Monastic Breviary

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation: But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried: he descended into hell; the third day he arose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven; sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty: from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, * and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Alleluia.

3:2 Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? * many are they who rise up against me.

3:3 Many say to my soul: * There is no salvation for him in his God.

3:4 But thou, O Lord art my protector, * my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

3:5 I have cried to the Lord with my voice: * and he hath heard me from his holy hill.

3:6 I have slept and taken my rest: * and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me.

3:7 I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: * arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.

3:8 For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: * thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.

3:9 Salvation is of the Lord: * and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For the Lord will not cast off his people: for in his hand are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. (genuflect) Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us: For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts: As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.

Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart. And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.

1:1 Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, * nor sat in the chair of pestilence.

1:2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, * and on his law he shall meditate day and night.

1:3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, * which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.

1:3 And his leaf shall not fall off: * and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.

1:4 Not so the wicked, not so: * but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.

1:5 Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: * nor sinners in the council of the just.

1:6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: * and the way of the wicked shall perish.

2:1 Why have the Gentiles raged, * and the people devised vain things?

2:2 The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, * against the Lord and against his Christ.

2:3 Let us break their bonds asunder: * and let us cast away their yoke from us.

2:4 He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: * and the Lord shall deride them.

2:5 Then shall he speak to them in his anger, * and trouble them in his rage.

2:6 But I am appointed king by him over Sion his holy mountain, * preaching his commandment.

2:7 The Lord hath said to me: * Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.

2:8 Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, * and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.

2:9 Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, * and shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

2:10 And now, O ye kings, understand: * receive instruction, you that judge the earth.

2:11 Serve ye the Lord with fear: * and rejoice unto him with trembling.

2:12 Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, * and you perish from the just way.

2:13 When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, * blessed are all they that trust in him.

4:2 When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: * when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me.

4:2 Have mercy on me: * and hear my prayer.

4:3 O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? * Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?

4:4 Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy one wonderful: * the Lord will hear me when I shall cry unto him.

4:5 Be ye angry, and sin not: * the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.

4:6 Offer up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord: * many say, Who sheweth us good things?

4:7 The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: * thou hast given gladness in my heart.

4:8 By the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, * they are multiplied.

4:9 In peace in the selfsame * I will sleep, and I will rest:

4:10 For thou, O Lord, singularly * hast settled me in hope.

5:2 Give ear, O Lord, to my words * understand my cry.

5:3 Hearken to the voice of my prayer, * O my King and my God.

5:4 For to thee will I pray: * O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.

5:5 In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: * because thou art not a God that willest iniquity.

5:6 Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: * nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes.

5:7 Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: * thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie.

5:7 The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor. * But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy,

5:8 I will come into thy house; * I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear.

5:9 Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: * because of my enemies, direct my way in thy sight.

5:10 For there is no truth in their mouth: * their heart is vain.

5:11 Their throat is an open sepulchre: they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: * judge them, O God.

5:11 Let them fall from their devices: according to the multitude of their wickednesses cast them out: * for they have provoked thee, O Lord.

5:12 But let all them be glad that hope in thee: * they shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them.

5:12 And all they that love thy name shall glory in thee: * For thou wilt bless the just.

5:13 O Lord, thou hast crowned us, * as with a shield of thy good will.

8:2 O Lord our Lord, * how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!

8:2 For thy magnificence is elevated * above the heavens.

8:3 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, * that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.

8:4 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: * the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.

8:5 What is man that thou art mindful of him? * or the son of man that thou visitest him?

8:6 Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: * and hast set him over the works of thy hands.

8:8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, * all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.

8:9 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, * that pass through the paths of the sea.

8:10 O Lord our Lord, * how admirable is thy name in all the earth!

10:2 In the Lord I put my trust: how then do you say to my soul: * Get thee away from hence to the mountain, like a sparrow?

10:3 For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow: they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, * to shoot in the dark the upright of heart.

10:4 For they have destroyed the things which thou hast made: * but what has the just man done?

10:5 The Lord is in his holy temple, * the Lord’s throne is in heaven.

10:5 His eyes look on the poor man: * his eyelids examine the sons of men.

10:6 The Lord trieth the just and the wicked: * but he that loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul.

10:7 He shall rain snares upon sinners: * fire and brimstone, and storms of winds, shall be the portion of their cup.

10:8 For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: * his countenance hath beheld righteousness.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lesson from the book of Daniel

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Assuerus of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:

2 The first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.

3 And I set my face to the Lord my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

5 We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments.

21 As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice.

22 And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.

23 From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed.

25 Know thou therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times.

26 And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation.

27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.

14:1 Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? * or who shall rest in thy holy hill?

14:2 He that walketh without blemish, * and worketh justice:

14:3 He that speaketh truth in his heart, * who hath not used deceit in his tongue:

14:3 Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: * nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.

14:4 In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing: * but he glorifieth them that fear the Lord:

14:4 He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not; * He that hath not put out his money to usury, nor taken bribes against the innocent:

14:5 He that doth these things, * shall not be moved for ever.

20:2 The king rejoices in thy strength, O Lord; * and in thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly.

20:3 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire: * and hast not withholden from him the will of his lips.

20:4 For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: * thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.

20:5 He asked life of thee: * and thou hast given him length of days for ever and ever.

20:6 His glory is great in thy salvation: * glory and great beauty shalt thou lay upon him.

20:7 For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: * thou shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance.

20:8 For the king hopeth in the Lord: * and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

20:9 Let thy hand be found by all thy enemies: * let thy right hand find out all them that hate thee.

20:10 Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, * in the time of thy anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour them.

20:11 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth: * and their seed from among the children of men.

20:12 For they have intended evils against thee: * they have devised counsels which they have not been able to establish.

20:13 For thou shalt make them turn their back: * in thy remnants thou shalt prepare their face.

20:14 Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength: * we will sing and praise thy power.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Martin was born at Todi in Tuscany. At the beginning of his Popedom, in the year 649, he was careful to send an embassage with letters to Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, to call upon him to return to the truth of the Catholic faith from the blasphemous heresy (of the Monothelites.) But Paul, being backed up by the heretic Emperor Constans, had become so rabid, that he sent away the messengers of the Apostolic See into diverse places in the islands. This crime moved the Pope to gather together at Rome a council of one - hundred - and five Bishops, by whom Paul was condemned.

Thereupon Constans sent Olympius into Italy as Exarch, straitly commanding him either to slay Pope Martin, or else to bring him into his Imperial presence. Olympius therefore came to Rome and bade a lictor to kill the Pope while as he was celebrating the Liturgy solemnly in the Cathedral Church of St Mary-at-the-Manger. But when the lictor went thither, he was struck with blindness.

From that time forth many evils befell the Emperor Constans; but he repented not. He sent the Exarch Theodore Calliopas to Rome, with command to lay hands on the Pope. By him Martin was treacherously taken on the 17th day of June, 653, and (forthwith carried to the island of Naxos. On the 17th of September in 654 he was) brought to Constantinople, (where he was kept in prison) till he was sent to the Crimea on the 15th of May, 655. There his sufferings for the Catholic faith utterly broke him down, and he left this life for a better, upon the 12th day of November, in the same year 655. He was famous for miracles. His body was afterwards brought back to Rome and buried in the Church dedicated under the names of St. Silvester and St. Martin of Tours. He ruled the Church for six years, one month, and twenty-six days. He held two ordinations in the month of December, wherein he made eleven Priests, five Deacons, and thirtythree Bishops for diverse places.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

At that time: Jesus came into the coasts of Cassarea Philippi, and He asked His disciples, saying: Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And so on.

Homily by Pope St. Leo (the Great)

When the Lord, as we read in the Evangelist, asked His disciples: Who did men, amid their diverse speculations, believe that He, the Son of Man, was; blessed Peter answered and said: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him: Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father, Which is in: and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Thus therefore standeth the ordinance of the Truth, and blessed Peter, abiding still that firm rock which God hath made him, hath never lost that right to rule in the Church which God hath given unto him.

In the universal Church it is Peter that doth still say every day, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and every tongue which confesseth that Jesus is Lord is taught that confession by the teaching of Peter. This is the faith that overcometh the devil and looseth the bands of his prisoners. This is the faith which maketh men free of the world and bringeth them to heaven, and the gates of hell are impotent to prevail against it. With such ramparts of salvation hath God fortified this rock, that the contagion of heresy will never be able to infect it, nor idolatry and unbelief to overcome it. This teaching it is, my dearly beloved brethren, which maketh the keeping of this Feast to-day to be our reasonable service, even the teaching which maketh you to know and honour in myself, lowly though I be, that Peter who is still entrusted with the care of all other shepherds and of all the flocks to them committed, and whose authority I have, albeit unworthy to be his heir.

When therefore, we address our exhortations to your godly ears,

1 Believe ye that ye are hearing him speak whose office we are discharging. Yea, it is with his love for you that we warn you, and we preach unto you no other thing than that which he taught, entreating you that ye would gird up the loins of your mind and lead pure and sober lives in the fear of God. 2 My disciples dearly beloved, ye are to me, as the disciples of the Apostle Paul were to him, ~Phil. iv. 1, a crown and a joy, if your faith, which, in the first times of the Gospel, was spoken of throughout the whole world, Rom. i. 8, abide still lovely and holy. For, albeit it behoveth the whole Church which is spread throughout all the world, to be strong in righteousness, you it chiefly becometh above all other peoples to excel in worth and godliness, whose house is built upon the very crown of the Rock of the Apostle, and whom not only hath our Lord Jesus Christ, as He hath redeemed all men, but whom also His blessed Apostle Peter hath made the foremost object of his teaching.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Luke

At that time, Jesus said to the crowds, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. And he who does not carry his cross and follow Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the outlays that are necessary, whether he has the means to complete it? Lest, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who behold begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ Or what king setting out to engage in battle with another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to meet him who with twenty thousand is coming against him? Or else, whilst the other is yet at a distance, he sends a delegation and asks the terms of peace. So, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses, cannot be My disciple.

Thou art worthy of praise, thou art worthy of hymns, to Thee be glory: to God the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Let us pray.

O God, who year by year dost gladden us by the solemn feast day of thy Blessed Martyr and Bishop Martin, mercifully grant that we who keep his birthday, may ever feel the joyful effects of his protection.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation: But deliver us from evil. Amen.