The Morning Offering

Let us contemplate the Last Judgment

Wednesday

March 2, 2011 / February 17, 2011

Week of the Last Judgment. Tone seven.
Maslenitsa. Meat is excluded

Great-martyr Theodore the Tyro (306).
St. Hermogenes, patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (1612).
St. Nicholas (Planas), priest in Athens (1932).
New Hieromartyrs Michael, Paul priests (1938).
Venerable Theodore the Silent of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
St. Mariamne, sister of Apostle Philip (1st c.).
Uncovering of the relics (867-869) of Martyr Menas the Melodius of Alexandria (ca. 313).
St. Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne (661) (Celtic & British).
St. Auxibius, bishop of Soli in Cyprus (102) (Greek).
New Martyr Theodore of Byzantium, at Mitylene (1795) (Greek).
Emperor Marcian (457) and Pulcheria, his wife (453), and the commemoration of the dedication of the Great Church in Constantinople (Greek).
Venerable Theodosius the Bulgarian and his disciple Venerable Romanus, monks, of Turnovo (1362) (Bulgaria).
New Martyr Michael Mavroeidis of Adrianople (1490).
New Martyr Theodore, hieromonk of Adjara, who suflfered under the Turks on Mt. Athos (19th c.).
St. Barnabas, elder of the Gethsemane Skete of St. Sergius Lavra (1906).

Quote for the Day:

"O heavenly grandeur! O glory and honor of man! He is humble clay, but he is also divine breath! A time will come when he will change. 'For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' The words of our Creator shall be fulfilled. But what will happen to the divine inbreathing, the divine breath? Just as the dust will return to the dust, likewise the soul, which is the inbreathing of God, will return to God. Yes, but how? When it came forth from God, it was a fragrant divine breath, but is it so now? No, it is not. So, what will happen? Purification is necessary - tears, mourning, pain. For you have saddened God, your Benefactor and Father, Who is so good, Who glorified you - the clay - so much, Who gave you His divine breath. These deeds of repentance will purify you by His grace. So then, weep and mourn so that He may restore you to your original state."

Elder Joseph the Hesychast       
 
Scripture Readings for the Day:
 
Joel 2:12-26 (6th Hour)

A Call to Repentance

    ¹² “ Now, therefore,” says the LORD,

      “ Turn to Me with all your heart,
      With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
       ¹³ So rend your heart, and not your garments;
      Return to the LORD your God,
      For He is gracious and merciful,
      Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
      And He relents from doing harm.
       ¹⁴ Who knows if He will turn and relent,
      And leave a blessing behind Him—
      A grain offering and a drink offering
      For the LORD your God?
       ¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
      Consecrate a fast,
      Call a sacred assembly;
       ¹⁶ Gather the people,
      Sanctify the congregation,
      Assemble the elders,
      Gather the children and nursing babes;
      Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
      And the bride from her dressing room.
       ¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister to the LORD,
      Weep between the porch and the altar;
      Let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD,
      And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
      That the nations should rule over them.
      Why should they say among the peoples,

      ‘ Where is their God?’”

The Land Refreshed

    ¹⁸ Then the LORD will be zealous for His land,
      And pity His people.
       ¹⁹ The LORD will answer and say to His people,

      “ Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,
      And you will be satisfied by them;
      I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
       ²⁰ “ But I will remove far from you the northern army,
      And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
      With his face toward the eastern sea
      And his back toward the western sea;
      His stench will come up,
      And his foul odor will rise,
      Because he has done monstrous things.”
       ²¹ Fear not, O land;
      Be glad and rejoice,
      For the LORD has done marvelous things!
       ²² Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
      For the open pastures are springing up,
      And the tree bears its fruit;
      The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
       ²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion,
      And rejoice in the LORD your God;
      For He has given you the former rain faithfully,
      And He will cause the rain to come down for you—
      The former rain,
      And the latter rain in the first month.
       ²⁴ The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
      And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
       ²⁵ “ So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
      The crawling locust,
      The consuming locust,
      And the chewing locust,
      My great army which I sent among you.
       ²⁶ You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
      And praise the name of the LORD your God,
      Who has dealt wondrously with you;
      And My people shall never be put to shame.

Joel 3:12-21 (Vespers)

¹² “ Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
      For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
       ¹³ Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
      Come, go down;
      For the winepress is full,
      The vats overflow—
      For their wickedness is great.”
       ¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
      For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
       ¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark,
      And the stars will diminish their brightness.
       ¹⁶ The LORD also will roar from Zion,
      And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
      The heavens and earth will shake;
      But the LORD will be a shelter for His people,
      And the strength of the children of Israel.
       ¹⁷ “ So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
      Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain.
      Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
      And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”

God Blesses His People

    ¹⁸ And it will come to pass in that day
      That the mountains shall drip with new wine,
      The hills shall flow with milk,
      And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;
      A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD
      And water the Valley of Acacias.
       ¹⁹ “ Egypt shall be a desolation,
      And Edom a desolate wilderness,
      Because of violence against the people of Judah,
      For they have shed innocent blood in their land.
       ²⁰ But Judah shall abide forever,
      And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
       ²¹ For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;
      For the LORD dwells in Zion.”

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