Great Lent, day 24 · 25 days until Pascha
Saints commemorated
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Saint of the day
Ven. John Climacus
John Climacus (c. 579 – c. 649) — "John of the Ladder" — was a monk of Mount Sinai who, after forty years of hidden ascetic labour, was made abbot of the great monastery there, and who at the request of another abbot composed the Ladder of Divine Ascent (Greek Klimax), the most influential handbook of Orthodox ascetic and monastic life. Its thirty "steps," one for each year of the Lord's hidden life, lead the soul from the renunciation of the world through the struggle against the passions to the summit of dispassion and love. The Church keeps his memory on March 30 and, above all, on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, setting him before the faithful as a guide in the ascent of the Fast.
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Commemoration of an Uncondemning Monk
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John the Silent
John the Silent, called the Hesychast (c. 454–558), was a bishop who became a hidden monk. Consecrated Bishop of Colonia in Armenia while still a young man, he fled the quarrels of the world, concealed his episcopal rank, and entered the Great Lavra of Sabbas the Sanctified near Jerusalem as a simple novice. When his secret was revealed and he could no longer be ordained, the Patriarch bade him live in silence — and in silence he remained for the rest of an extraordinarily long life, in his cell, in the desert (where a lion is said to have guarded him from the Saracens), and again at the Lavra, where he stood among the defenders of Orthodoxy against Origenism. He reposed at the age of 104 and is commemorated on December 3.
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Sophronius of Irkutsk
Sophronius, Bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk — in the liturgical style "of Irkutsk and all Siberia" — was one of the great missionary hierarchs of the eighteenth-century Russian Church, a Ukrainian monk of the Poltava country who was sent in 1753 to a diocese the size of a continent and governed it for seventeen years, founding its seminary, ordaining and disciplining a scattered and half-trained clergy, and travelling to Nerchinsk, Kirensk and Yakutsk. He reposed on 30 March 1771, in Bright Week; and because the Holy Synod took six months to decide where he should be buried, his body lay unburied through a Siberian summer and was found undecayed — the beginning of a veneration that examinations in 1833, 1854, 1870 and 1909 did nothing to check. A fire in the Theophany Cathedral at Irkutsk on 18 April 1917 consumed the shrine and left only his bones; a year later the Local Council of the Russian Church glorified him, and the glorification was solemnly completed on 30 June 1918, which is the day this collection keeps as the second of his feasts.
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Sosthenes, Apollos, and Companions of the Seventy
On December 8 the Church commemorates a company of apostles of the Seventy, all named in the letters of the New Testament: Sosthenes, once ruler of the synagogue at Corinth and afterwards a bishop; Apollos, the eloquent Alexandrian of the Book of Acts; Cephas of Colophon; Tychicus, Paul's trusted messenger; Epaphroditus, whom Paul called his fellow-soldier; and Caesar, bishop of Dyrrhachium — together with the Apostle Onesiphorus, who is commemorated with them but whose principal feast and full entry stand under his own name. Chosen and sent by Christ among the Seventy (Luke 10), they laboured beside the Apostle Paul and became shepherds of the young Churches. Their memory is kept also on March 30 and, with all the Seventy, on January 4.
British Isles and Ireland
- St. Osburga of Coventry, virgin (c.1015)
- St. Fergus, bishop of Downpatrick (6th C)
- St. Tola, bishop of Disert Tola in Meath (c.733)
Troparia & kontakia
Kontakion — Tone 4
On the height of true abstinence the Lord established thee as a true and unerring star, giving light to the ends of the earth, O John our guide and father.
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of a venerable, proper to Sinai)
With the streams of thy tears thou didst cultivate the barren desert, and by thy deep sighings thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a luminary, shining upon the world by miracles, O John our venerable father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 8
O guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and holiness, luminary of the world, God-inspired adornment of monastics: O wise John, by thy teachings thou hast enlightened all, thou harp of the Spirit. Intercede with Christ our God, that our souls may be saved.
Troparion — Tone 4
O God of our fathers, who dealest with us ever according to thy gentleness, take not thy mercy from us; but by the prayers of thy hierarch Sophronius, guide our life in peace.
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God, that he grant to our souls the forgiveness of offences.
Readings
6th Hour
Isaiah 26.21-27.9
21For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. 1In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. 2In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. 3I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. 4Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me. 6He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. 7Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? 8In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. 9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
Vespers
Genesis 9.18-10.1
18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. 24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. 1Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Proverbs 12.23-13.9 (LXX)
23A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. 24The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. 25Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. 26The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them. 27The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. 28In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death. 1A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. 2A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 3He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. 4The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. 5A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame. 6Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. 7There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. 8The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke. 9The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
Composite 2 - Proverbs 10, 3, 8 (St Innocent)
1The memory of a just man is praised, and the Lord’s blessing is upon his head. Blessed is one who has found wisdom; a mortal who knows understanding. To import her is better than treasures of gold and silver. She is more valuable than precious stones; nothing of value equals her worth. Justice proceeds from her mouth; she bears law and mercy on her tongue. Therefore, my children, listen to me, for I speak weighty things. And blessed is the one who keeps my ways. For my goings out are the goings out of life, and favour is prepared from the Lord. Therefore I exhort you, and utter my voice to the children of humankind. Because I, Wisdom, have prepared counsel, knowledge and understanding. I have called on them. Counsel and sureness are mine; prudence is mine, strength is mine. I love those who are my friends, while those who seek me will find grace. You innocent, then, understand cunning; you untaught, take it to heart. Listen to me, for I will speak weighty things, and I will open right things from my lips. Because my throat will meditate truth; lying lips are abominable before me. All the words of my mouth are with justice, there is nothing crooked in them nor twisted. They are all straight for those who understand, and right for those who find knowledge. For I teach you what is true, that your hope may be in the Lord and that you may be filled with spirit.
Composite 3 - Wisdom of Solomon 4, 5 (St Innocent)
1A just man if he comes to his end will be at rest. A just man who dies will condemn the ungodly who are alive; for they will see the end of a just man and will not understand what they counselled concerning him. For the Lord will break the ungodly, render them voiceless and cast them headlong, and he will shake them from the foundations and they will be utterly worsted in sorrow, and their memory shall perish. They shall come with fear at the accounting of their sins, and their iniquities will convict them to their face. Then the just will stand with much boldness in the face of those who afflicted him and made his toils of no account. When they see this they will be troubled with great fear and will be amazed at the wonder of his salvation. For they will say as they repent and with anguish they will groan and say: Is this he whom we fools once made a laughing stock and a byword of reproach? We reckoned his life folly and his end dishonour. How has he been numbered among the children of God and his lot with the Saints? Therefore we have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousness has not shone on us and the sun has not dawned on us. We have been filled with paths of lawlessness and destruction and journeyed through trackless paths, but have not known the way of the Lord.
Composite 4 - Proverbs 10; Wisdom of Solomon 6, 7, 8, 9 (St Innocent)
1The mouth of a just man distils wisdom; the lips of men know graces. The mouth of the wise meditates wisdom; justice delivers them from death. When a just man dies hope is not lost; for a just son is born for life, and among his good things he will pluck the fruit of justice. There is light at all times for the just, and they will find grace and glory from the Lord. The tongue of the wise knows what is good, and wisdom will take its rest in their hearts. The Lord loves holy hearts; while all who are blameless in the way are acceptable to him. The wisdom of the Lord will enlighten the face of the understanding; for she anticipates those who desire her before they know it, and is easily contemplated by those who love her. One who rises for her at dawn will not toil, and one who keeps vigil because of her will be without care. For she goes about seeking those who are worthy of her, and shows herself favourably to those on her paths. Wickedness will never prevail against wisdom. Because of this I too became a lover of her beauty and became her friend, and I sought her out from my youth, and I sought to take her as my bride, because the Master of all things loved her, for she is an initiate of the knowledge of God and one who chooses his works. Her toils are virtues; she herself teaches sobriety and prudence; justice and courage, than which things nothing is more useful in human life. If anyone longs for much experience, she knows how to compare things of old and those that are to come. She knows the twists of words and the explanations of riddles. She foresees signs and wonders and the outcomes of seasons and times. And to all she is a good counsellor. Because immortality is in her, and fame in the fellowship of her words. Therefore I appealed to the Lord and besought him and said from my whole heart, ‘God of my Fathers and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your Word, and established humanity by your Wisdom to be sovereign over the creatures that had come into being by you, and to order the world in holiness and justice, give me Wisdom who sits by your throne, and do not reject me from among your children, for I am your servant and the son of your maid servant. Send her out from your holy dwelling and from the throne of your glory, that she may be present with me and teach me what is well pleasing before you. And she will guide me with knowledge and guard me with her glory. For all the thoughts of mortals are wretched and their ideas are unstable.’
Presanctified Liturgy