The Holy Priest-Martyrs and Bishops of Cherson Basil, Ephrem, Capiton, Eugene, Etherius and Others (284-305); Passing into Eternal Life (1935) of Blessed Leonid Fedorov, Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church, and Martyr.
Great Fast Day 16. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 9:9-10:4; Vespers – Genesis 7:1-5; Proverbs 8:32-9:11.
Read Genesis 7:1-5
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The Holy Fathers when reading the story of Noah and the ark immediately saw in it an image and a foreshadowing of that which is the ultimate ark of salvation: the Church. Imagine being in the ark with Noah. It would have been cramped, loud, boisterous and stinky, but there was no other way to survive. This is the only path to life. Notice that it is not always comfortable to be part of the church. Sometimes we can forget who we are and behave like animals. Our sins can cause a scandalous stench when we betray the Gospel teaching straying far from the commandment of love. Still the Church is the only ark of salvation, which carries us toward the Kingdom of Heaven, towards life eternal.
St. Augustine encourages us with these words: “Let us be the clean beasts in it. Yet let us not refuse to allow the unclean ones to be carried in it with us until the end of the deluge. They were together in the ark, but they were not equally pleasing to the Lord as a savour of sacrifice, for after the deluge, Noah offered sacrifice to God of the clean, not of the unclean. But the ark was not on that account abandoned before the time by any of the clean because of the unclean.” (St. Augustine, Letters, 108).
Once the ark arrives to its destination the clean and unclean animals will be separated. For the clean are pleasing to God and this is the goal we strive to achieve on our journey: to be pure of heart for this is pleasing to the Lord.