In God, in Whose promise I glory, in the Lord Whose word I praise, in God I trust without fear; what can flesh do against me?

Have pity on me, O God, for men trample upon me; all the day they press their attack against me.

In God, in Whose promise I glory, in the Lord Whose word I praise, in God I trust without fear; what can flesh do against me?

O Lord, we beseech You, in Your mercy, pour forth Your grace into our hearts, that, as we abstain from material food, so may we restrain our senses from sin.

Lesson from the book of Kings

In those days, Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable - for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria - and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife, and she said to her mistress, I wish my master had been with the prophet who is in Samaria; he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he has. Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying, Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said to him, Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment and brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words, When you shall receive this letter, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may heal him of his leprosy. And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments and said, Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man has sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Mark, and see how he seeks occasions against me. And when Eliseus the man of God had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying, Why have you rent your garments? Let him come in to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: and Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying, Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall recover health and you shall be clean. Naaman was angry and went away, saying, I thought he would have come out to me, and standing would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abana and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, his servants came to him, and said to him, Father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, surely you should have done it; how much rather what he now has said to you, ‘Wash, and you shall be clean’? Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. And returning to the man of God with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said, In truth I know, there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel.

O God, my wanderings You have counted; my tears are recorded in Your sight.

Have pity on me, O Lord, for men trample upon me; all the day they press their attack against me.

O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes.

O Lord, remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may Your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. (kneel)

Help us, O God, our Saviour, because of the glory of Your Name, O Lord; deliver us and pardon our sins for Your Name’s sake.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: You will surely quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure Yourself! Whatever things we have heard of as done in Capharnaum, do here also in Your own country!’ But He said, Amen I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land; and to none of them was Elias sent, but rather to a widowed woman in Sarepta of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. And all in the synagogue, as they heard these things, were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put Him forth out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill, on which their town was built, that they might throw Him down headlong. But He, passing through their midst, went His way.

Hearken, O God, to my prayer; turn not away from my pleading; give heed to me, and answer me.

O Lord, make for us a sacrament of salvation the gift of homage which we offer to You.

Oh, that out of Sion would come the salvation of Israel! When the Lord restores the well being of His people, then shall Jacob exult and Israel be glad.

Grant, we beseech You, almighty and merciful God, that what we take into our mouth, we may eat with a pure heart.

Let us pray.

Bow your heads to God.

Let Your mercy come to our help, O Lord, that under Your protection we may be found worthy to be snatched from the threatening dangers of our sins, and saved by Your deliverance.