service files readings_for_january.md

**1st. The Circumcision of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Father among the Saints Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.**

READINGS FOR VESPERS

The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am your God.  Be well pleasing before me and be blameless.  I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly; and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.  And your name will not be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I have established you as father of many nations.  And I will increase you very greatly, and I will establish you for nations, and kings will come from you.  And I will establish my covenant between me and you and between your seed after you for their generations as an eternal covenant, and I will be their God.’  And Abraham fell on his face and worshipped the Lord.  And God said to Abraham, ‘You are to keep my covenant, you and your seed after you to their generations.  And this is the covenant which you are to keep between me and between your seed after you to their generations.  Every male among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the foreskin of your flesh, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.  And every male child among you shall be circumcised at eight days for your generations.  And an uncircumcised male that is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be wiped out from its race; because it has rejected my covenant.’

1.   The Reading is from Genesis.

The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works.  Before time [2] he established me, in the beginning before he made the earth.  And before he made the deeps and before the springs of waters came forth,  before the mountains were set firm and before all the hills he begets me.  The Lord made countries and uninhabited places and the high inhabited parts of the earth under heaven.  When he was prepar­ing the heaven I was present with him, and when he marked out his throne on the winds.  When he made the clouds on high strong and secured the fountains of the earth under heaven.  When he gave his command to the sea — and the waters will not transgress his order [3] —, and when he was strengthening the foundations of the earth, I was by him arranging all things. I was the one in whom he delighted; while day by day I rejoiced in his presence at every moment.

2 .  The Reading is from Proverbs.

The mouth of a just man distils wisdom; the lips of men know graces.  The mouth of the wise meditates wisdom; justice delivers them from death.  When a just man dies hope is not lost; for a just son is born for life, and among his good things he will pluck the fruit of justice.  There is light at all times for the just, and they will find grace and glory from the Lord.  The tongue of the wise knows what is good, and wisdom will take its rest in their hearts.  The Lord loves holy hearts; while all who are blameless in the way [5] are acceptable to him.  The wisdom of the Lord will enlighten the face of the understanding; for she [6] anticipates those who desire her before they know it, and is easily contemplated by those who love her.  One who rises for her at dawn will not toil, and one who keeps vigil because of her will be without care.  For she goes about seeking those who are worthy of her, and shows herself favourably to those on her paths.  Wickedness will never prevail against wisdom.  Because of this I too became a lover of her beauty and became her friend, and I sought her out from my youth, and I sought to take her as my bride,  because the Master of all things loved her,  for she is an initiate of the knowledge of God and one who chooses his works.  Her toils are virtues; she herself teaches sobriety and prudence; justice and courage, [7] than which things nothing is more useful in human life.  If anyone longs for much experience, she knows how to compare things of old and those that are to come.  She knows the twists of words and the explanations of riddles. She foresees signs and wonders and the outcomes of seasons and times.  And to all she is a good counsellor.  Because immortality is in her, and fame in the fellowship of her words.  Therefore I appealed to the Lord and besought him and said from my whole heart, ‘God of my Fathers and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your Word, and established humanity by your Wisdom to be sovereign over the creatures that had come into being by you, and to order the world in holiness and justice, give me Wisdom who sits by your throne, and do not reject me from among your children, for I am your servant and the son of your maid servant.  Send her out from your holy dwelling and from the throne of your glory, that she may be present with me and teach me what is well pleasing before you.  And she will guide me with knowledge and guard me with her glory.  For all the thoughts of mortals are wretched and their ideas are unstable.’

3 .  The Reading is from the Wisdom of Solomon.

2nd. St Seraphim of Sarov, the Wonderworker.

5th. Eve of Theophany.