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Daily Readings |
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Readings for Friday, Misra 28
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 47:8-9
Chapter 47
8 God reigneth over the heathen:
God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham:
for the shields of the earth belong unto God:
he is greatly exalted.
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 John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
John 15:7-16
Chapter 15
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;
so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you:
continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;
even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants;
for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:
but I have called you friends;
for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
And Glory be to God forever
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 105:3-4
Chapter 105
3 Glory ye in his holy name:
let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
4 Seek the LORD, and his strength:
seek his face evermore.
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 16:19-31
Chapter 16
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table:
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom:
the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;
for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things:
but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed:
so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot;
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
28 For I have five brethren;
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets;
let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham:
but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
And Glory be to God forever
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 Hebrews .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
Hebrews 11:1-10
Chapter 11
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts:
and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;
and was not found, because God had translated him:
for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed;
and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. James .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
James 2:14-23
Chapter 2
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?
can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body;
what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works:
shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well:
the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness:
and he was called the Friend of God.
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.
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 7:20-4
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
Coptic Synaxarium
Misra 28, 1726
Day 28 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Misra, 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.
Commemoration of the Patriarchs: Abraham
1. Our father Abraham
On this day, the church celebrates the holy Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Who can describe the virtues of he who became father to many nations? He believed in God, obeyed Him, and did not doubt His promises. The Lord appeared to him in a vision at night and told him, "Get out of your country, away from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing." (Genesis 12:1-2) Then the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of three men. He welcomed them, for they were strangers, and God promised him the birth of Isaac. Abraham was then one hundred years old; Sarah, his wife, was advanced in age, and they believed the promise of God.
When Isaac was born, Abraham, his father, circumcised him on the eighth day of his birth. Although he was sure that through his procreation all the nations of the earth would be blessed, God told him, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering." He did not doubt the promise of God. He began to offer his son as a sacrifice, confident that God would raise him, and raise offspring through him. When he fulfilled the sacrifice of Isaac by intention, God revealed his virtues to the generations to come by saying, "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven." (Genesis 22:1-18) That was fulfilled and he was called the father of Christ in flesh. (Luke 3:34) He departed in peace when he was one hundred seventy-five years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
2. Our father Isaac
He was born by a divine promise, and he was perfect in piety and obedience to God and to his father. He was willing to be sacrificed by his father as an offering to God, although he was the son of the promise, and his father begot him when he was one hundred years old. Isaac was not a child then, for the Bible said, "So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and went to the place which was afar off." Some historians say that Isaac's age then was about thirty-seven years old. He obeyed his father, and laid down his neck for slaying, but the angel of the Lord ordered his father not to lay his hand on the lad. As it was considered that Abraham had fulfilled the sacrifice of his son by intention, it was also considered that Isaac was sacrificed by intention.
He suffered many tribulations and sorrows. God gave him two sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau for his bravery. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, "My son ... behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please ... go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food ... that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die." Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. She spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "... Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves ... that he may bless you before his death." Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing." But his mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son." (Genesis 27:1-29) She did that by a divine inspiration. Jacob did as his mother ordered him, and his father ate and blessed him. Isaac departed in peace when he was one hundred eighty years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
3. The father of the Tribes Jacob
Esau, his brother, hated him for he took the blessing of their father from him. Jacob feared Esau, and fled to Laban, his uncle. He shepherded Laban's sheep for seven years and Laban gave Jacob his daughter, Leah, in marriage. Then Jacob served another seven years, and Laban gave him his second daughter, Rachel, in marriage. (Genesis 29:15-30) Then Laban, his uncle, told him, "The sheep that are streaked shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked." (Genesis 31:4-8)
God made him exceedingly wealthy. He returned with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and God blessed him with twelve sons. He saw God face to face and wrestled with him until the breaking of day, and God called him Israel.
He suffered many sorrows and tribulations, such as the selling of Joseph his son as a servant to the Egyptians, the loss of his sight, the severe famine, and others as mentioned in the Holy Bible. His son Joseph then rose to power and became the second man in Egypt after the Pharaoh, and he tried until he was able to bring his father Jacob to Egypt, where he stayed for seventeen years. When his departure drew near he called his twelve sons and blessed them. When he blessed Judah, he said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people." That was a prophesy about the coming of the Lord Christ from his seed. When he was one hundred forty-seven years, he departed in peace, after commanding that he be buried in the tomb of his fathers. Joseph carried him in the chariot of Pharaoh, brought him to the land of Canaan, where he was buried with his fathers.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
Divine Liturgy
Divine Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 105:8-10
Chapter 105
8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
9 Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
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.
Divine 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 12:18-27
Chapter 12
18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection;
and they asked him, saying,
19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
20 Now there were seven brethren:
and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed:
and the third likewise.
22 And the seven had her, and left no seed:
last of all the woman died also.
23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them?
for the seven had her to wife.
24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage;
but are as the angels which are in heaven.
26 And as touching the dead, that they rise:
have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living:
ye therefore do greatly err.
And Glory be to God forever.
