|
Daily Readings
|
|
Thursday, 8th October 2015 --- 27 Tute 1732
Readings for Thursday, 8th October 2015 --- 27 Tute 1732
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 4 : 3,6,7
Chapter 4
| 3 | But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.
|
| 6 | There are many who say, "Who will show us any good?" LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
|
| 7 | You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
|
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 10 : 24 - 33
Chapter 10
| 24 | "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
|
| 25 | It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!
|
| 26 | Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
|
| 27 | "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.
|
| 28 | And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
|
| 29 | Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.
|
| 30 | But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
|
| 31 | Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
|
| 32 | "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
|
| 33 | But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
|
And Glory be to God forever.
↑ Top of Page ↑
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 113 : 1 - 2
Chapter 113
| 1 | Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD!
|
| 2 | Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forevermore!
|
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 Mark the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Mark 8 : 34 - 9 : 1
Chapter 8
| 34 | When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
|
| 35 | For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
|
| 36 | For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
|
| 37 | Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
|
| 38 | For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
|
Chapter 9
| 1 | And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power."
|
And Glory be to God forever.
↑ Top of Page ↑
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 Romans .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
Romans 8 : 14 - 27
Chapter 8
| 14 | For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
|
| 15 | For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
|
| 16 | The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
|
| 17 | and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
|
| 18 | For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
|
| 19 | For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
|
| 20 | For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
|
| 21 | because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
|
| 22 | For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
|
| 23 | Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
|
| 24 | For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
|
| 25 | But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
|
| 26 | Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
|
| 27 | Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
|
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
↑ Top of Page ↑
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle 1 of St. Peter .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
1 Peter 2 : 11 - 17
Chapter 2
| 11 | Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
|
| 12 | having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
|
| 13 | Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
|
| 14 | or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
|
| 15 | For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--
|
| 16 | as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
|
| 17 | Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
|
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.
↑ Top of Page ↑
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 19 : 11 - 20
Chapter 19
| 11 | Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,
|
| 12 | so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
|
| 13 | Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."
|
| 14 | Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
|
| 15 | And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
|
| 16 | Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
|
| 17 | This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
|
| 18 | And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.
|
| 19 | Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
|
| 20 | So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
|
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
↑ Top of Page ↑
Synaxarium
Day 27 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Tute, 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 Twenty-Seventh Day of the Blessed Month of Tute
Martyrdom of St.Eustathius and his Two
Sons
On
this day was the martyrdom of St.Eustathius and his two sons. He was one
of the ministers of the Roman Empire. At the beginning of his life, he
did not know God, but he used to give alms and charity in abundance, and
the Lord did not wish that his toil should be in vain. While he was in
the desert hunting wild animals, there appeared to him the figure of a
crossbetween the horns of a stag, and it reached up to heaven. He chased
the stag in the mountains to hunt it, and the Lord spoke to him and told
him about his new name which is Eustathius, for he had been called Ephlokidus
before. The Lord ordered him to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Christ
and told him that poverty should come upon him speedily. When he heard
that he descended from the mountain and went to the bishop of the city
who baptized him and his wfe and his sons, and he changed his name to Eustathius
as the Lord had ordered him. Straightaway he lost all that he had as slaves,
hand-maidens, cattle and money.
Then he took
his wife and his sons, and went forth from the city of Rome and embarked
on a ship. And as he could not pay the fare, they took his wife instead.
He took his two sons and came to a river, he crossed over to the other
side with one of them and returned to get the other, but he did not find
him because a lion had taken him, then he went back to get the first but
he did not find him either because a wolf had ceased him. He felt deep
sorrow because of the loss of his wife and his two sons. St. Eustathius
stayed for a period of time working as a guard in the garden until the
Emperor of Rome died and another reigned instead who sent messengers to
search for that saint. One of the messengers happened to enter the garden
which the saint guarded. The two men recognized each other and St. Eustathius
was taken back to the Emperor. teh Emperor honored him and returned to
his former position. It happened in that time that war broke out and they
recruited two men from every city to the army. The two sons of the saint
were saved from the lion and the wolf by the Divine Will and were brought
up in the same city. They remained for a long time not knowing each other.
Then the Divine Will arranged that both would be recruited from that city.
On one day while they were on their way, they reached a garden and sat
there talking together. They then discovered that they were brothers.
As to their mother,
the owner of the ship who had kept her in payment of the fare was a barbarian,
but God protected her from him. And she stayed in a garden which by the
Divine Will was the same garden as that her two sons had gathered in, and
she was close by her sons while they were talking and she recognized them.
The two sons were assigned to guard the treasury of their father who did
not recognize them. When the Lord wished to gather this blessed family
together, the wife entered the place where her husband was, and they recognized
each other and rejoiced for reuniting unexpectedly. Then she told him that
she hads met their sons in the garden. While she was telling him so, the
two sons joined them and she cried joyfully, "There are our two sons!"
They embraced each other in tears of joy, and they praised God who fulfilled
what he had promised and they lived in joy and peace.
After that the Emperor
died and another reigned who worshipped idols, and he summoned St. Eustathius
and his wife and his sons. he ordered them to worship the idols but they
refused so he ordered his men to torture them with fire, but they were
not harmed. Then he commanded to cast them into a brazen cauldron and set
fire under it and thus they delivered their souls into the hand of the
Lord, and received the crowns of martyrdom from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
May their prayers and blessings be with us all, and Glory be to God
forever. Amen.
↑ Top of Page ↑
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 66 : 12 - 14
Chapter 66
| 12 | You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
|
| 13 | I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows,
|
| 14 | Which my lips have uttered And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
|
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.
Luke 21 : 12 - 19
Chapter 21
| 12 | But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake.
|
| 13 | But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
|
| 14 | Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer;
|
| 15 | for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
|
| 16 | You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
|
| 17 | And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.
|
| 18 | But not a hair of your head shall be lost.
|
| 19 | By your patience possess your souls.
|
And Glory be to God forever.
↑ Top of Page ↑
Acknowledgement
Opening page