Friday, 28 March 2025

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

23 days before Pascha · Tone 6 · Presanctified · Lenten Fast

Presanctified Liturgy

Saints commemorated

Saint Eustratius of the Kiev Caves, martyr

Saint Eustratius was a wealthy citizen of Kiev who, in the late eleventh century, distributed his goods to the poor and entered the Kiev Caves Lavra as a monk under the holy abbot Saint John. He embraced strict fasting and obedience and was known for his patience and prayerful disposition. When the Polovtsians sacked Kiev in 1096, Eustratius was taken captive together with thirty monks and fifty laymen and sold to a Jewish slaver in the Crimean city of Cherson. The slaver tortured his prisoners by starvation to compel them to deny Christ, but Eustratius strengthened his fellow captives, all of whom died rather than apostatise. On the day of Holy Pascha he was nailed to a cross, where he hung for fifteen days, blessing his persecutor and rejoicing in his union with the crucified Lord. After his death his body was cast into the sea, and his incorrupt relics were later recovered and brought to the Caves of the Lavra, where they rest to this day.

Saint Herodion of Iliotsk, abbot

Saint Herodion of Iliotsk was a disciple of Saint Cornelius of Komel and a younger contemporary of Saint Cyril of New Lake. Drawn by love of stillness, he withdrew to a remote spot near Lake Iloza, in the Belozersk wilderness of northern Russia, where in the early sixteenth century he founded a small skete in honour of the Mother of God. Living in great poverty and unceasing prayer, he was joined by disciples who followed his example of silence and labour. Saint Herodion reposed about 1541 and was buried in the church he had built. Over the centuries his memory has been preserved among the venerable fathers of the Russian North, whose lives knit the wilderness of Vologda and Belozersk into a constellation of monastic holiness.

Venerable Hilarion the New, Abbot of Pelekete

Saint Hilarion the New was the abbot of Pelekete monastery and lived in an era of significant monastic development in the Christian Church. As an abbot, he provided spiritual leadership and established patterns of discipline and prayer within his monastic community. Hilarion is remembered for his ascetic labours and his contribution to monastic tradition. The epithet "the New" indicates that he is distinguished from an earlier Saint Hilarion (Hilarion the Great) by placing him within a later historical period. His abbatial tenure helped preserve Orthodox monastic practice and he is remembered as a guide for monks seeking to advance in the spiritual life through obedience, humility, and dedication to prayer.

Venerable Stephen the Wonderworker of Trigleia

Saint Stephen was a venerable monastic father and wonderworker venerated in the Orthodox Church. The designation "wonderworker" indicates that he was known for performing miracles and experiencing supernatural grace. Stephen devoted himself to the ascetic life and achieved great spiritual advancement. Through his prayers and intercession, he became a channel of God's healing and protective power, assisting the afflicted and those in need. The traditions concerning him recount numerous instances of divine intervention on behalf of those who sought his help. Stephen's life exemplifies the Orthodox belief that sanctity produces miraculous charisms, and his veneration continues as the Church calls upon his intercessions for healing and assistance.

Repose of Gerontissa Gavrilia

1992

Mother Gavrilia, who was known to many who are still alive, has not been officially glorified by the Church, but is considered by many to be a Saint of our time. Her fine biography, Ascetic of Love, has been translated into English and several other languages. The account below is excerpted from that on the web site of St Gregory Palamas Monastery. “The Gerontissa Gabrielia was born in Constantinople a hundred years ago on October 2/15, 1897. She grew up in the City until her family moved to Thessalonika in 1923. She went to England in 1938 and stayed there throughout the Second World War. She trained as a chiropodist and physiotherapist. In 1945 she returned to Greece where she worked with the Friends Refugee Mission and the American Farm School in Thessalonika in early post-war years. Later she opened her own therapy office in Athens until 1954. In March of that year her mother died and the office was closed. Sister Lila left Greece and traveled overland to India where she worked with the poorest of the poor, even the lepers, for five years. “It was not until 1959 that she went to the Monastery of Mary and Martha in Bethany, Palestine, to become a nun. When she arrived she asked Fr. Theodosius the chaplain for a rule of prayer. Fr. Theodosius was somewhat surprised to find that she could read even ancient Byzantine Greek. Fr. Theodosius said, “The great elders that we hear about no longer exist. I certainly am not one. You came here to save your soul. If I start giving you rules, you will lose you soul and I will as well. But here is Fr. John. He will be your elder.” So for her first year in the monastery he set her to reading only the Gospels and St. John Climacus. (It should be noted that at that time the Ladder had not been published in modern Greek.) “She was three years in Bethany. In April, 1962, word came that Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople sought to send an Orthodox monastic to Taize in France. Sister Gabrielia went by way of Taize (she spoke fluent French from childhood) to America. “In 1963 she was back in Greece. The Gerontissa was tonsured to the Small Schema by Abbot Amphilochios (Makris) on Patmos in the Cave of St. Anthony under the Monastery of Evangelismos just before she and the nun Tomasina left again for India. Elder Amphilochios was enthusiastic at the idea a nun who would be open to the an active outreach in the world. In India she was for three year in Nani Tal in Uttar Pradesh where Fr. Lazarus Moore was the priest and where he consulted the Gerontissa in his translations of the Psalter and the Fathers. Between 1967 and 1977 the Gerontissa traveled in the Mission field of East Africa, in Europe including visiting old friends and spiritual fathers Lev Gillet and Sophrony of Essex, again to America, and briefly in Sinai where Archbishop Damianos was attempting to reintroduce women’s monasticism. She traveled extensively, with much concern and broad love for the people of God. Some of her spiritual children found her in Jerusalem beside the Tomb of Christ; others found her on the mission field of East Africa. For years beginning in about 1977, she lived hidden in a little apartment, the “House of the Angels” in Patissia in the midst of the noise and smog and confusion of central Athens. A little place, a hidden place, a precious place to those who knew her there. “In 1989 she moved to Holy Protection hermitage on the island of Aegina, close by the shrine of St. Nectarios. There she called the last two of her spiritual children to become monastics near her, and there she continued to receive many visitors. At the start of Great Lent in 1990 she was hospitalized for lymphatic cancer. She was forty days in the hospital, leaving during Holy Week and receiving communion of Pascha. And to the puzzlement of the doctors, the cancer disappeared. It was not yet her time. “The Gerontissa finally withdrew to quiet. With only one last nun she moved for the last time in this life, to the island of Leros. There they established the hesychastirion of the Holy Archangels. Only in this last year of her life did she accept the Great Schema at the hands of Fr. Dionysious from Little St. Anne’s Skete on Athos. He came to give her the Schema in the Chapel of the Panaghia in the Kastro on the top of Leros. “Gerontissa Gabrielia passed from this world on March 28, 1992, having never built a monastery. Over the years, six of her spiritual children did become monastics, but never more that one or two were with her at a time. Only the angels could count the number of lives that God touched and changed through her. Her biography and collected writings were published in Greek in 1996, through the work of her last monastic daughter and the contribution of many, many others who held the Gerontissa dear. An English translation is in process [Note: it has now been published]. “Anyone who knew the Gerontissa realized that God has not left us without His saints, even down to the present day. The few words recorded here scarcely suggest the clarity and love of her soul. Words are only the tools of this world; the wonder of the Gerontissa was wrapped in the mystery of the silence of the world to come. “She never sought a reputation. She never allowed anything about her to be published during her long life and only allowed her children to take photographs in her very last years. Those whom God touched through her called her Gerontissa; she never made herself anything but the nun Gabrielia. “She was humility and love incarnate.” The Gerontissa embodied an ‘ecumenism’ that might serve as a model for many in our time: she was completely loving and open to all people of all faiths, yet while working freely with protestants and Hindus in service to man, she never compromised any aspect of her Orthodox faith. Once, some protestant fellow-workers suggested that they pray together; Mother Gavrilia thanked them lovingly, but said ‘I only pray in church or alone.’

Daily readings

6th Hour

weekly cycle

Isaiah — 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:

¹³And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them; 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. ¹⁴therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and 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?

¹⁵Woe unto them that hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, and whose works are in the dark, and that 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? ¹⁶Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath 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?

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.

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 Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 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: ²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scoffer ceaseth, and all they 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. ²¹that make a man an offender in his cause, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just with 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.

²²Therefore thus saith Jehovah, 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. ²³But when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name; yea, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Genesis — 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:

¹Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show 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: ²and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou 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. ³and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the 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. ⁴So Abram went, as Jehovah 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. 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. ⁶And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak 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. ⁷And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Proverbs — Proverbs 14.15-26

¹⁵The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. 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. ¹⁶A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; But the fool beareth himself insolently, and is confident. ¹⁷He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated. ¹⁷He that is soon angry will deal foolishly; And a man of wicked devices is hated. ¹⁸The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁸The simple inherit folly; But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁹The evil bow down before the good; And the wicked, at the gates of the righteous. 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. ²⁰The poor is hated even of his own neighbor; But the rich hath many friends. ²¹He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth; But he that hath pity on the poor, happy is he. 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. 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. ²³In all labor 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. ²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches; But the folly of fools is only folly. ²⁵A true witness delivereth souls; But he that uttereth lies causeth deceit. ²⁵A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. ²⁶In the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence; And his children shall have a place of refuge.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.