The Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast
28. The commemoration of our venerable Father Basil, Confessor of Decapolis and fellow ascetic of Procopios the Confessor.
29. The commemoration of our venerable Father John Cassian the Roman.
[Commemorated on the 28th of February in non-leap years.]
Fast day, but Shell Fish, Wine and Oil Allowed. Holy & Great Fast
The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews[§ 313]. Beloved:
6 9We have been persuaded of the better things concerning you, even those things which hold on to salvation, though we speak thus. 10For God is not unjust, to be forgetful of your work and the labor of love which ye yourselves showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. 11And we desire each of you to show the same earnestness to the full assurance of the hope until the end, 12in order that ye might not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and long-suffering inherit the promises.
Another Reading for Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast
in Commemoration of the Departed
The Reading is from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians[§ 163]. Brethren:
15 47The first man is of earth, earthy; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also who are heavenly. 49And even as we bore the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: On the one hand we shall not all fall asleep, but on the other hand we shall all be changed- 52in a moment, in a wink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For it is needful for this corruptible to put on itself incorruption and this mortal to put on itself immortality. 54But whenever this corruption should put on itself incorruption, and this mortal should put on itself immortality, then the word which hath been written shall come to pass: "Death is swallowed up in victory [cf. Is. 25:8]. 55"O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory [cf. Hos. 13:14]?" 56Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God Who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 31]. At that time:
7 31 Jesus, having departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, came to the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the borders of Decapolis. 32And they bring to Him a deaf man having an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him that He might lay His hand on him. 33And He took him away, aside from the crowd, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit and touched his tongue. 34And having looked up to the heaven, He sighed, and saith to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be thou opened." 35And straightway his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak rightly. 36And He Himself gave them express orders that they should tell no one; but as much as He was giving them express orders, much more abundantly were they proclaiming it. 37And beyond all measure they were astonished, saying, "He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."
Commemoration of the Departed
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 16]. The Lord said to the Jews who had come to Him:
5 24"Verily, verily, I say to you, that the one who heareth My word and believeth the One Who sent Me hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed over out of death into life. 25"Verily, verily, I say to you, that an hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. 26"For even as the Father hath life in Himself, so He also gave to the Son to have life in Himself, 27"and He also gave to Him authority to execute judgment. That He is Son of Man, 28"cease marvelling at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the graves shall hear His voice, 29"and shall go forth-they who did good things to a resurrection of life, but they who practised bad things to a resurrection of condemnation. 30"I am not able to do anything of Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me, the Father."
No readings given.
March 13th - Civil Calendar: Non-Leap Year March 12th - Civil Calendar: Leap Year
February 28th - Church Calendar
1. The Hieromartyr Proterius.
This saint was a priest in Alexandria at the time that the Patriarch there was the heretic Dioscorus, one of the founders of the Monophysite heresy which holds that in Christ there are not two natures but one. At that time, Marcian and Pulcheria were on the imperial throne. Proterius, a holy and devout man, stood up against Dioscorus, as a result of which he endured much misery. Then the 4th Ecumenical Council was summoned at Chalcedon, at which the Monophysite heresy was condemned. Dioscorus was cast down from the patriarchal throne and sent into exile, and in his place the Orthodox Proterius was chosen. He governed the Church with zeal and love, a true follower of Christ. But the followers of Dioscorus did not stop creating confusion in Alexandria. In the face of such bloody chaos, Proterius left the town with the intention of going away for a time, but the Prophet Isaiah appeared to him on the road and said: 'Return to the town; I am waiting to take you.' Proterius returned and went into the church. Hearing of this, the insolent heretics rushed into the church, seized the Patriarch and stabbed him. About six of the faithful perished along with Proterius. Thus this wonderful pastor of Christ's flock received the crown of martyrdom for the truth of Orthodoxy in 457.
2. St Basil the Confessor.
A friend, contemporary, and pupil of St Procopius of Decapolis, Basil faithfully followed his teacher both in peace and in persecution. They endured much from the iconoclasts. When the latter were defeated, by God's providence, Basil returned to his monastery together with Procopius, where he lived for a long time in fasting and prayer, and where he died in the year 747.
3. The Hieromartyr Nestor, Bishop of Magydos.
Nestor was distinguished by great meekness. In the time of Decius, he was taken for trial and harshly tortured for Christ. At the time of his death, he saw in a vision a lamb prepared for sacrifice, which he interpreted as a sign of his own imminent sacrifice. He was tortured by the Eparch Publius and finally crucified in Perga in the year 250.
4. Blessed Nicholas, the Fool for Christ of Pskov.
He lived as a fool in the town of Pskov in the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and entered into rest on February 28th, 1576.
FOR CONSIDERATION
A rare fearlessness is a characteristic of fools for Christ. Blessed Nicholas ran through the streets of Pskov, pretending madness, rebuking people for their secret sins and foretelling what would happen to them. When Tsar Ivan the Terrible entered Pskov, the whole town was in fear and dread of the terrible Tsar. Bread and salt were set before each house for a welcome to the Tsar, but the people were not in evidence. When the governor of the city brought the Tsar in front of the church to the tray of bread and salt, the Tsar pushed away the tray and the bread and salt fell to the ground. Then Blessed Nicholas appeared before the Tsar in a long shirt girded with a cord, riding on a hobby-stick like a child and shouting: 'Little Ivan, little Ivan! Eat the bread and salt, and not men's blood!' The soldiers hurried to seize him, but he ran off and hid himself. The Tsar, learning about this blessed man, who and what he was, visited him in his tiny room. It was the first week of the Great Fast. Hearing that the Tsar was coming to visit him, Nicholas found a piece of raw meat and, when the Tsar entered his cell, Nicholas bowed and offered the meat to the Tsar. 'Eat, little Ivan, eat!' The terrible Tsar answered him furiously: 'I am a Christian, and do not eat meat in the Fast.' Then the man of God retorted: 'You do that and worse; you feed on men's flesh and blood, forgetting not only the Fast but God as well.' This lecture entered deeply into the heart of Tsar Ivan, and he immediately left Pskov in shame, having intended to wreak great slaughter there.
Archbishop Gregory P.O. Box 3177 Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177 USA Email: ArchbishopGregory@starband.netCopyright 2005.
Copyright 2005.
