The Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Tone 2); The Feast of the Three Hierarchs: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John
Enarxis—We prepare our hearts of hear the Word of God
[The Sunday of the Prodigal Son is the beginning of Meatfare Week. This week is called “Meatfare” because, traditionally, this was the last week before Holy Pascha that meat (including fish with bones) could be eaten.
The week ends with Meatfare Sunday, and, on the following Monday, Cheesefare Week begins. Traditionally, Cheesefare Week was the last week that dairy products could be eaten before Holy Pascha. Cheesefare Week has two days of total fast, just like the days of Great Lent: Wednesday and Friday. These days have complete services in the Triodion.
Cheesefare Week ends with Cheesefare Sunday. The following day is the beginning of the First Week of Great Lent. Traditionally, the fasting during this week was especially severe, since the entire fast was observed, and there were only two meals during the week: one on Wednesday, and one on Friday, after the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The traditional fast of Great Lent prohibits all meats (including fish with bones), all dairy products, wine (interpreted to mean all alcoholic beverages), and olive oil. This fast was the same for all the days of Great Lent, except that, on Saturdays and Sundays, wine and olive oil were permitted.]
Tropar, Tone 2
When You went down to death, O Life Immortal, You struck Hades dead with the blazing light of Your divinity. When You raised the dead from the neither world, all the powers of heaven cried out: “O Giver of life, Christ our God, glory to You!”
Tropar of the Saints, Tone 4
As equals to the apostles in the way you lived and teachers of the whole world, intercede with the Master of all to grant peace to the world, and, to our souls great mercy.
[The Feast of the Three Hierarchs serves to close the month of January during which the Church has celebrated great feasts of these saints separately: St. Basil the Great 1 (14) January, St. Gregory the Theologian 25 January (7 February), and St. John Chrysostom 27 January (9 February).
By this feast, the Byzantine Church
Glory…
Kondak of the Saints, Tone 2
You received Your inspired and steadfast preachers, You chief teachers into the enjoyment of Your good things and into repose. You who alone glorify Your saints, accepted their labours and death more gladly than any holocaust.
Now…
Kondak of the Triodion, Tone 3
Foolishly have I fled from Your glory, O Father, wasting the wealth You gave me on vices. Therefore, I offer You the words of the Prodigal: Loving Father, I have sinned before You. Take me, for I repent, and make me as one of the Your hired hands.
The Liturgy of the Word—We listen to the Word of God
Prokimen, Tone 2
The Lord is my strength and my song of praise, and He has become my salvation.
v. The Lord has indeed chastised me, but He has not delivered me to death.
Prokimen of the Saints, Tone 8
Their utterance has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
A READING FROM THE 1st LETTER OF SAINT PAUL
TO CORINTHIANS:
Brethren, "Everything is lawful for me," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is lawful for me," but I will not let myself be dominated by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food," but God will do away with both the one and the other. The body, however, is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! (Or) do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For "the two," it says, "will become one flesh." But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6,12-20)
Alleluia, Tone 2
The Lord will hear you in the day of tribulation; the name of the God of Jacob will shield you.
v. Lord, grant victory to the king and hear us in the day that we shall call upon You.
Alleluia of the Saints, Tone 1
The heavens shall confess You wonders, O Lord, and Your truth in the church of the saints.
A READING
The Lord told this paprable, "A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."' So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.' But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.' He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'" (Lk. 15,11-32)
[The Gospel reading concerning the Parable of the Prodigal Son reminds us of a couple important Old Testament themes. The Prodigal Son’s journey “into a far country,” for example, is a reminder both in style and language of the journey of the Patriarch Jacob. Jacob flees for his life from his brother Esau. All alone, he journeys “to a far country,” to the homeland of his mother’s relatives, where he lives and works for twenty years. Despite great adversity and suffering he acquires four wives, twelve sons, enormous flocks and possessions, and a large number of servants. Then, with all his wealth and his huge family, he returns to his homeland in order to make peace with his brother.
The story of the Patriarch Joseph is a similar case. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, the other sons of Jacob, and sold into slavery “in a far country”-- the land of Egypt
The Patriarchs Jacob and Joseph are both types (that is, images and presages) of Christ. Christ, like the Patriarch Jacob came to the “far country” of our fallen world, in order to acquire a family for Himself. He came alone in the Incarnation, but He has returned to the Father as “the firstborn of many brothers.” Similarly, Christ, like the Patriarch Joseph, was given up to death by his brothers, and presumed dead and buried. But His journey into the “far country” of the land of Sheol
The Parable of the Prodigal Son looks at this mystery from the other side. In the parable, it is we, who have gone “into the far country” of sin and death, and the remembrance of God, the Good Father, calls us from that country to freedom and prosperity in His Kingdom.]
Liturgy of the Sacrifice—We offer ourselves, together with Christ, to the Father
[The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom reminds us that only part of the great benefits given to us by God is apparent to us. Most of His loving kindness and compassion is hidden from our eyes. Often it seems that He is absent, especially in our suffering and adversity. While sometimes we discover only later that His providence preserved us and saved us from various dangers and disappointments. Most of His love is hidden from us on account of our limited knowledge. Nevertheless, we make an effort to thank Him for all His benefits, because we acknowledge in faith that what the Holy Apostle Paul says is true: “In fact, He is never far from any of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.” We take our sufferings, our sorrows, our doubts and anxieties—everything that most concerns us—and we place them on the diskos together with our offering. We had these things over to him in sacrifice. In exchange for them, He will not fail to give us blessing and help.]
Communion verses
Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise in the highest.
Their utterance has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Alleluia (3)
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