Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Wednesday of the 8th week after Pentecost

101 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · Dormition Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Forefeast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos

The fourteenth day of August is observed in the Orthodox Church as the Forefeast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, the great feast which falls on 15 August. The Forefeast prepares the Church to celebrate the falling asleep of the Mother of God and her translation in body and soul to heaven, an event known to the faithful by ancient tradition though not narrated in Scripture. The hymnography of the day calls upon the people to gather in gladness, declaring that the Theotokos is about to depart from earth to heaven and from corruption to incorruption, and praying that her intercessions may guard her flock. The Dormition feast is preceded by a strict two-week fast from 1 to 14 August, called the Dormition Fast, during which the faithful abstain from meat, dairy products, fish, oil and wine, and on weekdays the Great or Small Paraklesis to the Mother of God is sung. The Forefeast itself is one day, and the Feast has eight days of after-feast and is closed on 23 August. On this day also are commemorated the prophet Micah and the translation of the relics of Saint Theodosius of the Kiev Caves.

★ Translation of the Relics of Saint Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

1091

Saint Theodosius of the Kiev Caves (c. 1009 to 1074) was, with Saint Anthony, the co-founder of the Kiev Caves Lavra and the principal organiser of cenobitic monasticism in Kievan Rus'. As abbot of the Caves Monastery he gave his community a written rule modelled on the Studite typicon, established the daily round of prayer and labour, kept open his table to the poor, and reproved princes and rulers without fear when they did wrong. He fell asleep in the Lord on 3 May 1074 and was buried in the cave he had himself dug, in which he was accustomed to spend the great fasts. In the year 1091, on the eve of the seventeenth anniversary of his repose, the brethren of the monastery, with the blessing of the abbot John, opened his tomb and found his relics whole and incorrupt; on the following day, 14 August, in the presence of bishops, princes and a great multitude of the faithful, his holy body was translated in solemn procession to the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra. He was numbered among the saints of the Russian Church in 1108, the first monastic to be so glorified. The translation of his relics is commemorated on 14 August, while his repose is observed on 3 May and his memory together with Saint Anthony on 2 September.

Holy Hieromartyr Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea

The Hieromartyr Marcellus was born of an illustrious family on the island of Cyprus in the fourth century and received a fine education. He held a high civil office and was admired by all for his purity of life, his mildness, his kindness and his eloquence. In 375 he left his wife and children, having provided for their maintenance, and went to Syria to devote himself to the monastic life. The people of the city of Apamea, having had occasion to see him on some practical business, elected him their bishop, and he was consecrated to that see. According to Theodoret of Cyrrhus, the saint received permission from the emperor Theodosius the Great to demolish the great temple of Jupiter at Apamea, a vast and strongly built sanctuary that dominated the city. By his prayers the building, which the imperial soldiers and engineers had been unable to bring down, suddenly collapsed when the bishop made the sign of the cross over it. He went on to remove other pagan temples in the surrounding district. As soldiers were demolishing a temple at the village of Aulona, the saint, who was watching from a distance because his age and infirmity prevented him from accompanying them, was seized by the pagans of the place and cast into a fire, where together with another confessor named Anthony he received the crown of martyrdom around the year 389. He is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 14 August.

Holy Prophet Micah

The Holy Prophet Micah (also called Micah the Morasthite, to distinguish him from the earlier prophet Micaiah son of Imlah) was the sixth of the twelve minor prophets and a native of Moresheth, a village in the territory of the tribe of Judah south of Jerusalem. He prophesied during the reigns of the kings of Judah Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, from about the year 778 to 691 before Christ, and was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. His preaching denounced the social injustice of his time, the corruption of the rulers of Judah and Israel, the venality of priests and prophets who spoke for hire, and the false security with which the people relied upon outward worship while crushing the poor. At the same time his book opens out into great prophecies of the coming Messiah, foretelling that out of Bethlehem-Ephrathah, "little among the thousands of Judah," should come forth one whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting, and that the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, that nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares and learn war no more. According to tradition the prophet was killed by Joram, the son of King Ahab of Israel, for rebuking him for his sins, and was buried in his native village; his relics were discovered miraculously in the time of the emperor Theodosius I, near a place called Berathsatia in Eleutheropolis. He is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 14 August and again with the other minor prophets on 5 January.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 10.12-22

¹²Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ¹²Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it. ¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

¹⁴Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁴Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. ¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? ¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? ¹⁷For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. ¹⁷seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? ¹⁸Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar? ¹⁹What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? ¹⁹What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons. ²⁰But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. ²¹Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. ²¹Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. ²²Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? ²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 16.20-24

²⁰Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. ²⁰Then charged he the disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ.

²¹From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

²¹From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. ²²Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. ²²And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee. ²³But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. ²³But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

²⁴Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁴Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.