Friday, 12 March 2027

Cheesefare Friday

51 days before Pascha · Tone 7 · Liturgy · Fast (Meat Fast)

No Liturgy

Saints commemorated

Righteous Phineas, Grandson of Aaron

The righteous Phineas was the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron the High Priest, and is honoured by the Church as one of the holy ancestors of Christ. He lived in the days of the Prophet Moses and Joshua the son of Nun, while the people of Israel were on the threshold of the Promised Land. When the Israelites were drawn into the worship of Baal of Peor through the wiles of the daughters of Moab, and a plague broke out among them so that thousands perished, Phineas in his zeal for the Lord rose up from the midst of the assembly and slew an Israelite man and the Midianite woman with whom he had openly transgressed the commandment of God. By this act of fervent zeal the plague was stayed, and the wrath of God turned away from His people. The Lord declared, through Moses, that He gave Phineas His covenant of peace and the everlasting covenant of priesthood, "because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the people of Israel". At the divine command Phineas afterwards led the army of Israel against the Midianites, who had drawn the people into idolatry, and brought upon them the just chastisement of heaven. After the death of his father Eleazar he was unanimously chosen to succeed him as High Priest, and ministered before the Lord in great holiness for many years. He died at an advanced age, around the year 1500 before the coming of Christ, and his memory is celebrated on 12 March.

Saint Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome

He was born in Rome to a wealthy senatorial family. He received a good education in secular and spiritual learning, and became Prefect of Rome. While still in the world, he used his great wealth mostly for the good of the Church, building six monasteries in Sicily and another in Rome itself. At this monastery, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, Gregory was tonsured a monk. He was appointed Archdeacon of Rome, then, in 579, Papal legate to Constantinople, where he lived for nearly seven years. He returned to Rome in 585 and was elected Pope in 590.

He is famed for his many writings, his generous charity (he gave almost all his income to the poor, and often invited the poor to share his table), and for initiating missionary work among the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated on Wednesday and Friday evenings during Great Lent, was compiled by him. St Gregory introduced elements of the chanting that he had heard in Constantinople into Western Church chant: The Gregorian Chant which beautified the Western churches for many years is named for him. Its system of modes is related to the eight tones of the Eastern church. He is called ‘the Dialogist’ after his book The Dialogues, an account of the lives and miracles of Italian saints.

Saint Gregory reposed in peace in 604.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian

Saint Symeon was a great ascetic and mystic of the Orthodox Church who lived in the tenth and eleventh centuries. He was abbot of the Monastery of Saint Mamas in Constantinople and was renowned for his profound spiritual experiences and his teaching on the possibility of direct experiential knowledge of God. Saint Symeon emphasised the necessity of inner transformation through prayer, particularly the Jesus Prayer, and the cultivation of hesychasm, the mystical practice of inner silence and contemplation. Though some of his teachings were questioned by ecclesiastical authorities in his lifetime, the Church has since recognised the soundness of his doctrine and the depth of his spiritual insight. His writings, including his Hymns of Divine Love and his ethical discourses, provide guidance for those seeking the mystical encounter with God that is the heart of Orthodox spirituality. Saint Symeon is venerated as a great teacher and saint whose life exemplified the principles he taught.

Venerable Theophanes the Confessor of Sigriane

818

Saint Theophanes was born at Constantinople about the year 759, of a noble family related to the imperial house. His father, the governor of the Aegean theme, died when the boy was but three years old, and Theophanes was raised at the court under the protection of the emperor. In due course he was constrained to enter into marriage, but with his bride's consent the two preserved their virginity and lived as brother and sister. After a few years they parted by mutual agreement: his wife took the veil in a convent in Bithynia, and Theophanes withdrew to the district of Sigriane, near the Sea of Marmara, where he embraced the monastic life.

There he founded a monastery known as the "Great Acre" and became its abbot. By his prayers, his fasts, and his works of mercy he shone forth as a beacon of Orthodoxy. When the Seventh Ecumenical Council was convoked at Nicaea in 787 to vindicate the veneration of the holy icons, Theophanes was summoned and appeared in his patched and humble monastic dress, but his words confirmed the assembled bishops in the truth.

In his later years he composed his celebrated "Chronographia", a continuation of the chronicle of George Synkellos covering the events from the reign of Diocletian to his own day, which remains a precious source for the history of the Church. When the iconoclast heresy revived under the emperor Leo the Armenian, the aged confessor was summoned to the capital, refused with great firmness to renounce the holy icons, and was cast into prison. After two years' confinement he was banished to the island of Samothrace, where, worn out with sufferings, he reposed in peace in the year 818.

Daily readings

6th Hour

weekly cycle

Zechariah — Zechariah 8.7-17

⁷Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; ⁷Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; ⁸And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. ⁸and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

⁹Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

⁹Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets that were in the day that the foundation of the house of Jehovah of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. ¹⁰For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour. ¹⁰For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the adversary: for I set all men every one against his neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts. ¹¹But now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days, saith Jehovah of hosts. ¹²For there shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. ¹²For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ¹³And it shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. ¹³And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. ¹⁴For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:

¹⁴For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: As I thought to do evil unto you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented not; ¹⁵So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. ¹⁵so again have I thought in these days to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

¹⁶These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: ¹⁶These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; ¹⁷And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD. ¹⁷and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith Jehovah.

Vespers

weekly cycle

Zechariah — Zechariah 8.19-23

¹⁹Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. ¹⁹Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace. ²⁰Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: ²⁰Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; ²¹And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. ²¹and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts: I will go also. ²²Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah. ²²Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. ²³Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. ²³Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.