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Daily Readings
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Sunday, 25th June 2017 --- 18 Baounah 1733
Readings for Third Sunday of Baounah
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 6:1 ; 38:15
Chapter 6
| 1 | O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
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Chapter 38
| 15 | For in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God.
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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 7 : 7,12
Chapter 7
| 7 | "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
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| 12 | Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
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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 38 : 21 - 22
Chapter 38
| 21 | Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be not far from me!
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| 22 | Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
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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 Luke the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Luke 24 : 1 - 12
Chapter 24
| 1 | Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
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| 2 | But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
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| 3 | Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
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| 4 | And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
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| 5 | Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
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| 6 | He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
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| 7 | saying, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."'
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| 8 | And they remembered His words.
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| 9 | Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
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| 10 | It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
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| 11 | And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
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| 12 | But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
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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 4 : 1 - 16
Chapter 4
| 1 | Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
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| 2 | Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
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| 3 | But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
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| 4 | For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.
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| 5 | Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.
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| 6 | Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
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| 7 | For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
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| 8 | You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us--and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you!
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| 9 | For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
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| 10 | We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!
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| 11 | To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.
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| 12 | And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
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| 13 | being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.
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| 14 | I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.
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| 15 | For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
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| 16 | Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
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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 2 of St. Peter .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
2 Peter 1 : 19 - 2 : 9
Chapter 1
| 19 | And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
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| 20 | knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
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| 21 | for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
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Chapter 2
| 1 | But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
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| 2 | And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
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| 3 | By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
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| 4 | For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
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| 5 | and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
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| 6 | and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
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| 7 | and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
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| 8 | (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)--
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| 9 | then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,
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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 17 : 1 - 12
Chapter 17
| 1 | Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
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| 2 | Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
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| 3 | explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ."
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| 4 | And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
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| 5 | But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
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| 6 | But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
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| 7 | Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king--Jesus."
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| 8 | And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
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| 9 | So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
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| 10 | Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
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| 11 | These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
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| 12 | Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.
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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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Synaxarium
Day 18 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Baounah, 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 Eighteenth Day of the Blessed Month of Baounah
Inauguration of the New St.Mark Cathedral
in the Monastery of Anba Rowais
On this day, of the year 1684 A.M., that coincided with
Tuesday the 25th of June, 1968 A.D., and in the tenth year of the papacy
of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, 116th Pope of Alexandria, the holy church celebrates
the inauguration of the new St. Mark Cathedral in Dair El-Anba Rowais,
which was known also as Dair El-Khandaq. For this occasion and for the
return of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle from Rome, after being in
the city of Venice in Italy for eleven centuries, i.e. since the ninth
century, a great religious celebration was organized. The celebration was
headed by H.H. Pope Kyrillos the Sixth and was attended by President Gamal
Abdel Naser, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Emperor Haile Selassie
the First, Emperor of Ethiopia, and many of the heads of different religions
and representatives of churches from all around the world. Among those
religious leaders was Mari Ignatius Yacoub the Third, the Antiochian Patriarch
for the Syrian Orthodox. Many momentous speeches, were delivered in different
languages for this occasion. The speakers were, Pope Kyrillos the Sixth,
the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox, Cardinal Doval, the head of the Roman
Papal delegation, the Catholicos Patriarch of Ethiopia, the secretary general
of the World Council of Churches, and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.
They all expressed their joy on this happy and blessed day, saluting the
church of Alexandria, which had a glorious history, with salutation of
appreciation and respect. At the end of the speeches the Pope along with
the President of Egypt and the Emperor of Ethiopia went to the entrance
of the new Cathedral. They unveiled the curtains from the commemorative
plaque that was prepared to perpetuate this historical day. This celebration
was attended by the journalists, the international news agencies' reporters,
radio, television and more than six thousand Egyptians and foreigners.
May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen.
Departure of St.Damianos, the 35th Pope
of Alexandria
On this day also, of the year 321 A.M. (June 25th,
605 A.D.) St. Damianos, 35th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He became a
monk in his early years in the desert of Scete. He continued to fight and
to devote himself to God for sixteen years. He was ordained a deacon in
the monastery of St. John the Short. Then he went to the monastery of the
fathers which is to the west of Alexandria, and there he increased his
asceticism. When Pope Peter (34) was enthroned on the See of St. Mark,
he brought and appointed Damianos a private secretary. Damianos pursued
a good course of life and everyone loved him. When Pope Peter departed,
the bishop unanimously agreed to ordain him a patriarch. He was enthroned
a patriarch on the second of Abib 285 A.M. (June 26th, 569 A.D.). He cared
for his flock well and he wrote many epistles and discourses. In the wilderness
of Scete, there were some followers of Melitius El-Assyuty, who drank wine
a few times during the night before they intended to partake of the Holy
Communion. They claimed that the Lord Christ gave to His disciples two
cups: the first He did not say, "This is My Blood" but when he gave them
the second cup he said, "This is My Blood." St. Damianos showed them their
error. He clarified to them that the first cup was the cup of the Jewish
passover, and He nullified it with the second cup. He also told them that
the canons of the church ban those that eat before communion from partaking
of the Holy Eucharist. Some of them turned from their evil, but those that
did not turn from their evil council were driven out of the wilderness.
When Anba Theophanius, the Antiochian Patriarch departed, they ordained
a successor to him called Peter, who sent a letter to Pope Damianos which
said, "There is no need for us to say that God is the three Persons." When
Pope Damianos read this letter he became enkindled with zeal. He wrote
him a letter which explained that God is, in no doubt, one in His Godhead,
one in essence, but He is Three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit, One God. He wrote to him many testimonies from the Holy
Scriptures and from the sayings of the holy fathers. Nevertheless, Peter
refused to return to the truth, and insisted on his error. Pope Damianos
ordered that his name not be mentioned in the Divine Liturgy for twenty
years until the heretic died. Pope Damianos remained for thirty five years,
eleven month, and sixteen days, teaching and preaching to his flock. He
departed at a good old age.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. 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 61 : 5,8
Chapter 61
| 5 | For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.
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| 8 | So I will sing praise to Your name forever, That I may daily perform my vows.
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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.
Matthew 12 : 22 - 37
Chapter 12
| 22 | Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
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| 23 | And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
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| 24 | Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
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| 25 | But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
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| 26 | If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
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| 27 | And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
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| 28 | But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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| 29 | Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
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| 30 | He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
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| 31 | "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
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| 32 | Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
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| 33 | "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
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| 34 | Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
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| 35 | A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
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| 36 | But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
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| 37 | For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
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And Glory be to God forever.
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Acknowledgement
Opening page