Great Lent, day 22 · 27 days until Pascha
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. Euthymius of Suzdal
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Our Holy Mother Mary of Egypt (4th-6th c.)
Mary of Egypt (c. 344 – c. 421) is the great penitent of the Church — a woman who for seventeen years lived in unbridled licentiousness at Alexandria, was turned back from the doors of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by an unseen power on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and, struck to the heart before an icon of the Theotokos, crossed the Jordan into the wilderness, where she lived in solitary repentance for forty-seven years. Her story, told to the monk Zosimas whom she met at the end of her life, is read in full during Great Lent; she is the Church's supreme image of the power of repentance, and her memory, kept on April 1, crowns the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent.
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Macarius of Pelekete
Macarius was abbot of the monastery of Pelekete on the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara, and one of the confessors of the second Iconoclasm. An orphan of Constantinople who gave himself to the reading of Scripture and entered Pelekete as a young man, he was chosen hegumen by the brotherhood on the death of his predecessor Hilarion the New, and became famous in Bithynia as a healer and wonderworker. Under Leo V the Armenian (813–820) and Michael II the Stammerer (820–829) he refused to give up the veneration of the holy icons, was imprisoned, and was finally banished to the island of Aphousia in the Propontis, where he died about 830. The Church keeps him on April 1, the day of his repose, and again on August 18.
British Isles and Ireland
- SS Caidoc and Fricor (Adrian) (7th C)
- St. Agilbert, bishop of Dorchester-on-Thames (c.690)
- St. Cellach, archbishop of Armagh (9th C)
Readings
6th Hour
Isaiah 14.24-32
24The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 25That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. 26This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? 28In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. 29Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 30And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. 31Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. 32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
Vespers
Genesis 8.21-9.7
21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. 1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Proverbs 11.19-12.6
19As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death. 20They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. 21Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. 22As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. 23The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. 24There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 25The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 26He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. 27He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. 28He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. 29He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. 30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. 31Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner. 1Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish. 2A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. 3A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. 4A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. 5The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. 6The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 3
Thou who wast once defiled with every impurity, art seen today through repentance a bride of Christ; loving the angelic life, thou dost trample down the demons with the weapon of the Cross. Wherefore, O glorious Mary, thou art shown to be a bride of the Kingdom.
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of a venerable confessor)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert fruitful, and thy longing for God brought forth fruit a hundredfold; by thy vigils thou wast a shining lamp to the world, and by thy confession of the holy images thou wast approved: O our father Macarius, pray to Christ God to save our souls.
Troparion — Tone 8
In thee, O Mother, was preserved unimpaired that which is according to God's image; for taking up the Cross thou didst follow after Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to despise the flesh, for it passeth away, but to care for the soul, a thing immortal. Wherefore, O venerable Mary, thy spirit rejoiceth with the angels.