2026

On Tuesday | February 24

__________

THE PROPHECY

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 5.

Give heed to the voice of my supplication.

Give ear to my words, O Lord. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Prophecy of Isaiah.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Is 1:19 – 31; 2:1 – 3

Thus says the Lord: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you are unwilling and disobedient, you shall be devoured by the sword,” for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How the faithful city of Zion has become a prostitute! It was full of judgment. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver is worthless; your tavern-keepers mix wine with water. Your rulers are disobedient and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the orphans, nor do they regard the cause of the widow. Therefore says the Master, the Lord of hosts: “Woe to the mighty ones of Israel, for My anger against the adversaries will not cease; and I will execute judgment on My enemies. I will bring My hand upon you and purge you completely. I will destroy those who disobey and remove all the lawless from you; I will humble all the arrogant. I will establish your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother-city.” For her captives shall be saved with judgment and with mercy. The lawless and sinners shall be destroyed together. Those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end. For they shall be ashamed of the idols they desired and the gardens they longed for. For they shall be as a terebinth tree that has lost its leaves; like a garden with no water. Their strength shall be as broken fiber and their works as sparks of fire. The lawless and the sinners will burn together, and no one shall quench them. The word that came from the Lord to Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the last days, the mountain of the Lord and the house of God shall be visible on the tops of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the Gentiles shall come to it. Many Gentiles shall travel and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will proclaim His way to us, and we shall walk in it.” [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.

Psalm 6.

O Lord, do not reprove me in Your anger.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. [SAAS]

The Readings from Vespers

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 1.

Psalm 7.

O Lord my God in You I hope.

Save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me. [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Genesis.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Gn 1:14 – 23

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven for illumination to divide day from night. Let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. Let them be for illumination in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth.” It was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. So evening and morning were the fourth day. Then God said, “Let the waters bring forth creatures having life, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of heaven’s firmament.” It was so. Thus God made great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on earth.” So evening and morning were the fifth day. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 1.

Psalm 8.

O Lord, our Lord, how wondrous is Your name!

For Your splendor is exalted far beyond the heavens. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Proverbs of Solomon.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Pr 1:20 – 35

Wisdom sings in the streets; she moves boldly in the squares. She preaches on high city walls and sits at the gates of lords. At the gates of a city she boldly says, “So long a time as the simple hold fast to righteousness, they shall not be ashamed; but those without discernment, since they are desirous of arrogance, and are become ungodly, they hate perception, and are become subject to reproofs. Behold, I shall bring forth upon you the utterance of my breath, and I shall teach you my word. Since I called, but you did not obey, and spoke at length, but you paid no attention, but made my counsels invalid, and were not persuaded by my reproofs; consequently, I will laugh at your annihilation, and will exult when ruin comes to you, and when confusion reaches you unawares, and overthrow comes like a whirlwind, and when tribulation and anguish come to you, and when destruction comes to you. For it shall be, when you shall call upon me, I will not listen to you; evil men will seek me, but not find me, for they hate wisdom, and choose not the fear of the Lord. Neither do they wish to follow my counsels, but despise my reproofs. Therefore, they shall eat the fruits of their own way and be filled with their own ungodliness. For since they wrong the simple, they shall be killed, and a close examination shall destroy the ungodly. But he who obeys me shall dwell in hope, and shall be at rest without fear from every evil.” [SAAS]

__________

The Readings for the Commemoration

DEACON

The evening…

From Triodion - - -

READER

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 2.

Psalm 3.

Salvation is of the Lord, and Your blessing is upon Your people.

O Lord, why do those who afflict me multiply? [SAAS]

The reading is from the book of Genesis.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Gn 1:1 – 13

In the beginning God made heaven and earth. The earth was invisible and unfinished; and darkness was over the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw the light; it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day; the darkness He called Night; and there was evening and morning, one day. Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide the water from the water”; and it was so. Thus God made the firmament, and God divided the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament. So God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good; and there was evening and morning, the second day. Then God said, “Let the water under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. The water under heaven was gathered into its places, and the dry land appeared. So God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness. Let the fruit tree bear fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind on earth.” It was so. Thus the earth brought forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness. The fruit tree bore fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind on earth. God saw that it was good. So evening and morning were the third day. [SAAS]

Prokeimenon. Mode pl. 1.

Psalm 4.

The Lord will hear me when I cry to Him.

You heard me when I called, O God of my righteousness. [SAAS]

The reading is from the Proverbs of Solomon.

PRIEST

Wisdom. Let us be attentive.

READER

Pr 1:1 – 20

The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, who reigned in Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, and to understand words of discernment; to receive both subtlety of words, and to understand true righteousness and upright judgment; so as to give astuteness to the simple, and both perception and understanding to a young man; for a wise man who hears these things will be wiser, and the man of understanding will gain direction. He will understand both a parable and a hidden saying, both wise words and riddles. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and there is good understanding in all who practice it; and godliness toward God is the beginning of perception, but the ungodly despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, and do not reject the laws of your mother. For you will receive a crown of grace on your head and a gold chain around your neck. My son, do not let the ungodly lead you astray, and do not consent if they invite you, saying, “Come with us; take part in bloodshed, and let us hide a righteous man in the earth unjustly; and let us swallow him, just as Hades does the living, and let us take away his remembrance from the earth; let us seize his valuable property, and let us fill our houses with spoils; cast your lot with us and let us acquire a common bag; let there be one purse for us.” Do not walk in the way with them, but turn away your foot from their paths. For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For nets are not spread before birds for no reason, for those who participate in murder store up evils for themselves; and evil is the destruction of lawless men. These are the ways of all who accomplish lawless things, for they take away their own soul in ungodliness. Wisdom sings in the streets; she moves boldly in the squares. [SAAS]

PRIEST

Peace be with you.

The Epistle

For the Forerunner.

The reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

2 Cor. 4:6 – 15

Brethren, it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we too believed, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. [RSV]

The Gospel

For the Forerunner.

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.

Mt. 11:2 – 15

At that time, when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by two of his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.” As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before you.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been coming violently and men of violence take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [RSV]

__________

Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On February 24, we commemorate the finding of the venerable head of the holy Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist.

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

__________

Fasting Rule

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

It is a weekday in Lent.