2025

On Wednesday | March 26

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THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 69 (70).

May all who seek You greatly rejoice and be glad in You.

O Lord, in You I hope; may I never be put to shame. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Isaiah.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Is 26:21 – 27:9

For behold, the Lord is bringing wrath from His holy place upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will uncover its blood and will not cover its slain. In that day, God will bring His holy, great, and strong sword upon the fleeing dragon serpent, the perverse dragon serpent that flees; and He shall destroy the dragon. In that day, there shall be a beautiful vineyard, and a desire to begin a hymn against a city: “I am a strong city, a besieged city; I water it in vain; for it shall be taken at night, and its wall shall fall by day. There is no woman who has not taken hold of it. Who will appoint me to guard straw in a field? I rejected it because of this enemy. For that very reason therefore, the Lord God did all the things He ordered. I am burned down.” Those who dwell in it will cry out, “Let us make peace with Him, let us make peace.” Those who come are the children of Jacob. Israel shall bud and put forth flowers, and the inhabited earth shall be filled with its fruit. As he struck, shall he not be thus struck? As he slew, shall he not be thus slain? Fighting and denouncing he shall send them away. Did you not think with a harsh spirit about killing them in a spirit of anger? Therefore the lawlessness of Jacob will be removed; and this is his blessing when I take away his sin, when they make all the stones of the altars beaten like fine dust. Their trees do not remain, and their idols shall be cut down like a distant forest. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 70 (71).

O Lord, in You I hope; may I never be put to shame.

Deliver me in Your righteousness, and set me free. [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 71 (72).

Blessed is the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

O God, give Your judgments to the King. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Genesis.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Gn 9:18 – 29, 10:1

Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. Then Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. So he drank of the wine and was drunk and naked in his house. Now Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walking backwards they covered their father’s nakedness. Since their faces were turned away, they did not see his nakedness. Thus when Noah became sober and knew what his younger son had done to him, he said: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the habitations of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant as well.” Now Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died. Now this is the genealogy of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and sons were born to them after the flood. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 72 (73).

But as for me, it is good to cling to God.

How good God is to Israel, to the upright in heart. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Proverbs of Solomon.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Pr 12:25 – 31, 13:1 – 10

A man of understanding is a throne of perception, but the heart of the undiscerning will meet with curses. The hand of the chosen shall prevail easily, but the deceitful shall be for captivity. A fearful word troubles the heart of a righteous man, but a good message makes him glad. A righteous arbiter shall be his own friend, but the decisions of the ungodly are unreasonable. Evil things shall pursue sinners, and the way of the ungodly will lead them astray. A deceitful man will not gain his prey, but a pure man is a precious possession. In the ways of righteousness there is life, but the ways of remembering wrongs are unto death. An astute son is obedient to his father, but a disobedient son is for destruction. A good man eats from the fruits of righteousness, but the souls of the lawless will destroy themselves before their time. He who guards his mouth keeps his own soul, but he who is hasty with his lips will dismay himself. Every idle man has desire, but the hands of the courageous are diligent. A righteous man hates an unrighteous word, but an ungodly man is ashamed and will not have confidence. Righteousness guards the simple, but sin makes the ungodly worthless. There are those with nothing who make themselves rich, and there are those, though very rich, who humble themselves. The ransom of a man’s soul is his own wealth, but the poor man does not withstand a threat. Light is with the righteous continually, but the light of the ungodly is extinguished. Deceitful souls are led astray in sins, but the righteous have compassion and are merciful. [SAAS]

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The Readings for the Commemoration

2025

March 26

Synaxis in Honor of the Chief Commander Gabriel

The Readings from Vespers the Previous Evening

From Menaion - - -

Ex 3:1 – 8

Now Moses came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he saw the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed.” When therefore the Lord saw him turn aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!” Then he said, “Here I am.” So He said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses then hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “Indeed, I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrow. So I came down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” [SAAS]

Pr 8:23 – 30

The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways for His works; He established me in the beginning before time. Before He made the earth, and before He made the abysses, before the going forth of the fountains of waters, before the mountains were created; and He begot me before all hills. The Lord made the fields and the uninhabited places and the inhabited heights under heaven. When He prepared heaven, I was present with Him, and when He set apart His throne upon the winds. When He made strong the things above the clouds, and made sure the fountains under heaven, and made strong the foundations of the earth, I was working beside Him; I was He in whom He rejoiced; daily and continually I was gladdened by His face. [SAAS]

The Epistle

For the Archangel.

The reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews.

Heb. 2:2 – 10

Brethren, if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. [RSV]

The Gospel

For the Archangel.

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Lk. 10:16 – 21

The Lord said to his disciples, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” In that same hour he rejoiced in the spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you.” [RSV]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On March 26 we hold services in honor of the Archangel Gabriel, which practice was instituted very early on, since he ministered the divine and supernal and ineffable mystery.

On this day we also commemorate the holy twenty-six martyrs who witnessed in the land of the Goths: two priests Bathouses and Wirkas with Wirkas’s two sons and three daughters, and the monk Arpylas; the laymen Abippas, Agnas, Ryax, Hegathrax, Eskoes, Silas, Sigetzas, Suerilas, Seimblas, Thermas, Filgas; and the women Anna, Alla, Baris, Moiko, Mamika, Wirko, and Animais.

On this day we also commemorate the holy martyrs Quadratus, Theodosios, Manuel, and another forty in Anatolia.

On this day we also commemorate our devout father Stephen the confessor, Abbot of Triglia.

On this day we read the edifying story about the monk Malchus who was taken captive.

By the intercessions of Your Saints, O God, have mercy on us. Amen.

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Fasting Rule

Strict: Refrain from meat, fish, oil, dairy, and eggs.

It is a weekday in Lent.