Thursday of Meatfare

February 12 / January 30 (OS)

The Saints

• Saint Peter, King of Bulgaria (970)

Archive Note: Expand this section with the Life of the Saint and relevant Icons.

Fasting

No Fast

The Scriptural Readings

Vespers (Deuteronomy 1.8-11, 15-17)

⁸ Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. ⁹ And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: ¹⁰ The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ¹¹ (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) ¹⁵ So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. ¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. ¹⁷ Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Vespers (Deuteronomy 10.14-21)

¹⁴ Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. ¹⁵ Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. ¹⁶ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. ¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: ¹⁸ He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. ¹⁹ Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. ²¹ He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

Vespers (Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9)

¹ But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. ² In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, ³ And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. ⁴ For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. ⁵ And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. ⁶ As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. ⁷ And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. ⁸ They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. ⁹ They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.

Matins Gospel (John 10.9-16)

⁹ I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. ¹² But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. ¹³ The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. ¹⁵ As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Epistle (1 John 4.20-5.21)

²⁰ If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? ²¹ And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. ¹ Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. ⁴ For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶ This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. ⁷ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ⁸ And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. ⁹ If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. ¹⁰ He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. ¹¹ And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. ¹³ These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: ¹⁵ And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. ¹⁶ If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. ¹⁸ We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. ¹⁹ And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. ²⁰ And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. ²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Epistle (Hebrews 13.7-16)

(Text unavailable for 'Hebrews 13.7-16')

Gospel (Mark 15.1-15)

(Text unavailable for 'Mark 15.1-15')

Gospel (Matthew 5.14-19)

(Text unavailable for 'Matthew 5.14-19')