Ease The Burden
“We must learn to ease the burden of thoughts that bears down upon us. As soon as we feel burdened, we must turn to the Lord and give our worries over to Him, as well as the worries and cares of our loved ones.”
Elder Thaddeus
#jesuschrist #orthodoxy #stressrelief
Saturday March 22, 2025 / March 9, 2025
Third Saturday of the Great Lent. Tone five.
Great Lent. Food with Oil
Parents’ Saturday. Remembrance of the dead.
The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste: Cyrion (or Quirio), Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Xanthias, Helianus, Sisinius, Angus, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Leontius, Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctimon, Severian, Chudion, Aglaius,and Meliton (320).
New Hieromartyr Archpriest Mitrophan Buchnoff of Voronezh (1931).
New Hieromartyrs Michael, Alexis, Demetrius, Sergius, Sergius priests and Nicholas deacon, New Hieromartyr Iosaph and Virgin-martyrs Natalia and Alexandra (1938).
Urpasianus of Nicomedia (295).
Righteous Caesarius, brother of St. Gregory the Theologian (369).
St. Tarasius of Liconium.
“Albazin” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (“The Word Was Made Flesh”) (1666).
St. Philoromus the Confessor of Galatia (4th c.).
St. Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona (390).
St. Jonah, archbishop of Novgorod (1470).
St. Vitalius of Castronovo (994).
The Scripture Readings
Luke 21:12-19 Matins Gospel
12
But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
13
But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
14
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer;
15
for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
16
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
17
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
18
But not a hair of your head shall be lost.
19
By your patience possess your souls.
32
But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:
33
partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;
34
for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
35
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
36
For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37
For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38
Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
14
As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
16
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Hebrews 12:1-10 40 Martyrs
1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
4
You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
5
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:”My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6
For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8
But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
9
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Matthew 20:1-16 40 Martyrs
1
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2
Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4
and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.
5
Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
6
And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’
7
They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’
8
So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’
9
And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.
10
But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.
11
And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,
12
saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’
13
But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14
‘Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.
15
‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’
16
So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.
This Saturday the service for the departed is not conducted.