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Daily Readings
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Friday, 19th April 2024 --- 11 Baramoudah 1740
Readings for Wednesday of first week of fifty Joyous Days
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 30 : 5 - 7
Chapter 30
| 5 | For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
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| 6 | Now in my prosperity I said, "I shall never be moved."
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| 7 | LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Vespers Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Matthew the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Matthew 9 : 15 - 17
Chapter 9
| 15 | And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
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| 16 | No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.
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| 17 | Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
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And Glory be to God forever.
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Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 105 : 43,45
Chapter 105
| 43 | He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness.
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| 45 | That they might observe His statutes And keep His laws. Praise the LORD!
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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Matins Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
John 1 : 9 - 14
Chapter 1
| 9 | That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
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| 10 | He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
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| 11 | He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
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| 12 | But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
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| 13 | who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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| 14 | And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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And Glory be to God forever.
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Liturgy Gospel
Paulines Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God.
A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to the Corinthians .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 15 : 50 - 58
Chapter 15
| 50 | Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
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| 51 | Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
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| 52 | in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
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| 53 | For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
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| 54 | So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
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| 55 | "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"
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| 56 | The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
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| 57 | But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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| 58 | Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
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Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle 1 of St. Peter .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
1 Peter 1 : 10 - 21
Chapter 1
| 10 | Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
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| 11 | searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
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| 12 | To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into.
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| 13 | Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
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| 14 | as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
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| 15 | but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
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| 16 | because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
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| 17 | And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
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| 18 | knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
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| 19 | but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
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| 20 | He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
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| 21 | who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
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Do not love the world or the things in the world.
The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Amen.
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Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 4 : 1 - 13
Chapter 4
| 1 | Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
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| 2 | being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
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| 3 | And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
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| 4 | However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
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| 5 | And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
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| 6 | as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
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| 7 | And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"
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| 8 | Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
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| 9 | If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
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| 10 | let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
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| 11 | This is the "stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'
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| 12 | Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
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| 13 | Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
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The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
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Divine Psalm
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet, and the Good King.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 106 : 1 - 2
Chapter 106
| 1 | Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
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| 2 | Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can declare all His praise?
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Hallelujah.
Divine Gospel
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
John 2 : 12 - 25
Chapter 2
| 12 | After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
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| 13 | Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
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| 14 | And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.
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| 15 | When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
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| 16 | And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"
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| 17 | Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."
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| 18 | So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"
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| 19 | Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
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| 20 | Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"
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| 21 | But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
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| 22 | Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
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| 23 | Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
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| 24 | But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
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| 25 | and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
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And Glory be to God forever.
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Not to be read in the Church during this time of the year.
Synaxarium
Day 11 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Baramoudah, may God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins after forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers.
Amen.
The Eleventh Day of the Blessed Month of Baramoudah
Departure of St.Theodora
On this day, the pure and holy mother Theodora,
departed. This holy woman was the only daughter of noble and Christian
parents of Alexandria. Her parents Provided for her costly apparels and
many gold and silver accessories, for they wished to give her in marriage.
This Saint refused that, for she desired in her heart the worship of God
and the strife for His Name's sake. She sold all what her father bought
her, gave to the needy, and then built a church outside the city of Alexandria,
towards the west. Then she went to the holy father Abba Athanasius, the
apostolic (Fourth century), who shaved her hair and made her a nun in one
of the convents outside the city of Alexandria. She devoted herself to
the ascetic life, fought the spiritual fight, and became worthy to see
divine visions, distinguish angels from satan, and know the thoughts of
the minds. Pope Athanasius visited her often and instructed her with his
teachings. When he was exiled, he sent her many letters full of valuable
sermons, and she was steadfast in her strife until the end of her life.
She was contemporary to five Patriarchs: Alexandros, Athanasius, Petros,
Timotheos and Theophilos. She put down many useful sayings, some of them
by the grace that was in her; the others were from what she learned from
those fathers. Once she was asked: "If a man talked to another evil words,
would he silence him, or rebuke him, or close the ears and not listen to
him?" She replied saying: "If a man put in front of you a table with good
and bad foods, you can not say to him "Take this or that for it is harmful
for me,' but you overlook it and eat what you desired, so nothing should
be said to who speak bad words to others but it is enough that the man
does not let his ears enjoy what he is hearing." She was also asked: "How
can the human overcome his enemy Satan?" She answered saying: "With fasting,
prayer, and humility." When she finished her strife, she departed in peace
and was one hundred years old.
May Her prayers be with us. Amen.
Departure of St.John, Bishop of Gaza
This day also marks the
commemoration of the departure of Anba John, Bishop of Gaza.
May His intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever.
Amen.
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Acknowledgement
Opening page