Composite 2 - Proverbs 10, 3, 8 (Vespers)

1The memory of a just man is praised, and the Lord’s blessing is upon his head. Blessed is one who has found wisdom; a mortal who knows understanding. To import her is better than treasures of gold and silver. She is more valuable than precious stones; nothing of value equals her worth. Justice proceeds from her mouth; she bears law and mercy on her tongue. Therefore, my children, listen to me, for I speak weighty things. And blessed is the one who keeps my ways. For my goings out are the goings out of life, and favour is prepared from the Lord. Therefore I exhort you, and utter my voice to the children of humankind. Because I, Wisdom, have prepared counsel, knowledge and understanding. I have called on them. Counsel and sureness are mine; prudence is mine, strength is mine. I love those who are my friends, while those who seek me will find grace. You innocent, then, understand cunning; you untaught, take it to heart. Listen to me, for I will speak weighty things, and I will open right things from my lips. Because my throat will meditate truth; lying lips are abominable before me. All the words of my mouth are with justice, there is nothing crooked in them nor twisted. They are all straight for those who understand, and right for those who find knowledge. For I teach you what is true, that your hope may be in the Lord and that you may be filled with spirit.

Proverbs 10.31-11.12 (Vespers)

31Usta pravednikova iznose mudrost, a jezik opaki istrijebiæe se. 32Usne pravednikove znaju što je milo, a bezbožnièka su usta opaèina.

1Lažna su mjerila mrska Gospodu, a prava mjera ugodna mu je. 2Kad doðe oholost, doðe i sramota; a u smjernijeh je mudrost. 3Pravedne vodi bezazlenost njihova, a bezakonike satire zloæa njihova. 4Neæe pomoæi bogatstvo u dan gnjeva, a pravda izbavlja od smrti. 5Pravda bezazlenoga upravlja put njegov, a bezbožnik pada od svoje bezbožnosti. 6Pravedne izbavlja pravda njihova, a bezakonici hvataju se u svojoj zloæi. 7Kad umire bezbožnik, propada nadanje, i najjaèe uzdanje propada. 8Pravednik se izbavlja iz nevolje, a bezbožnik dolazi na njegovo mjesto. 9Licemjer kvari ustima bližnjega svojega; ali se pravednici izbavljaju znanjem. 10Dobru pravednijeh raduje se grad; a kad propadaju bezbožnici, biva pjevanje. 11Blagoslovima pravednijeh ljudi podiže se grad, a s usta bezbožnièkih raskopava se. 12Bezumnik se ruga bližnjemu svojemu, a razuman èovjek muèi.

Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15 (Vespers)

John 10.9-16 (Matins Gospel)

9Ja sam vrata; ko uðe kroza me spašæe se, i uæi æe i iziæi æe, i pašu æe naæi. 10Lupež ne dolazi ni za što drugo nego da ukrade i ubije i pogubi; ja doðoh da imaju život i izobilje. 11Ja sam pastir dobri; pastir dobri dušu svoju polaže za ovce, 12A najamnik, koji nije pastir, kome nijesu ovce svoje, vidi vuka gdje ide, i ostavlja ovce, i bježi: i vuk razgrabi ovce i raspudi ih; 13A najamnik bježi, jer je najamnik i ne mari za ovce. 14Ja sam pastir dobri i znam svoje, i moje mene znaju. 15Kao što mene zna otac i ja znam oca; i dušu svoju polažem za ovce. 16I druge ovce imam koje nijesu iz ovoga tora, i one mi valja dovesti; i èuæe glas moj, i biæe jedno stado i jedan pastir.

2 Thessalonians 1.1-10 (Epistle)

1Od Pavla i Silvana i Timotija crkvi Solunskoj u Bogu ocu našemu i Gospodu Isusu Hristu: 2Blagodat vam i mir od Boga oca našega i Gospoda Isusa Hrista. 3Dužni smo svagda zahvaljivati Bogu za vas, braæo, kao što treba; jer raste vrlo vjera vaša, i množi se ljubav svakoga vas meðu vama, 4Tako da se mi sami hvalimo vama crkvama Božijima, vašijem trpljenjem i vjerom u svima vašijem gonjenjima i nevoljama koje podnosite, 5Za znak pravednoga suda Božijega da se udostojite carstva Božijega, za koje i stradate. 6Jer je pravedno u Boga da vrati muke onima koji vas muèe; 7A vama koje muèe pokoj s nama kad se pokaže Gospod Isus s neba s anðelima sile svoje 8U ognju plamenome, koji æe dati osvetu onima koji ne poznaju Boga i ne slušaju jevanðelja Gospoda našega Isusa Hrista; 9Koji æe primiti muku, pogibao vjeènu od lica Gospodnjega i od slave njegove, 10Kad doðe da se proslavi u svetima svojima, i divan da bude u svima koji ga vjerovaše; jer se primi svjedoèanstvo naše meðu vama u onaj dan.

Hebrews 13.17-21 (Epistle, St Nicholas)

17Slušajte uèitelje svoje i pokoravajte im se, jer se oni staraju za duše vaše, kao koji æe dati odgovor, da to s radošæu èine, a ne uzdišuæi; jer vam ovo ne pomaže. 18Molite se Bogu za nas. Jer se nadamo da imamo dobru savjest, starajuæi se u svemu dobro da živimo. 19A odviše molim èinite ovo, da bih se prije vratio k vama. 20A Bog mira, koji izvede iz mrtvijeh velikoga pastira ovcama, krvlju zavjeta vjeènoga, Gospoda našega Isusa Hrista, 21Da vas savrši u svakome djelu dobrom, da uèinite volju njegovu, èineæi u vama što je ugodno pred njim, kroz Isusa Hrista, kojemu slava va vijek vijeka. Amin.

Luke 20.27-44 (Gospel)

27A pristupiše neki od sadukeja koji kažu da nema vaskrsenija, i pitahu ga 28Govoreæi: uèitelju! Mojsije nam napisa: ako kome umre brat koji ima ženu, i umre bez djece, da brat njegov uzme ženu, i da podigne sjeme bratu svojemu. 29Bijaše sedam braæe, i prvi uze ženu, i umrije bez djece; 30I uze drugi ženu, i on umrije bez djece; 31I treæi je uze; a tako i svi sedam; i ne ostaviše djece, i pomriješe; 32A poslije sviju umrije i žena. 33O vaskrseniju dakle koga æe od njih biti žena? jer je ona sedmorici bila žena. 34I odgovarajuæi Isus reèe im: djeca ovoga svijeta žene se i udaju; 35A koji se udostoje dobiti onaj svijet i vaskrsenije iz mrtvijeh niti æe se ženiti ni udavati; 36Jer više ne mogu umrijeti; jer su kao anðeli; i sinovi su Božiji kad su sinovi vaskrsenija. 37A da mrtvi ustaju, i Mojsije pokaza kod kupine gdje naziva Gospoda Boga Avraamova i Boga Isakova i Boga Jakovljeva. 38A Bog nije Bog mrtvijeh nego živijeh; jer su njemu svi živi. 39A neki od književnika odgovarajuæi rekoše: uèitelju! dobro si kazao. 40I veæ ne smijahu ništa da ga zapitaju. A on im reèe: 41Kako govore da je Hristos sin Davidov? 42Kad sam David govori u psaltiru: reèe Gospod Gospodu mojemu: sjedi meni s desne strane, 43Dok položim neprijatelje tvoje podnožje nogama tvojima. 44David dakle njega naziva Gospodom; pa kako mu je sin?

Luke 6.17-23 (Gospel, St Nicholas)

17I izišavši s njima stade na mjestu ravnom, i gomila uèenika njegovijeh; i mnoštvo naroda iz sve Judeje i iz Jerusalima, i iz primorja Tirskoga i Sidonskoga, 18Koji doðoše da ga slušaju i da se iscjeljuju od svojijeh bolesti, i koje muèahu duhovi neèisti; i iscjeljivahu se. 19I sav narod tražaše da ga se dotaknu; jer iz njega izlažaše sila i iscjeljivaše ih sve. 20I on podignuvši oèi na uèenike svoje govoraše: blago vama koji ste siromašni duhom; jer je vaše carstvo Božije. 21Blago vama koji ste gladni sad; jer æete se nasititi. Blago vama koji plaèete sad; jer æete se nasmijati. 22Blago vama kad na vas ljudi omrznu i kad vas rastave i osramote, i razglase ime vaše kao zlo sina radi èovjeèijega. 23Radujte se u onaj dan i igrajte, jer gle, vaša je velika plata na nebu. Jer su tako èinili prorocima ocevi njihovi.

Our Father among the Saints Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra (345)

Our beloved holy Father Nicholas is, along with St George (and second to the All-holy Theotokos), probably the best-loved Saint of the Church. His numberless miracles through the ages, on behalf of the countless Christians who have called on him, cannot be told.

He was born in Lycia (in Asia Minor) around the end of the third century, to pious Christian parents. His love of virtue, and his zeal for observing the canons of the Church, were evident from his infancy, when he would abstain from his mother’s breast every Wednesday and Friday until the evening. From early youth he was inclined to solitude and silence; in fact, not a single written or spoken word of the Saint has come down to us. Though ordained a priest by his uncle, Archbishop Nicholas, he attempted to withdraw to a hermit’s life in the Holy Land; but he was told by revelation that he was to return home to serve the Church publicly and be the salvation of many souls.

When his parents died, he gave away all of his inheritance to the needy, and thereafter almsgiving was his greatest glory. He always took particular care that his charity be done in secret. Perhaps the most famous story of his open-handedness concerns a debt-ridden man who had no money to provide dowries for his daughters, or even to support them, and in despair had resolved to give them into prostitution. On three successive nights the Saint threw a bag of gold into the window of the man’s house, saving him and his daughters from sin and hopelessness. The man searched relentlessly to find and thank his benefactor; when at last he discovered that it was Nicholas, the Saint made him promise not to reveal the good deed until after he had died. (This story may be the thin thread that connects the Saint with the modern-day Santa Claus).

God honored his faithfulness by granting him unparalleled gifts of healing and wonderworking. Several times he calmed storms by his prayers and saved the ship that he was sailing in. Through the centuries he has often done the same for sailors who call out to him, and is considered the patron of sailors and all who go to sea.

He was elected Bishop of Myra not long before the great persecutions under Diocletian and Maximian (c. 305), and was put in prison, from which he continued to encourage his flock in the Faith. When the Arian heresy wracked the Church not long after Constantine came to the throne, St Nicholas was one of the 318 Bishops who gathered in Nicea in 325. There he was so incensed at the blasphemies of Arius that he struck him on the face. This put the other bishops in a quandary, since the canons require that any hierarch who strikes anyone must be deposed. Sadly, they prepared to depose the holy Nicholas; but in the night the Lord Jesus and the most Holy Theotokos appeared to them, telling them that the Saint had acted solely out of love for Truth, not from hatred or passion, and that they should not act against him.

While still in the flesh, he sometimes miraculously appeared in distant places to save the lives of the faithful. He once saved the city of Myra from famine by appearing to the captain of a ship full of grain, telling him to take his cargo to the city. He appeared in a dream to Constantine to intercede for the lives of three Roman officers who had been falsely condemned; the three grateful soldiers later became monks.

The holy bishop reposed in peace around 345. His holy relics were placed in a church built in his honor in Myra, where they were venerated by throngs of pilgrims every year. In 1087, after Myra was conquered by the Saracens, the Saint’s relics were translated to Bari in southern Italy, where they are venerated today. Every year, quantities of fragrant myrrh are gathered from the casket containing his holy relics.

New Martyr Nicolas Karamos of Smyrna (1657)

He was a Christian living in Smyrna under Ottoman rule. One day he lost his temper in an argument and exclaimed that he would “turn Turk” before he would give way in the dispute. Immediately, some Turks watching the argument seized Nicolas and brought him before the judge to honor his promise. Nicolas, who had come to his senses, declared ‘If it please God, I will never deny my Lord Jesus Christ, the true God who will come to judge the living and the dead.’ The judge had the humble confessor flogged and tortured through thirty-six days, but he remained firm in his confession of Christ, despite even the tears of his mother and his wife. Finally, the judge had him hanged on March 19 1657. His torments and faithfulness were seen by some Western visitors; so moved were they that they recovered his body from the sea (where it had been cast after hanging) and took it to Europe.

St Maximus, Metropolitan of Kiev & Vladimir (1305)

He was one of the bold Confessors who opposed the false Union of Lyons perpetrated by the Emperor Michael VIII in 1274. In 1283 he became Metropolitan of Kiev (and thus of the whole Russian Church). At that time the Principality of Kiev had been reduced to ruins by the Tatar invaders. Saint Maximus received a revelation from God that he should transfer the metropolitanate from Kiev to Vladimir. On the night following the move to Vladimir, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to the Saint, saying ‘You have done well, Maximus my servant, in coming to live in my city!’ She then put a mantle on his shoulders which he found when he awoke.

Saint Maximus reposed in peace in 1305. His body, interred in the Cathedral of Vladimir, was found to be incorrupt in the nineteenth century.