2025

On Wednesday | April 16

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THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 4.

Psalm 133 (134).

May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.

Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Ezekiel.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Ezk 2:3 – 3:3

So He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to the ones provoking Me. They have provoked Me, they and their fathers, up to this very day. Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ Now then, if they listen or are put off – for they are a rebellious house – still they will know you are a prophet in their midst. “But you, Son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be dismayed by their looks, for they will swarm and sting you, and crowd against you on every side. You will live in the midst of scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, for they are a house of provocation. You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or are put off, because they are a house of provocation. You, son of man, listen to the One who speaks to you. Do not be one who rebels like the house of provocation, but open your mouth wide, and eat what I give you.” Then I looked, and behold, there was a hand reaching out to me, and the roll of a book was in it. He unrolled it before me, and there written on the inside and the outside were words of lamentation and mourning and woe. Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll, and go and speak to the children of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. Then He said to me, “Son of man, your mouth shall eat and your stomach will be filled with this scroll that is given you.” So I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 2.

Psalm 134 (135).

You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord, O you servants; praise the Lord. [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 135 (136).

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Give thanks to the God of gods. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Exodus.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Ex 2:11 – 22; 18:4

Thus it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and saw their burdens. He also saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren of the sons of Israel. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the second day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you hitting your neighbor?” He replied, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses was alarmed and said, “Surely this thing is known.” Thus when Pharaoh heard this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, who fed the sheep of their father Jethro; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said to them, “How is it you came so soon today?” They replied, “An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds; and he also drew enough water for us and watered our sheep.” So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” Then Moses dwelt with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. So the woman conceived and bore Moses a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” She again conceived and bore a second son, and he called his name Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father is my help, and He rescued me from the hand of Pharaoh”). [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 137 (138).

O Lord, Your mercy endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with all my heart. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Job.

DEACON

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Job 2:1 – 15

Then again as it so happened another day, the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the devil also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to the devil, “Where did you come from?” Then the devil said before the Lord, “I came here from walking around under heaven and going about all the earth.” Then the Lord said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, since there is none like him on the earth: an innocent, true, blameless, and God-fearing man, and one who abstains from every evil thing? Moreover he still holds fast to his integrity, though you told me to destroy his possessions without cause.” Then the devil answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin. Whatever a man has he will pay in full for his life. Yet truly, stretch out Your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he will bless You to Your face.” So the Lord said to the devil, “Behold, I give him over to you; only spare his life.” Thus the devil went out from the Lord and struck Job with malignant sores from head to foot. So he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge and sat on a dunghill outside the city. When a period of time passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you hold out, saying, ‘Behold, I will wait a little longer, looking for the hope of my salvation’? Listen, your memory is wiped out from the earth: your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, which I suffered in vain and with hardships. You yourself are sitting down, spending the nights in the open air among the rottenness of worms; and I go about as a wanderer and a handmaid from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, so as to rest from my labors and pains that now beset me. But say a word against the Lord and die!” Then Job looked at her and said, “You have spoken as one of the foolish women speaks. If we accepted good things from the Lord’s hand, shall we not endure evil things?” In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin with his lips against God. [SAAS]

The Gospel

Holy and Great Wednesday

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.

26:6 – 16

When Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. [RSV]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On April 16 we commemorate the holy women Martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia.

On this day we also commemorate Saint Felix the bishop, Januarius the presbyter, Fortunatus and Septiminus.

On this day we also commemorate the holy Martyrs Leonides, Charissa, Nike, Galina, Kallis, Nunechia, Basilissa, and Theodora.

On this day we also commemorate the holy Martyr Irene.

On this day the holy Neo-martyr Michael of Vourlae witnessed and died by the sword in Smyrna in the year 1772.

On this day the devout monastic Martyr Saint Christopher witnessed and died by the sword in Adrianoupolis in the year 1818.

From the Triodion.

On great and holy Wednesday, as the most divine fathers ordained, we commemorate the harlot who anointed the Lord’s feet with fragrant ointment, since this occurred shortly before the saving Passion.

Verses

With ointment the woman anointed the body

Of Christ, in advance of the aloes of Nikodemos.

O Christ God, who were anointed with the spiritual ointment, free us from the influent passions and have mercy on us, as our only holy and benevolent Lord.

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Fasting Rule

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

It is Holy Week.