FIRST HOUR

The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son, \* today I have begotten you’.

Prokeimenon of the Prophecy. Tone 4.

Verse: Ask of me, and I shall give you the Nations as your inheritance.

Thus says the Lord: And you Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, are not least among the thousands of Juda; for from you there will come forth for me the one who is to be ruler in Israel, and his goings out are from the beginning, from eternity. Because of this he will give them until the moment that she who bears child shall bring to birth; and the remainder of his brethren will return to the children of Israel. And he will stand and will see, and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, and they will abide in the glory of the name of the Lord his God; for now they will be magnified even to the extremities of the earth.

85. The Reading is from the Prophecy of Micheas.

In many and varied ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the ages. He is the radiance of his glory and the very imprint of his substance, upholding the universe by the word of his power. When he had made purification for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’? Or again, ‘I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son’? And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’ Of the angels he says, ‘Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers flames of fire.’ But to the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is to age on age, the  sceptre of justice is the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your comrades.’ And, ‘You, Lord, founded the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle you will roll them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end.’

86 * . * The Reading is from the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews.