2024

On Friday | April 26

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THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 121 (122).

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I sought good things for you. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Isaiah.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Is 66:10-24

“Be glad, O Jerusalem, and celebrate holy days in her. All you who love her, rejoice exceedingly, and all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied by the breast of her consolation; that you may take pleasure in nursing because of the entrance of her glory.” For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will turn to them like a river of peace and like a brook, to flood them with the glory of the Gentiles. Their children shall be taken up on shoulders and comforted on knees. Like someone a mother comforts, so also will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” You shall see, and your heart will rejoice. Your bones shall rise up like a pasture, and the Lord’s hand shall be known by those who fear Him; but He shall threaten the disobedient. For behold, the Lord shall come like a fire, and His chariots like a sudden blast of wind, to render His vengeance with anger and His renunciation with a flame of fire. For all the earth shall be judged in the fire of the Lord, and all flesh with His sword; and many shall be wounded by the Lord. “Those who purify and cleanse themselves in the gardens and porches, who eat the meat of a pig or any abomination, they shall be destroyed together at the same time,” says the Lord; “and I know their works and their reasoning. I am coming to gather all the nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory. And I will leave signs upon them, and those among them who are saved, I will send forth to the Gentiles: to Tarshish, and Pul and Lud and Tubal, and to Greece and to the coastlands far off, to those who have not heard My name, nor seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. They shall bring your brethren from among all the Gentiles as a gift to the Lord, with horses and chariots, in litters drawn by mules and covered with sunshades, to the holy city of Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the children of Israel would bring Me their sacrifices with psalms into the house of the Lord. I shall take some of them to be My priests and Levites,” says the Lord. “For just as the new heaven and the new earth which I make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name remain. It shall come to pass from month to month and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall worship before Me in Jerusalem,” says the Lord. “They shall go forth and see the dead bodies of the men who transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished; and they shall be a vision to all flesh.” [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 122 (123).

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

I lift my eyes to You. [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 123 (124).

Our help is in the name of the Lord.

“If the Lord had not been with us,” let Israel now say. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Genesis.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Gn 49:33, 50:1-26

Thus when Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was added to his people. Now Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. Then Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. So when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the princes of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found grace in your sight, speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, in the grave I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’” Then Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their sheep and oxen they left in the land of Goshen. There also went up with him both chariots and horses, and it was a very great gathering. Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. So when the inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called the Mourning of Egypt, which is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him just as he commanded them. For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, opposite Mamre, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. After he buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father. When Joseph’s brothers saw their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil we did to him.” So they came to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “I beg you, forgive the injustice of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.’” Now, forgive the injustice of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” So Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for I belong to God. But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your households.” Thus he comforted them and spoke to their heart. So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his brothers. Then Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brethren, “I am about to die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land God swore to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Thus Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and put him in a coffin in Egypt. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 124 (125).

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.

He who dwells in Jerusalem shall be unshaken forever. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Proverbs of Solomon.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Pr 31:8-30

Open your mouth for the word of God, and judge all men fairly; Open your mouth and judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and helpless. Who will find a courageous wife? For such a one is more valuable than precious stones. The heart of her husband trusts in her; she will not be at a loss for fine spoils, for she provides good things for her husband all her life. She weaves wool and linen cloth and is productive with her hands. She is like a ship trading afar off, so she procures her livelihood. She also rises before dawn and gives food to her household, and appoints tasks for her maidservants. Seeing a farm, she buys it, and from the fruits of her hands she plants her plot of land. Strongly girding her loins, she strengthens her arms for work. She experiences work as a good thing, and her lamp is not quenched all night. She extends her arms to do profitable things, and she applies her hands to the spindle. She opens her hands to the poor and reaches out with her fruit to the needy. Her husband is not anxious about those at home when he spends a long time elsewhere, for all her household are clothed. She makes a double upper garment for her husband and garments of fine linen and purple for herself. Her husband is respected at the gates and when he sits in council with the elders who inhabit the land. She makes and sells fine linens and girdles to the Canaanites. She opens her mouth carefully and lawfully and controls her tongue. She clothes herself with strength and dignity and rejoices in the last days. She runs her household carefully, and she does not eat the bread of idleness. She opens her mouth wisely and lawfully, and her charity raises her children, and they become rich, and her husband praises her, “Many daughters acquire riches; many do mighty things, but you excel and surpass all.” Desires to please are deceitful, and the beauty of a wife is vain; for a wise wife is blessed, and let her in fear praise the Lord. Give to her from the fruits of her hands, and let her husband praise her at the gates. [SAAS]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On April 26 we commemorate the holy Hieromartyr Vasilevs, Bishop of Amasia.

On this day Saint Glaphyra died in peace.

On this day devout St. Justa died in peace.

On this day devout St. Nestor, who left his parents and became a monk, died in peace.

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.