Composite 19 - Micah 4.2-3, 5; 6.2-5, 8; 5.4, 5 (Vespers)

1Thus says the Lord: From Sion will come forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge among many peoples and rebuke mighty nations in a distant land. For all the peoples will walk, each its own way, while we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever. Thus says the Lord Almighty: Listen hills and valleys, foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a controversy with his people; for he will dispute with Israel, saying, ‘My people, what have I done to you? Or how have I grieved you? Or how have I troubled you? Answer me. For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and rescued you from the house of slavery, and sent Moses and Aaron before your face. My people, what have your enemies planned against you? Was it not told you, O man, what is good? And what does the Lord seek from you, except to execute judgement, and to love mercy and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?’ Therefore the Lord will be magnified in strength, and will shepherd his flock in peace, to the extremities of the earth.

Composite 20 - Isaiah 55.1; 12.3-4; 55.2-13 (Vespers)

1Thus says the Lord: You who thirst, go to the water; and all who have no money, go, buy and eat and drink wine and fat without money or price. For thus says the Lord Almighty to you: My people, draw water with joy from the springs of salvation. And you will say in that day: Praise the Lord, cry his name aloud, declare his glory among the nations, call to mind that his name has been exalted. My people, hear me, and eat good things, and your soul will delight in good things. Attend with your ears and follow my ways. Listen to me and your soul will live among good things. And I will make an eternal covenant with you, and you will call upon me. And when you draw near me, let the impious abandon his ways, and the lawless man his plans; and turn back to me and I will have mercy on you and forgive your sins. For your plans are not as my plans, says the Lord; but as heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind. For as rain or snow would come down from heaven and not return there, until it had soaked the earth, and it bring forth and bud and give seed to the sower, and bread for food, so shall my word be, which once it has come from my mouth will not return there until it has accomplished all that I willed; and I will make my ways and my commands succeed. For you will go out with joy, and be taught with gladness; for the mountains and hills will exult as they receive you with joy; and all the trees of the field will clap with their branches; and instead of the briar shall come up the cypress; instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and the Lord shall be for a name and for an eternal sign, says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.

Proverbs 9.1-11 (Vespers)

1Premudrost sazida sebi kuæu, i otesa sedam stupova; 2Pokla stoku svoju, rastvori vino svoje, i postavi sto svoj. 3Posla djevojke svoje, te zove svrh visina gradskih: 4Ko je lud, neka se uvrati ovamo. I bezumnima veli: 5Hodite, jedite hljeba mojega, i pijte vina koje sam rastvorila. 6Ostavite ludost i biæete živi, i idite putem razuma. 7Ko uèi potsmjevaèa, prima sramotu; i ko kori bezbožnika, prima rug. 8Ne karaj potsmjevaèa da ne omrzne na te; karaj mudra, i ljubiæe te. 9Kaži mudrome, i biæe još mudriji; pouèi pravednoga, i znaæe više. 10Poèetak je mudrosti strah Gospodnji, i znanje je svetijeh stvari razum. 11Jer æe se mnom umnožiti dani tvoji i dodaæe ti se godine životu.

Acts 14.6-18 (Epistle)

6Oni doznavši pobjegoše u gradove Likaonske, u Listru i u Dervu i u okolinu njihovu. 7I onamo propovijedahu jevanðelje. 8I jedan èovjek u Listri sjeðaše nemoæan u nogama, i bješe hrom od utrobe matere svoje, i ne bješe nikad hodio. 9Ovaj slušaše Pavla gdje govori. Pavle pogledavši na nj i vidjevši da vjeruje da æe ozdraviti, 10Reèe velikijem glasom: tebi govorim u ime Gospoda Isusa Hrista, ustani na svoje noge upravo. I skoèi, i hoðaše. 11A kad vidje narod šta uèini Pavle, podigoše glas svoj govoreæi Likaonski: bogovi naèiniše se kao ljudi, i siðoše k nama. 12I nazivahu Varnavu Jupiterom, a Pavla Merkurijem, jer on upravljaše rijeèju. 13A sveštenik Jupitera koji bješe pred gradom njihovijem dovede junce, i donese vijence pred vrata, i s narodom šæadijaše da prinosi žrtvu. 14A kad èuše apostoli, Varnava i Pavle, razdriješe haljine svoje, i skoèiše meðu narod vièuæi i govoreæi: 15Ljudi! šta to èinite? I mi smo kao i vi smrtni ljudi, koji vam propovijedamo jevanðelje da se od ovijeh lažnijeh stvari obratite k Bogu živome, koji stvori nebo i zemlju i more i sve što je u njima; 16Koji u prošavšijem naraštajima bješe pustio sve narode da idu svojijem putovima: 17I opet ne ostavi sebe neposvjedoèena, èineæi dobro, dajuæi nam s neba dažd i godine rodne, puneæi srca naša jelom i veseljem. 18I ovo govoreæi jedva ustaviše narod da im ne prinose žrtve, nego da ide svaki svojoj kuæi. A dok oni življahu ondje i uèahu,

John 7.14-30 (Gospel)

14Ali odmah u polovini praznika iziðe Isus u crkvu i uèaše. 15I divljahu se Jevreji govoreæi: kako ovaj zna knjige a nije se uèio? 16Tada im odgovori Isus i reèe: moja nauka nije moja, nego onoga koji me je poslao. 17Ko hoæe njegovu volju tvoriti, razumjeæe je li ova nauka od Boga ili ja sam od sebe govorim. 18Koji govori sam od sebe, slavu svoju traži; a ko traži slavu onoga koji ga je poslao, on je istinit i nema u njemu nepravde. 19Ne dade li Mojsije vama zakon i niko od vas ne živi po zakonu? Zašto tražite da me ubijete? 20Odgovori narod i reèe: je li ðavo u tebi? ko traži da te ubije? 21Odgovori Isus i reèe im: jedno djelo uèinih i svi se divite tome. 22Mojsije vam dade da se obrezujete ne kao da je od Mojsija nego od otaca i u subotu obrezujete èovjeka. 23Ako se èovjek u subotu obrezuje da se ne pokvari zakon Mojsijev, srdite li se na mene što svega èovjeka iscijelih u subotu? 24Ne gledajte ko je ko kad sudite, nego pravedan sud sudite. 25Tada govorahu neki od Jerusalimljana: nije li to onaj kojega traže da ubiju? 26I gle, kako govori slobodno i ništa mu ne vele: da ne doznaše naši knezovi da je on zaista Hristos? 27Ali ovoga znamo otkuda je; a Hristos kad doðe, niko neæe znati otkuda je. 28Tada Isus povika u crkvi uèeæi i reèe: i mene poznajete i znate otkuda sam; i sam od sebe ne doðoh, nego ima istiniti koji me posla, kojega vi ne znate. 29Ja ga znam, jer sam od njega i on me posla. 30Tada gledahu da ga uhvate; i niko ne metnu na nj ruke, jer još ne bješe došao èas njegov.

Hebrews 2.11-18 (Epistle, Blessing of Waters)

11Jer i onaj koji osveæuje, i oni koji se osveæuju, svi su od jednoga; zaradi toga uzroka ne stidi se nazvati ih braæom 12Govoreæi: objaviæu ime tvoje braæi svojoj, i posred crkve zapjevaæu te. 13I opet: ja æu se u njega uzdati. I opet: evo ja i djeca moja koju mi je dao Bog. 14Buduæi pak da djeca imaju tijelo i krv, tako i on uze dijel u tome, da smræu satre onoga koji ima državu smrti, to jest ðavola; 15I da izbavi one koji god od straha smrti u svemu životu biše robovi. 16Jer se zaista ne prima anðela, nego se prima sjemena Avraamova. 17Zato bješe dužan u svemu da bude kao braæa, da bude milostiv i vjeran poglavar sveštenièki pred Bogom, da oèisti grijehe narodne. 18Jer u èemu postrada i iskušan bi u onome može pomoæi i onima koji se iskušavaju.

John 5.1-4 (Gospel, Blessing of Waters)

1A potom bješe praznik Jevrejski, i iziðe Isus u Jerusalim. 2U Jerusalimu pak kod Ovèijeh vrata ima banja, koja se zove Jevrejski Vitezda, i oko nje pet pokrivenijeh trijemova, 3U kojima ležaše mnoštvo bolesnika, slijepijeh, hromijeh, suhijeh, koji èekahu da se zaljulja voda; 4Jer anðeo Gospodnji silažaše u odreðeno vrijeme u banju i muæaše vodu; i koji najprije ulažaše pošto se zamuti voda, ozdravljaše, makar kakva bolest da je na njemu.

Holy Apostle Carpus of the Seventy

He was one of the Seventy and a companion of St Paul, who mentions him in 2 Timothy 4:13. He became a Bishop in Thrace (the Great Horologion says in Berea, the Prologue in Varna), where he suffered martyrdom. St Dionysius the Areopagite met and wrote about him, stating that Carpus never began the Liturgy without first receiving a heavenly vision.

From the Prologue: “We must not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing so saddens the Lord who suffered on the Cross for sinners as when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and his removal from our path. It once happened that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray God to send death upon two sinful men, the one pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. The Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Behold, here I am; ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men.’ St Carpus related this event to St Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson for all in the Church that we must pray for the salvation of sinners and not for their destruction. For the Lord ‘is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (II Peter 3:9).”

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, evangelizer of England (ca. 605)

He is the founder of the Church in southern England, which at that time was almost entirely pagan, though Christianity thrived in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland. Augustine, a monk at the monastery of St Andrew in Rome, was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead a mission to England. He and a party of about forty monks landed in England in 597; they were received warmly by King Aethelbert, who was baptised by Augustine and thus became the first Christian king of the Anglo-Saxon people. In 601 Pope Gregory made Augustine Archbishop of Britain, and he established his cathedral at Canterbury, where he also established a monastery. Saint Augustine worked unsuccessfully to unite his churches with those of the Irish monks and hierarchs, who followed different liturgical practices, kept a different date of Pascha, and disapproved of the less severe Roman monastic practices introduced by the Archbishop. He reposed in peace.

Holy New Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica (1794)

He was born in Thessalonica and, though baptised a Christian, he accepted Islam as a young man, eventually becoming a Sufi (one of a mystical sect among the Muslims). But in time he began to repent, and concluded that martyrdom was the only way for him to cleanse himself from the stain of his denial of Christ. Having repented, he presented himself to the Turks dressed as a Christian. He was thrown into prison and tortured, but in response to every enticement, threat or torment, he would only say ‘I was born a Christian, and as a Christian I shall die.’ Finally he was sentenced to death, which Alexander joyfully accepted as a sign of God’s forgiveness. He was slain by the sword in Smyrna in 1794.