Baounah 26, 1738
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 30:4,10
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Vespers Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Matthew the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Matthew 11:11-13
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And Glory be to God forever
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 31:1,19
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Matins Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Matthew the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Matthew 21:23-27
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
And Glory be to God forever
Liturgy Gospel
Paulines Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God.
A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to the Timothy .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
1 Timothy 1:12-19
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. James .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
James 1:22-27
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Amen.
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 13:25-33
And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.But God raised him from the dead:And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
Coptic Synaxarium
Baounah 26, 1738
Day 26 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Baounah, may God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins after forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers.
Amen.
Departure of the Great Prophet Joshua Son of Nun
Departure of the Great Prophet Joshua Son of Nun
On this day, of the year 2570 of the world, the great prophet Joshua Son of Nun, departed. He was born, in the year 2460 of the world, in Egypt (Fifty three years before the deliverance of the people of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh). He was a disciple and servant to Moses. Moses, after leading the people of Israel out of Egypt with the might of the Divine arm and the extraordinary wonders, brought them to the nearby mount of Sinai. He went up the mount taking with him Joshua, his minister, to receive the commandments. During the war of Israel against Am-a-lek, Joshua was the leader of the soldiers. When Moses chose twelve men to spy out the promised land, one from each tribe, Joshua was one of them. He completed this mission with honesty. He and Caleb alone brought forth the true and accurate information about the promised land. Therefore they alone entered this land without the people of Israel that came out of the land of Egypt. Because they had murmured and doubted in the sincerity of the promises of God, God swore in His anger that they would not enter to His rest. Their children that they begot after their deliverance from Egypt, entered this land along with Joshua and Caleb.
After the death of the great prophet Moses in the year 2553 of the world, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun saying: Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them; the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:1-8) Joshua's heart was strengthened and he sent out two men to spy out the land secretly. So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. The woman hid them; and they swore to spare her and all her household. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. (Joshua 2:1-15) Then Joshua opened (i.e. conquered) Jericho after he had gone around its walls several times and when they shouted with a great shout the great walls of the city fell down. The people went up into the city and killed both man and beast. The two men that had spied out the country, went into Rahab's house and brought her, her father, her mother, her brethren, and all that she had, out of the camp. Joshua spared their lives as the two spies promised her for she had spared their lives, and hid them. Then they burnt the city, and all that was therein. The gold, and the silver and vessels of brass and iron, were taken to the treasury of the house of the Lord.
The Lord was with this righteous man, so he opened many cities, killed many kings, and the nations feared him. Because of the great fear, the inhabitants of Gibeon worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, and said to him, We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us. But the men of Israel said to them, Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you? They said to them, From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard of His fame ... this bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy ... and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey. Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. Three days later, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell near us? Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves. Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the house of the LORD. (Joshua 9:3-27) Joshua fought with the five Amorite kings, hence the hand of the Lord had helped him by casting down great stones from heaven upon them. The children of Israel fought them before the city of Gibeon, and he made the sun stand still until the five kings and their soldiers were destroyed. Joshua divided the land according to the command of God among the children of Israel. He gave the priests cities to dwell in, and land for their cattle. He set apart five cities of refuge wherein all those who had committed a murder unintentionally might dwell. When he completed about one hundred ten years and reached a good old age, he gathered together the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges and their officers, and commanded them to keep the commandment of the Law and not to deviate from worshipping God, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Consecration of the Church of Archangel Gabriel
Consecration of the Church of Archangel Gabriel
On this day also, is the commemoration of the consecration of a church in the name of the honorable angel Gabriel the announcer, on the Naklon mount, in El-Fayyoum.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
Divine Liturgy
Divine Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 31:26,19
Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Divine Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Luke the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Luke 7:28-36
For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!But wisdom is justified of all her children.And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.
And Glory be to God forever.
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