Day 10 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Bashans, may God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins after forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers.
Amen.
The Tenth Day of the Blessed Month of Bashans
Departure of the Three Hebrew Young Men : Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael
On this day is the commemoration of the departure of the three young men the Saints: Hananiah (Ananias), Azariah (Azarias) and Mishael (Misael). These Saints were the sons of Jehoiakim king of Judah. They were exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar chose some of the exiled young men to be in his service. These young men and Daniel, their cousin, among those who were chosen. Ashpenaz the master of the eunuchs gave them other names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah : Shadrach; to Mishael : Meshach; and to Azariah : Abed-Nego. These young men purposed in their heart that they would not defile themselves with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore they requested of the chief of the eunuchs that they might not defile themselves. The chief of the eunuchs said to them, "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king." They said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over them: "Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances be examined before you, and the countenances of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants." So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenance appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. When the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm, and he appointed them governors on all the provinces of Babylon. (Daniel 1:8-20) When the king made an image of gold, and the three Hebrew young men did not worship it, those envious of them, accused them before the king that they did not worship the image. The king brought them and asked them about that and they confessed that they only worship the true God. He commanded them to be casted in a burning fiery furnace. The Lord sent His angel, who protected them and made the fire as a cool dew although it burnt the men that threw them in the fiery furnace. When the king saw that, he believed in their God and promoted them in the province of Babylon. On the tenth day of Bashans, while they were praying, and kneeling down, they gave up the spirit at the hand of the Lord. A great earthquake occurred. The king was terrified, and inquired from Daniel about what had happened, who told him that the three Hebrew young men had died. The king came to the place and mourned them. He ordered that three beds made of ebony be made, and their bodies be wrapped in silk, and then placed on the beds. He also ordered a bed made of gold for himself, so that when he died, they would place him on it among them. Pope Theophilos, the 23rd. Patriarch, built a church after their names and wanted to relocate their bodies to it. He delegated St. John the short and sent him to Babylon. When he arrived to the place where they were buried, he heard a voice saying: "The Lord has ordained that our bodies remain in this place, but because of your labor of love, when you return, say to the Patriarch to fill the oil lamps with oil on the night of the consecration of the church, and the power of God will be revealed." When he returned, and told the Pope, he did as he was commanded, and the oil lamps (Kandeels) lighted up. They glorified God, and completed the consecration after the names of these Saints.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 18 : 46 - 47
Chapter 18
| 46 | The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted. |
| 47 | It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me; |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Vespers Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
John 6 : 70 - 7 : 1
Chapter 6
| 70 | Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" |
| 71 | He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. |
Chapter 7
| 1 | After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. |
And Glory be to God forever.
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 118 : 26 - 27
Chapter 118
| 26 | Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD. |
| 27 | God is the LORD, And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Matins Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Mark the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Mark 7 : 5 - 8
Chapter 7
| 5 | Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" |
| 6 | He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. |
| 7 | And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' |
| 8 | For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." |
And Glory be to God forever.
Liturgy Gospel
Paulines Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God.
A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to the Romans .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
Romans 6 : 5 - 11
Chapter 6
| 5 | For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, |
| 6 | knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. |
| 7 | For he who has died has been freed from sin. |
| 8 | Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, |
| 9 | knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. |
| 10 | For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. |
| 11 | Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle 1 of St. John .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
1 John 4 : 18 - 5 : 1
Chapter 4
| 18 | There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. |
| 19 | We love Him because He first loved us. |
| 20 | If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? |
| 21 | And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. |
Chapter 5
| 1 | Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. |
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Amen.
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 7 : 51 - 54
Chapter 7
| 51 | "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. |
| 52 | Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, |
| 53 | who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." |
| 54 | When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
Divine Psalm
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet, and the Good King.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 39 : 12 - 12
Chapter 39
| 12 | "Hear my prayer, O LORD, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were. |
Hallelujah.
Divine Gospel
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
John 17 : 18 - 21
Chapter 17
| 18 | As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. |
| 19 | And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. |
| 20 | "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; |
| 21 | that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. |
And Glory be to God forever.
When all three of those divine qualities start drawing you, and when you’re at home with Infinity, Immanence, and Intimacy—all Three—you’re living inside Trinitarian spirituality. (Sunday)
Living faith in the God of Jesus Christ means being formed and transformed by the life of grace of God’s economy: becoming persons fully in communion with all; becoming Christ to one another; becoming by the power of the Holy Spirit what God is: love unbounded, glory uncontained. —Catherine Mowry LaCugna (Monday)
[Raimon Panikkar’s word cosmotheandric] is the fusion of cosmos (world), theos (God), and andros (man) and suggests a continuous intercirculation among these three distinct planes of existence in a single motion of self-communicating love. —Cynthia Bourgeault (Tuesday)
The divinity is so intimately present in the world that the world can be regarded as an incarnate expression of the Trinity, as creative, as expansive, as conscious, as self-realizing and self-sharing. —Beatrice Bruteau (Wednesday)
From a metaphysical standpoint, the Trinity is primarily about process. It encapsulates a paradigm of change and transformation based on an ancient metaphysical principle known as the Law of Three. —Cynthia Bourgeault (Thursday)
Once you experience God as all-vulnerable, then perhaps God stands in solidarity with all pain and suffering in the universe, allowing us to be participants in our own healing. (Friday)
Practice: Ecstatic Dance
Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that, energy, waves, patterns, rhythms. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance. —Gabrielle Roth [1]
God cannot be known by thinking but by experiencing and loving. As you read about the theological framework and practical implications of Trinity—perichoresis or circle dance—I hope you will take many opportunities to explore this concept in your lived experience.
Here’s one way you might play with a childlike spirit and feel Trinity’s flow in your body. You may even lose track of where you, the dancer, end and the dance itself begins.
Adapt this practice for your own body’s abilities and needs. For example, you might move from a seated position if you’re not able to stand or use colors and images as inspiration if you’re not able to hear music.
Choose a favorite or new piece of music—classical, world, contemporary; anything that calls you to move!—and find a place in which you can listen and move without inhibition, barefooted if possible.
Allow your body to lead, following the invitation of the music. Let your mind take a back seat and tune in to the sensations of each part of your body.
Feel your feet connect with the ground. Let limbs and joints turn and bend as they will. Swing and sway your head, shoulders, hips. Sink deep into your body, remembering what it is to be a human animal.
Dance until you are pleasantly tired and then gradually slow your movements, perhaps to another musical tempo. Continue moving in smaller, gentler ways: breathe deeply, stretch your arms and legs, roll your head.
Come to a seated position and rest in stillness.
References:
[1] Gabrielle Roth, https://www.5rhythms.com/.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (CAC Publishing: 2016), 51.
For Further Study:
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three (Shambhala Publications, Inc.: 2013)
Beatrice Bruteau, God’s Ecstasy: The Creation of a Self-Creating World (The Crossroad Publishing Company:1997, 2016)
Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (HarperSanFrancisco: 1991)
Raimon Panikkar, Christophany: The Fullness of Man (Orbis Books: 2004)
Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016)
Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, William Paul Young, Trinity: The Soul of Creation (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2017), MP4 download