2024

On Wednesday | May 1

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THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 4.

Psalm 133 (134).

May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.

Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Ezekiel.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Ezk 2:3 – 3:3

So He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to the ones provoking Me. They have provoked Me, they and their fathers, up to this very day. Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Now then, if they listen or are put off – for they are a rebellious house – still they will know you are a prophet in their midst. “But you, Son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be dismayed by their looks, for they will swarm and sting you, and crowd against you on every side. You will live in the midst of scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, for they are a house of provocation. You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or are put off, because they are a house of provocation. You, son of man, listen to the One who speaks to you. Do not be one who rebels like the house of provocation, but open your mouth wide, and eat what I give you.” Then I looked, and behold, there was a hand reaching out to me, and the roll of a book was in it. He unrolled it before me, and there written on the inside and the outside were words of lamentation and mourning and woe. Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll, and go and speak to the children of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. Then He said to me, “Son of man, your mouth shall eat and your stomach will be filled with this scroll that is given you.” So I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 2.

Psalm 134 (135).

You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord, O you servants; praise the Lord. [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 135 (136).

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Give thanks to the God of gods. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Exodus.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Ex 2:11 – 22; 18:4

Thus it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and saw their burdens. He also saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren of the sons of Israel. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the second day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you hitting your neighbor?” He replied, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses was alarmed and said, “Surely this thing is known.” Thus when Pharaoh heard this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, who fed the sheep of their father Jethro; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said to them, “How is it you came so soon today?” They replied, “An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds; and he also drew enough water for us and watered our sheep.” So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” Then Moses dwelt with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. So the woman conceived and bore Moses a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” She again conceived and bore a second son, and he called his name Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father is my help, and He rescued me from the hand of Pharaoh”). [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 137 (138).

O Lord, Your mercy endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all my heart. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Job.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Job 2:1 – 15

Then again as it so happened another day, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the devil also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to the devil, “Where did you come from?” Then the devil said before the Lord, “I came here from walking around under heaven and going about all the earth.” Then the Lord said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, since there is none like him on the earth: an innocent, true, blameless, and God-fearing man, and one who abstains from every evil thing? Moreover he still holds fast to his integrity, though you told me to destroy his possessions without cause.” Then the devil answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin. Whatever a man has he will pay in full for his life. Yet truly, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he will bless You to Your face.” So the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give him over to you; only spare his life.” Thus the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with malignant sores from head to foot. So he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge and sat on a dunghill outside the city. When a period of time passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying, ‘Behold, I will wait a little longer, looking for the hope of my salvation’? Listen, your memory is wiped out from the earth: your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, which I suffered in vain and with hardships. You yourself are sitting down, spending the nights in the open air among the rottenness of worms; and I go about as a wanderer and a handmaid from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, so as to rest from my labors and pains that now beset me. But say a word against the Lord and die!” Then Job looked at her and said, “You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks. If we accepted good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not endure evil things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God. [SAAS]

The Gospel

Holy and Great Wednesday

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.

26:6–16

When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. [RSV]

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The Readings for the Commemoration

The Epistle

For the Prophet.

The reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

2 Cor. 11:5 – 21

Brethren, I think that I am not in the least inferior to these superlative apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. Did I commit a sin in abasing myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel without cost to you? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in want, I did not burden any one, for my needs were supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. I repeat, let no one think me foolish; but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. (What I am saying I say not with the Lord’s authority but as a fool, in this boastful confidence; since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast.) For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if a man makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! [RSV]

The Gospel

For the Prophet.

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Lk. 4:22 – 30

At that time, the crowds wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of Jesus' mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away. [RSV]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On May 1 we commemorate the holy Prophet Jeremiah.

On this day we also commemorate the contest of the holy Hieromartyr Batas of Persia.

The holy Martyr Philosopher died by the sword.

Devout St. Isidora died in peace.

On this day was the dedication of the New Church, when the Patriarch entered by the Palace and from there go in procession to the New Church and liturgize there.

On this day we also commemorate the three new devout monastic Martyrs: Efthymios of Dimitsana (March 22), Ignatios of Eski Zagaran (October 8), and Akakos of Nibori, Thessaloniki. Their joint memory is observed in their holy shrine in the Skete of the Honorable Forerunner [on Mt. Athos].

From the Triodion.

On great and holy Wednesday, as the most divine fathers ordained, we commemorate the harlot who anointed the Lord’s feet with fragrant ointment, since this occurred shortly before the saving Passion.

Verses

With ointment the woman anointed the body

Of Christ, in advance of the aloes of Nikodemos.

O Christ God, who were anointed with the spiritual ointment, free us from the influent passions and have mercy on us, as our only holy and benevolent Lord.

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Fasting Rule

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

It is Holy Week.