Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 2:3-11
Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us
His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth
the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many
people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore.
O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the
LORD.
For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because
they are filled with eastern ways; they are soothsayers like the
Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners.
Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no
end to their treasures; their land is also full of horses, and there is no
end to their chariots.
Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of
their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.
People bow down, and each man humbles himself; therefore do
not forgive them.
Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from the terror of
the LORD and the glory of His majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of
men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 1:24-2:3
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living
creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the
earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind,
cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to
Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the
birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful
and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of
the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves
on the earth."
And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields
seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit
yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
"Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the
air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I
have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was
very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them,
were finished.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done,
and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because
in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Old Testament Reading: Proverbs 2:1-22
My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands
within you,
so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart
to understanding;
yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice
for understanding,
If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden
treasures;
then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the
knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and
understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to
those who walk uprightly;
He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His
saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity
and every good path.
When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to
your soul,
discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who
speaks perverse things,
from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in
the ways of darkness;
who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of
the wicked;
whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths;
to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress
who flatters with her words,
who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the
covenant of her God.
for her house leads down to death, and her paths to the
dead;
none who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of
life;
so you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the
paths of righteousness.
For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless
will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the
unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
Saints and Feasts
The Holy Martyred Bishops of Cherson: Basileus, Ephraim, Eugene, Capito, Aetherius, Agathodorus, and Elpidius; Lavrentios of Megara, the Righteous; Paul the Simple
