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Tuesday, March 9, 2038

Readings for March 9, 2038: Tuesday of the 1st week of Great Lent

The Scripture readings appointed for the Divine Liturgy, following the practice of the Orthodox Church in America.

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Commemorated today: Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

A prayer before reading the Scriptures

The priest says this prayer quietly before the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy. Many Orthodox Christians also say it before reading the Bible at home.

Illumine our hearts, O God who lovest mankind, with the pure light of thy divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our understanding to the comprehension of the proclamation of thy Gospel. Implant in us, likewise, the fear of thy blessed commandments; that, trampling down all carnal desires, we may pursue a godly life, both thinking and performing such things as are well-pleasing unto thee. For thou art the light of our souls, and of our bodies, O Christ our God, and unto thee do we ascribe glory, together with thy Father who is from everlasting, and thy holy, and blessed, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

From the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, in Isabel F. Hapgood's translation (Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906, pp. 88–89; public domain). See the scan

At the Divine Liturgy

For Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

Epistle Hebrews 12:1–10 WEB

1 Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. 5 You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6 for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

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Gospel Matthew 20:1–16 WEB

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 8 “When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 9 “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12 saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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Great Lent: Old Testament readings

On the weekdays of Great Lent the Church reads the Old Testament: Isaiah at the Sixth Hour, Genesis and Proverbs at Vespers. When the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served (usually on Wednesdays and Fridays), it begins with Vespers, so its readings are the Genesis and Proverbs ones. Today a Divine Liturgy is also served (above); the Lenten readings of the weekday are still appointed:

Old Testament Isaiah 1:19–2:3 · Sixth Hour Brenton

Isaiah 1

19 And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this. 21 How has the faithful city Sion, [once] full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers. 22 Your silver is worthless, thy wine merchants mix the wine with water. 23 Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty [men] of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on mine enemies. 25 And I will bring my hand upon thee, and purge thee completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from thee all transgressors. 26 And I will establish thy judges as before, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: and afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city Sion. 27 For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy. 28 And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted. 30 For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. 31 And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench [them].

Isaiah 2

1 The word which came to Esaias the son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem. 2 For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God [shall be] on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it. 3 And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.

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Old Testament Genesis 1:14–23 · Vespers Brenton

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. 15 And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also. 17 And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, 18 and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth reptiles having life, and winged creatures flying above the earth in the firmament of heaven, and it was so. 21 And God made great whales, and every living reptile, which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every creature that flies with wings according to its kind, and God saw that they were good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the creatures that fly be multiplied on the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

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Old Testament Proverbs 1:20–33 · Vespers Brenton

20 Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly. 21 And she makes proclamation on the top of the walls, and sits by the gates of princes; and at the gates of the city boldly says, 22 So long as the simple cleave to justice, they shall not be ashamed: but the foolish being lovers of haughtiness, having become ungodly have hated knowledge, and are become subject to reproofs. 23 Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of my breath, and I will instruct you in my speech. 24 Since I called, and ye did not hearken; and I spoke at length, and ye gave no heed; 25 but ye set at nought my counsels, and disregarded my reproofs; 26 therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; and I will rejoice against [you] when ruin comes upon you: 27 yea when dismay suddenly comes upon you, and [your] overthrow shall arrive like a tempest; and when tribulation and distress shall come upon you, or when ruin shall come upon you. 28 For it shall be that when ye call upon me, I will not hearken to you: wicked men shall seek me, but shall not find [me]. 29 For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the word of the Lord: 30 neither would they attend to my counsels, but derided my reproofs. 31 Therefore shall they eat the fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own ungodliness. 32 For because they wronged the simple, they shall be slain; and an inquisition shall ruin the ungodly. 33 But he that hearkens to me shall dwell in confidence, and shall rest securely from all evil.

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All readings of the day

Vespers, Matins, the Hours and the Liturgy, as listed in our tables.

Sixth Hour

Vespers

Matins

Divine Liturgy

About these readings

The readings follow the usage of the Orthodox Church in America (Slavic practice) and are calculated from the MIT-licensed tables of Paul Kachur's orthodox_calendar, checked day by day against the OCA's published readings for 2023 to 2027. Greek practice differs on many days and is not offered yet, because no openly licensed table of it exists. Your parish calendar always comes first.

Psalms are numbered as in the Septuagint, with the Hebrew numbering in brackets.

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