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Friday 1 April 2022

Ven. Euthymius of Suzdal

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

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Lenten Fast Tone 7

Great Lent, day 26 · 23 days until Pascha

Saints commemorated

  • Saint of the day

    Ven. Euthymius of Suzdal

  • 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.

  • 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)

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.

Readings

6th Hour

Isaiah 29.13-23

13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? 17Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: 21That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. 22Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. 23But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

Vespers

Genesis 12.1-7

1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

Proverbs 14.15-26

15The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. 16A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. 17He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated. 18The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. 19The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. 20The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. 21He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. 22Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. 23In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. 24The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly. 25A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. 26In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Presanctified Liturgy