2024

On Wednesday | March 20

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THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 9 (9, 10).

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with my whole heart.

I will be glad and rejoice in You. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Isaiah.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Is 2:3-11

Thus says the Lord: The law of the Lord shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the Gentiles and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O now, house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. For He forsook His people, the house of Israel, for as from the beginning, their land is filled with divinations – like the land of foreigners – and many children of foreigners were born to them. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is also filled with horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also filled with the abominations of their works, and they worship the works of their hands, which their fingers made. A man bows down and each man humbles himself, but I will not forgive them. Enter now into the rocks and hide in the earth from the face of the Lord, for fear and the glory of His might when He rises to smite the earth. For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, and man is humble. The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 10 (11).

The righteous Lord loves righteousness.

In the Lord I trust. How will you say to my soul? [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 1.

Psalm 11 (12).

You shall guard us, O Lord; You shall preserve us.

Save me, O Lord, for the holy man has ceased. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Genesis.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Gn 1:24-31, 2:1-3

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: the quadrupeds, the creeping things, and the wild animals of the earth according to their kind.” It was so. So God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kind, the cattle according to their kind, and all the creeping things on earth according to their kind. God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth.” So God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them. Then God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of heaven, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb that sows seed on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. I also give every green plant as food for all the wild animals of the earth, for all the birds of heaven, and for everything that creeps on the earth in which is the breath of life.” It was so. Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed, it was very good. So evening and morning were the sixth day. Thus heaven and earth and all their adornment were finished. And on the seventh day God finished the works He made, and He rested on the seventh day from all the works He made. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works God began to make. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 12 (13).

Look upon me and hear me, O Lord my God.

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me to the end? [SAAS]

The reading is from the Proverbs of Solomon.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Pr 2:1-23

My son, if you receive the words of my commandment and hide them within yourself, your ear will be obedient to wisdom, and you will incline your heart to understanding; you will entrust it to your son as an admonition. For if he calls upon wisdom, and you utter your voice for understanding; if you seek perception with a strong voice, if you seek her as silver and search for her as treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His face come knowledge and understanding; and He stores up salvation for the upright; He will protect their journey, that He might guard the ways of His ordinances; and He will carefully guard the way of those who reverence Him. Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, and accomplish successfully every good path for yourself. For if wisdom comes into your mind, and the perception in your soul seems to be good, then good counsel will guard you, and holy thinking will keep you; that it might rescue you from an evil way and from a man who speaks nothing trustworthy. Woe to those who forsake the paths of uprightness so they may walk in the ways of darkness, who delight in evils and rejoice in evil perversion, whose ways are crooked and their paths devious, so they may cause you to be far from the straight way and a stranger to righteous judgment. My son, do not lay hold of evil counsel, nor forsake the teaching of your youth and forget the divine covenant; for it establishes its house with death, and its paths beside Hades with the dead; all who journey there do not return, nor do they lay hold of straight paths; for they do not comprehend the years of life. For if they walked in good paths, they would find the smooth paths of righteousness. The inhabitants of the land will be good, and the simple will be left in it; for the upright will dwell in the land, and the holy will be left in it. The ways of the ungodly shall perish from the land, and the lawless shall be banished from it. [SAAS]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On March 20 we commemorate the holy fathers who were murdered by the Bedouins in the Monastery of St. Savas the Sanctified.

On this day we also commemorate our devout father and confessor Niketas, Bishop of Apollonia.

On this day we also commemorate the holy seven women martyrs in Amisos: Alexandria, Claudia, Euphrasia, Matrona, Juliana, Euphimia, and Theodosia.

On this day the holy martyr Rodian died by the sword.

On this day St. Aquila the Eparch died by the sword.

On this day St. Lollion reposed after being beaten with fists.

On this day St. Emmanuel died by the sword.

The holy new martyr Myron the Cretan, who witnessed on Crete in the year 1793, died by hanging.

By the intercessions of Your Saints, O God, have mercy on us. Amen.

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Fasting Rule

Strict: Refrain from meat, fish, oil, dairy, and eggs.

It is a weekday in Lent.