P A R A G O N ➽ GREAT LENT ➽ Wednesday Feb. 16 / March 1 ns 2023 ➽ Holy Martyr Pámphilos and those with him; St. Flávian the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople ➽ FAST DAY ➽ A SPIRITUAL PSALTER by Saint Ephraem the Syrian Psalm 58

What would you say?

When today's martyrs were asked:  Where are you from? They responded: "From Jerusalem on High."

Holy Martyrs pray for us that we may know who we are and from where we come.

Scroll down and with an open heart read from
St. Ephraem the Syrian!!!

Holy Martyr Pámphilos and those with him;

Saint Flavian the Confessor, Archbishop of Constantinople

➽ FAST DAY

Pámphilos, the first of these martyrs, was a presbyter of the church at Caesarea in Palestine. He was a learned and devout man who corrected the text of the New Testament from the errors of the various copiers. He alone, recopied this salvific book and gave it to those who desired it. The second was the Deacon Valentine, old in years and grey in wisdom. He was an excellent authority of Holy Scripture and knew them completely by heart. The third was Paul, an honorable and distinguished man who, during a previous persecution, was cast into the fire for Christ. Besides them, there were five brothers, according to the flesh and spirit, who were born in Egypt and were returning to their homeland after being forced to work in the mines of Cilicia. At the gates of Caesarea they declared that they were Christians for which they were brought to court. To the question: "What are your names?" They responded: "The pagan names which our mother gave to us, we discarded and we call ourselves: Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel and Daniel." To the question: "Where are you from?" They responded: "From Jerusalem on High." All of them were beheaded and with them a young man Porphyrius who sought the bodies of the martyrs in order to bury them. Porphyrius they burned alive as well as Seleucus, formerly an officer who had approached and kissed the martyrs before the sword fell on their heads. Also the aged Theodulos, a servant of a Roman judge, who, during the funeral kissed one of the martyrs. Finally Julian, who reverenced and praised the lifeless bodies of the martyrs. And so they gave little for much, the inexpensive for the precious and mortality for immortality and took up habitation with the Lord in the year 308 A.D.

6th Hour
Holy Prophet Isaiah 2:3-11 KJV

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:

8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.

11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Vespers
Genesis 1:24-2:3 KJV

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Vespers

Proverbs 2:1-22

2 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Great Compline:

Saint Mark 11:22-26 KJV

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Great Compline:

Saint Matt 7:7-8 KJV

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

A SPIRITUAL PSALTER

by Saint Ephraem the Syrian

 

Psalm 58

Using the eyes of my heart I have observed the Lord sitting in great glory and I thought I heard Him tell my soul: O soul, how is it, that you have found your heavenly bridal chamber that is full of the light of glory, to be vile? 

How is it that you were offended by the beneficial things that I prepared for you in the land of life? 

How is it that you have become a stranger to Me by unseemly acts and thoughts? 

How is it that you have no interest in readying yourself so that you might stand in a worthy manner in My presence at My coming? 

How is it that you do not guard your lamp so it is prepared in expectation of the announcement, "See, the bridegroom comes," so that you go out to meet Me with gladness? 

How is it that you take no care to arrange an appropriate wedding garment? 

How is it that you do not compose yourself to come in with gladness to the holy, divine bridal chamber? 

How is it that you do not join yourself to Me, who have saved you from death? I have accepted death to make you ready to be My bride. I have arranged the everlasting kingdom for you as an inheritance. All My good things which I, as a King, have given to you. 

On account of you I became a man, because I wanted to ransom your life from depravity. 

On account of you I have readied a bridal chamber in heaven and ordered the angels to lead you into that bridal chamber, that you might enter with gladness. But you have turned from Me, your groom, and from the indescribable good things which I have arranged for you. 

But you have turned from Me, your groom, and from the indescribable good things which I have arranged for you. Yet who is more appealing than Me, Who redeemed all creation by My mercy? 

What father provides life as I do? But, O soul, you have forsaken Me, and longed for another, a vile stranger. Who would not start to shudder in horror when hearing these words? 

Who would not, in shame, fall down, weep tears, and call out, "Why did I come forth from the womb of my mother? 

Is it to anger the Good, Holy and compassionate God? But, grant, O Lord, that we should be sedate and separate ourselves from vain anxieties, so that we would return to a sound mind and come back to you, in Whom only is all true goodness for us."

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