Thursday, 13 June 2024

Ascension of the Lord

The Ascension of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ

39 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Major feast Lord · No Fast

Saints commemorated

Holy Virgin Martyr Aquilina of Byblos

293

Saint Aquilina was a native of the Phoenician city of Byblos, in what is now the Lebanese coastland, born about the year 281 of pious Christian parents. Her mother taught her the faith from earliest childhood, and the holy virgin showed such love for Christ that already by the age of ten she was instructing other girls in his name. When she was twelve, the persecution under the emperor Diocletian came to Byblos, and a servant of the governor Volusianus denounced her for turning her companions away from the worship of the gods. Brought before Volusianus, the child fearlessly confessed Christ; first he tried to win her with flattery, then commanded her to be scourged, and at length had heated iron rods driven through her ears so that the brain came out, after which she fell as though dead.

The judge ordered her body to be cast outside the city to be devoured by dogs. By night an angel of the Lord came down, raised her up, healed her wounds, and bade her go and accuse Volusianus before his own throne. The holy virgin walked to the praetorium and stood before him, alive and unharmed, and the people who saw it cried out in wonder. Confounded and afraid, the governor ordered her beheaded; but as the executioner raised his sword the saint gave thanks to her Bridegroom and rendered her soul to God before the blow could fall, in the year 293. Christians took up her body and gave it honourable burial; and her relics were afterwards translated to Constantinople, where the emperors built a church in her name.

Saint Anthimus the Iberian, Metropolitan of Wallachia

Saint Anthimus was born about 1660 in Iberia, the historic name of Georgia, and was given in baptism the name Andrew. Captured as a young man during one of the Persian raids on his country and sold into slavery, he was at length redeemed by the Patriarch of Constantinople Dositheus II of Jerusalem, who, perceiving the young captive's devotion and rare gifts for languages, took him into his own household and educated him in theology, calligraphy and the arts of printing. About 1690 the Patriarch sent him to the Wallachian prince Constantine Brancoveanu, who needed a learned hieromonk to direct the new printing presses he had set up at Bucharest in defence of orthodox teaching. There Anthimus received monastic tonsure, founded the press at the Snagov monastery, and produced books in Greek, Slavonic, Romanian, Arabic and Georgian, including the Liturgy in Arabic for the church of Antioch and the Gospel in Iberian for his native Georgia. In 1705 he was consecrated bishop of Ramnic, and in 1708 metropolitan of all Wallachia. He laboured to make Romanian the liturgical language of the Romanian Church, translated and printed the Liturgical books in the language of the people, and preached his celebrated Didahii, the homilies for Sundays and feasts that mark the beginning of Romanian sacred eloquence. After the deposition and execution by the Turks of his patron Brancoveanu, Anthimus continued his work under Stephen Cantacuzino and Nicholas Mavrocordat, but his outspoken denunciation of Turkish exactions led at length to his ruin. In 1716 the Sultan ordered him deposed and banished to Saint Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai. On the road, on 14 September 1716, a band of janissaries set upon him near Adrianople, killed him with their swords and cast his body into the river Tundzha. He was glorified by the Church of Romania in 1992; his memory is observed in the Romanian and several Greek calendars on 13 June.

Saint Antipater, Bishop of Bostra in Arabia

Saint Antipater was a Greek prelate of the fifth century who became metropolitan of Bostra, the principal city of the Roman province of Arabia, before the year 457, succeeding the bishop Constantine. The diocese of Bostra at that time was closely linked with the great monasteries of the Judean desert, and Antipater maintained a near friendship with Saint Euthymius the Great and the fathers of his lavra, drawing both ascetic counsel and dogmatic precision from that source. Antipater is remembered as one of the most learned defenders of the orthodox faith in the generation that followed the Council of Chalcedon. When certain monks renewed the doctrines of Origen on the pre-existence of souls and the eventual restoration of all spirits, including the demons, Antipater answered with a Refutation of the Apology for Origen written by Pamphilus of Caesarea, in which he set out the orthodox teaching with such clarity that, more than a century later, the Emperor Justinian ordered his work to be read publicly in the churches of the East as an antidote to the spreading errors. He also composed a treatise against the Apollinarists and a number of homilies in honour of the Theotokos, in which the dogmatic faith of Ephesus, that the Virgin is truly Mother of God, is given liturgical expression. The Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council included him among the authoritative writers of the Church. Saint Antipater fell asleep in the Lord toward the end of the fifth century.

Saint Triphyllius, Bishop of Leucosia in Cyprus

Saint Triphyllius was born at Constantinople in the late third century to a noble Christian family and was sent to Berytus, modern Beirut, for the celebrated rhetorical and legal training of that city. He became one of the most learned and eloquent men of his generation. Drawn by report to Saint Spyridon, the wonderworking bishop of Trimythous in Cyprus, he sought him out and became his disciple. The Lives of the Cypriot fathers tell how the simple shepherd-bishop tempered the worldliness still clinging to his elegant pupil: when, accompanying his master to the imperial court, Triphyllius gazed in admiration at the splendour of the palace, Spyridon asked him gently, "Why do you marvel? Does all this make the emperor any more righteous?"

Trained by his elder in the discipline of humble prayer, Triphyllius received the gift of ascetic discernment and was raised to the see of Leucosia, the present Nicosia. There he proved a tireless pastor and an undaunted defender of the Nicene faith, supporting Saint Athanasius the Great against the Arians and accompanying Saint Spyridon to local councils. From the inheritance left by his mother he built a monastery at Leucosia. He governed his church for many years and fell asleep in old age about the year 370. The Russian pilgrim Igumen Daniel saw the relics of Saint Triphyllius on Cyprus at the beginning of the twelfth century, still venerated by the faithful.

St Anna and her son John

5h c.

“Taken as an orphan into the house of a nobleman and treated as an adopted child, she was cared for and educated in that house. The rich man considered her worthy to be married to his son. When the old man died, the family urged the son to put his wife away because of her low birth and to marry another more suited to his rank and wealth. The rich man’s son feared God and did not want to do this. Seeing her husband in difficulties with his family, Anna secretly left him and ran off to a distant island where there was not a living soul. She was pregnant, and soon gave birth to a son. They laboured on the island for thirty years in fasting and prayer. Then, by divine providence, a hieromonk landed on the island. He baptised her son and named him John. Anna lived her ascetic life in the fifth century, and died peacefully.” (Prologue)

Daily readings

Vespers

Isaiah — Isaiah 2.2-3

²And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

²And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. ³And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ³And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

Vespers

OT — Composite 21 - Isaiah 62.10-63.3, 7-9

Thus says the Lord: Walk, go through my gates; prepare my way and make a way for my people, and cast the stones out of the way; raise up a standard for the nations. For see, the Lord has made it heard to the ends of the earth: Say to the daughter of Sion: See, your Saviour has come, and his reward is with him, and his work before his face. And he will call it a holy people, redeemed by the Lord; while you will be called a city sought after, and not forsaken. Who is this who comes from Edom, the scarlet of his garments from Bosor, thus beautiful in his apparel? He cries out with much strength. I reason of justice and judgement of salvation. Why are your garments red, and your clothing as from a trodden winepress? I am full of the trodden grape; I have trampled the winepress quite alone, and no man from the nations was with me. I have remembered the mercy of the Lord, I will recall the Lord’s virtues, the Lord’s praise for all the things with which He rewards us. The Lord is a good judge for the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy and according to the multitude of his justice. And he said: Are you not my people? Children will surely not be rebellious; and he became for them salvation out of their every distress. It was not an emissary, not an Angel, but the Lord himself saved them because he loved them and spared them. He redeemed them and took them up and exalted them all the days of the age.

Vespers

OT — Composite 22 - Zechariah 14.1, 4, 8-11

Thus says the Lord: See, the day of the Lord is coming, and on that day his feet will stand upon the mount of Olives, opposite Jerusalem, where the sun rises. And on that day living water will come out from Jerusalem, half towards the first sea and half towards the last sea; in spring and in summer it shall be so; and the Lord will be for a King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name, compassing all the earth and the wilderness from Gabaa as far as Remmon, south of Jerusalem; and he shall be exalted and remain on his place from the gate of Benjamin as far as the place of the first gate, as far as the gate of Gomor and as far as the tower of Anameël and as far as the tower of the corners and as far as the king’s winepresses; they shall dwell in it and there shall be no more curse and Jerusalem shall dwell confidently.

Matins Gospel

Mark — Mark 16.9-20

⁹Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

⁹Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. ¹⁰She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. ¹¹And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. ¹¹And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.

¹²After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

¹²And after these things he was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. ¹³And they went away and told it unto the rest: neither believed they them. ¹³And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

¹⁴Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

¹⁴And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen. ¹⁵And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. ¹⁵And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ¹⁶He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ¹⁷And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; ¹⁸They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. ¹⁸they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

¹⁹So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

¹⁹So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen. ²⁰And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Epistle

weekly cycle

Acts — Acts 1.1-12

¹The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

¹The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, ²Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: ²until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: ³To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: ³to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God: ⁴And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. ⁴and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me: ⁵for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. ⁵For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. ⁶When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

⁶They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? ⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority. ⁷And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. ⁸But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ⁸But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ⁹And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; ¹⁰And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; ¹¹who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven. ¹¹Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey off. ¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Luke — Luke 24.36-53

³⁶And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

³⁶And as they spake these things, he himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ³⁷But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they beheld a spirit. ³⁷But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. ³⁸And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? ³⁸And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having. ⁴⁰And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? ⁴¹And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? ⁴²And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. ⁴²And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish. ⁴³And he took it, and did eat before them. ⁴³And he took it, and ate before them.

⁴⁴And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me. ⁴⁴And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. ⁴⁵Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, ⁴⁵Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures; ⁴⁶And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: ⁴⁶and he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; ⁴⁷and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁷And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸Ye are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁸And ye are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. ⁴⁹And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high.

⁵⁰And he led them out until they were over against Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

⁵⁰And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. ⁵¹And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. ⁵¹And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. ⁵²And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: ⁵²And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: ⁵³and were continually in the temple, blessing God. ⁵³And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.