6th Friday of Summer – Feast of Mar Shimun Bar Sabbae, Catholicos Patriarch, and the Fathers who were Crowned with Him

The Law – From the Memorial of All Martyrs & Confessors, or the Patron Saint

Daniel 3:2-22 (3:25-45 in the Pshitta)

² Then Azariah stood and offered this prayer; in the midst of the fire he opened his mouth and said:

³ “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise;

and your name is glorified for ever.

⁴ For you are just in all that you have done to us,

and all your works are true and your ways right,

and all your judgments are truth.

⁵ You have executed true judgments in all that you have brought upon us

and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers,

for in truth and justice you have brought all this upon us because of our sins.

⁶ For we have sinfully and lawlessly departed from you,

and have sinned in all things and have not obeyed your commandments;

⁷ we have not observed them or done them,

as you have commanded us that it might go well with us.

⁸ So all that you have brought upon us,

and all that you have done to us,

you have done in true judgment.

⁹ You have given us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful rebels,

and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.

¹⁰ And now we cannot open our mouths;

shame and disgrace have befallen your servants and worshipers.

¹¹ For your name’s sake do not give us up utterly,

and do not break your covenant,

¹² and do not withdraw your mercy from us,

for the sake of Abraham your beloved

and for the sake of Isaac your servant

and Israel your holy one,

¹³ to whom you promised

to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven

and as the sand on the shore of the sea.

¹⁴ For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any nation,

and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.

¹⁵ And at this time there is no prince, or prophet, or leader,

no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,

no place to make an offering before you or to find mercy.

¹⁶ Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,

as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,

and with tens of thousands of fat lambs;

¹⁷ such may our sacrifice be in your sight this day,

and may we wholly follow you,

for there will be no shame for those who trust in you.

¹⁸ And now with all our heart we follow you,

we fear you and seek your face.

¹⁹ Do not put us to shame,

but deal with us in your forbearance

and in your abundant mercy.

²⁰ Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works,

and give glory to your name, O Lord!

Let all who do harm to your servants be put to shame;

²¹ let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and dominion,

and let their strength be broken.

²² Let them know that you are the Lord, the only God,

glorious over the whole world.”

 

or

 

Isaiah 41:8-16

⁸ But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called from its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are my servant,

I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

¹⁰ fear not, for I am with you,

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

¹¹ Behold, all who are incensed against you

shall be put to shame and confounded;

those who strive against you

shall be as nothing and shall perish.

¹² You shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;

those who war against you

shall be as nothing at all.

¹³ For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

I will help you.”

¹⁴ Fear not, you worm Jacob,

you men of Israel!

I will help you, says the Lord;

your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,

new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

and you shall make the hills like chaff;

¹⁶ you shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

And you shall rejoice in the Lord;

in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

 

The Prophets – From the Memorial of All Martyrs & Confessors, or the Patron Saint

Acts of the Apostles 6:8-7:10

The Arrest of Stephen

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men, who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech to the Council

7 And the high priest said, “Is this so?” ² And Stephen said:

“Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living; ⁵ yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. ⁶ And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years. ⁷ ‘But I will judge the nation which they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.

 

or

 

Acts of the Apostles 19:8-20

8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God; ⁹ but when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

The Sons of Sceva

11 And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily.

 

Ephesians 4:1-16

Unity in the Body of Christ

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. ⁷ But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it is said,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.

 

John 15:1-25

Jesus the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ This I command you, to love one another.

The World’s Hatred

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ He who hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’