Our Venerable Father Simeon, the Fool for Christ and John, his ascetical companion; The Holy Prophet Ezekiel.

Troparia and Kontakia

Troparion, Tone 4: O God of our fathers,* You always deal with us according to Your everlasting compassion,* take not Your mercy away from us;* but through the prayers of our fathers,* guide our lives along the ways of peace.

Troparion, Tone 2: O prophet of God, Ezekiel,* through the gift of the Spirit you saw the sealed door of the Word’s entrance.* Beg Him to open the doors of His mercy to us* and save the souls of those who honour your memory.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Kontakion, Tone 2: Let us praise with love and faith the angelic Simeon.* Acting like an angel in the flesh, he glows with virtue.* Let us remember John along with him,* since they pray together unceasingly to the Lord for us.

Now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Kontakion, Tone 4: You were a prophet of God, O wonderful Ezekiel.* You predicted the Lord’s coming in the flesh,* and the Creator has come like a lamb.* The Son of God has been revealed to the ages.

Prokeimenon, Tone 7

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His venerable ones.

verse: What shall I render to the Lord for all the things He has rendered to me? (Psalm 115:15,12)

Epistle

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Brothers and Sisters, just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Alleluia, Tone 6

verse: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in His commandments.

verse: His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth. (Psalm 111:1,2)

Gospel

Matthew 18:18-22; 19:1-2, 13-15

The Lord said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

Communion Hymn

The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance;* of evil hearsay he shall have no fear.* Alleluia, alleluia,* alleluia. (Psalm 111:6)