leo the Wise, at which time undoubtedly

the Emperor composed his stichera for Vespers, "Wishing to behold the

tomb of Lazarus . . ."



Apolytikion in the First Tone

O Christ our God, before Your Passion, You raised Lazarus from the

dead to confirm the common Resurrection for all. Therefore, we carry

the symbols of victory as did the youths, and we cry out to You, the

victor over death, "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in

the name of the Lord. "



Kontakion in the Second Tone

Christ, everyone's joy, the truth, the light, life, the resurrection of

the world, has by His goodness appeared to those on earth. He is the

archetype of the resurrection, granting divine forgiveness to all.



Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

Apolytikion courtesy of Narthex Press - Northridge, CA

Kontakion courtesy of Narthex Press - Northridge, CA





Agape, Chionia, & Irene, the Holy Martyrs



Reading from the Synaxarion:



When the Emperor Diocletian was at Aquileia, he learned that these

Saints were Christians, and had them brought before him. Because they

would not deny Christ, he had them imprisoned, and when he went into

Macedonia, he committed them to Dulcitius the Prefect, who, however, lost

his understanding and became incapable of doing them any harm.

Diocletian then gave Count Sisinius charge over them. He had Saints Agape

and Chionia burned; he ordered that Saint Irene be put in a brothel,

but by the providence of God this was not accomplished, and she was

shot with an arrow. These holy sisters suffered martyrdom in

Thessalonica in the year 295.



Apolytikion in the Plagal of the First Tone

Since Thou hast given us the miracles of Thy holy Martyrs as an

invincible battlement, by their entreaties scatter the counsels of the

heathen, O Christ our God, and strengthen the faith of Orthodox

Christians, since Thou alone art good and the Friend of man.



Kontakion in the Third Tone

O Most fair Chionia, divine Irene, and Agape, ye are mirrors

glittering with spotless virginal brightness; and ye shine like unto

lightning upon the whole Church with the splendour of your contest as

valiant Martyrs; and ye drive away the darkness of pain and sickness as

brilliant gems of Christ God.



Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Brookline, MA

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