And Cain knew his wife and she conceived
and she bore Enoch.
And he (Enoch?) was building a city
and he called the name of the city
as the name of his son – Enoch.

And to Enoch was born Irad
And Irad fathered Mehujael
And Mehujael fathered Methushael
And Methushael fathered Lamek.

And Lamek took two wives for himself,
the name of one was Adah
and the of the second was Zillah.

And Adah bore Yabal
He was the father of those who dwell in tents
and (have) livestock.

And the name of his brother was Yubal
and he was the father of those who play the lyre and the pipe.

And Zillah also bore Tubal-cain
the father of all who sharpen copper and iron
And the sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

Next having arrived at Jerusalem he (Saul)
began to try to join the disciples.
And they were afraid of him
not believing that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas helped him
and brought him to the apostles.
and he (Barnabas) told them
how he (Saul) had seen the Lord on the road
and that he (Jesus) had spoken to him
and how he (Saul) had preached boldly in Damascus
in the name of Jesus.

And going in and out
among them in Jerusalem,
he boldly preached in the name of the Lord.
And he spoke and he argued
with the Hellenists,
but they were trying to kill him.

And when the brothers had learned this
they took him down to Caesarea
and they sent him off to Tarsus.

So then the church through the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria
had peace; and
being built up and
walking in the fear of the Lord
and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
it grew.

Lord God,,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Now he was
for several days
with the disciples
in Damascus,
and immediately
he began to preach Jesus
in the synagogues:
‘He is the son of God.’
And all who heard were amazed and said:
‘Is not this the man
who destroyed
in Jerusalem
those who call on this name
and came here
to tie them up to bring them
before the High Priests?
And Saul grew stronger and stronger
and confused the Jews who lived in Damascus
by proving that this one was the Messiah.

While many days passed
the Jews plotted together to kill him.
Now their plan became known to Saul.
They were watching the gates closely
day and night
in order to kill him.
But his disciples taking him by night
let him down through (an opening in) the wall
lowering him in a basket.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.
Alcuin

There was a certain disciple in Damascus,
named Ananias,
and the Lord spoke to him in a vision:
‘Ananias.’
So he said: ‘Here I am, Lord.’
The Lord said to him:
‘Get up and go to the street called “Straight”
and seek at the house of Judas
a man from Tarsus,
named Saul.
For look, he is praying
and he has seen
a man named Ananias
come in and lay hands on him
that he might regain his sight. ‘

Ananias answered:
‘Lord, I have heard from many
about this man,
how much evil he has done
to your saints in Jerusalem.
And here, in this place, he has authority
from the High Priests
to bind all who call upon your name.’

But the Lord said to him:
‘Go, because he is my chosen vessel
to carry my name before both Gentiles and Kings
and the children of Israel.
For I will show him
how much he must suffer
for my name. ‘

Then Ananias left and entered the house
and laid hands on him and said:
‘Brother Saul
the Lord sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the road
on which you came,
so that you might se e again
and you might be filled with the Holy Spirit.
and immediately
something like scales
fell from his eyes:
he saw again,
and when he got up he was baptised
and after taking food, he regained (his) strength.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

But Saul still breathing out threats
to murder the disciples of the Lord,
having gone to the High Priest
asked for letters from him
to the synagogues in Damascus,
so that if he found any who
might belong to the Way,
he might bind them
and bring them to Jerusalem.

Now as he travelled
he drew near to Damascus (and)
suddenly
a light from heaven flashed around
and having fallen on the ground
he heard a voice, saying to him
‘Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?’
So he said:
‘Who are you, Lord?’
‘I am Jesus, whom you persecute.
But get up and go into the city,
and
it will be told to you
what must be done.’

The men who were travelling with him
had been standing speechless,
hearing the voice
but seeing no-one.
Saul got up from the ground,
When his eyes were opened,
he saw nothing.
So leading him by the hand
they brought him into Damascus
and for three days
he was unable to see
and he ate and drank nothing.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

The portion of the Scriptures which he was reading was this:
As a sheep is led to slaughter,
and as lamb before the one shearing is silent,
likewise he does not open his mouth.
In humiliation his justice was taken away,
Who will tell of his generation?
Because his life is taken away from the earth. ¹

The eunuch answered Philip and said,
‘I ask you, about whom is the prophet saying this?’
About himself, or about some else?’

Philip opened his mouth and
beginning from this scripture
he told him the good news of Jesus.

As they were going along the road,
they came upon some water,
and the eunuch spoke:
‘Look, water,
what prevents me from being baptised?’

And he ordered the chariot to be stopped, and
both went down into the water,
Philip and the eunuch,
and he baptised him.
When he came up out of the water,
the Holy Spirit carried Philip off
and the eunuch did not see him any longer,
for he went on his way, rejoicing.

And Philip was found in Azotus.
And going through,
he preached the gospel in all the towns
until he came to Caesarea.

1. Isa 53 7-8a ↩︎

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip:
‘Get up and go toward the south
on the road,
going down from Jerusalem to Gaza’
(This is desert).

So he got up and went,
and look – a man:
an Ethiopian,
a eunuch,
an official of the Candace,
the Queen of Ethiopia,
who was over all the treasury,
who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

He, returning,
sitting in his chariot
was also reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip
‘Go, and join the chariot.’
Philip ran up and
heard him reading Isaiah the prophet
and he said:
‘Excuse me, You don’t understand what you are reading. do you?’
Then he said ‘No, for how can I, unless someone guides me?’
He invited Philip to come and sit with him.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

So the apostles
in Jerusalem
hearing that Samaria had accepted the word of the Lord
sent to them,
Peter and John.

These two having gone down
prayed for them
so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For not yet
had he had fallen
upon any of them,
but they had only been baptised
in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then as they began putting their hands on them
they received the Holy Spirit.

Then Simon seeing
that through the laying on the hands of the apostles
the Spirit was given,
brought to them money, saying:
‘Give to me as well,
this authority so that
on whom I lay my hands
might receive the Holy Spirit.’

But Peter said to him:
‘Let your silver perish with you,
because you thought
you could buy
the gift of God with money!
There is no share for you,
or part in this matter.
For your heart is not right before God.
Therefore repent from your evil
and pray to the Lord,
if now perhaps he will forgive you
the intention of your heart.
For I see you are in the gall of bitterness
and the chain of unrighteousness.’

So Simon answered:
‘Pray for me
to the Lord,
that it might not come upon me
as you have spoken’

Therefore those who had testified and spoken the word of the Lord,
returned to Jerusalem,
proclaiming to many Samaritan villages.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

A certain man, named Simon
had practised magic
previously in the city,
and amazed the people of Samaria,
while saying he was someone great.
Whom all watched closely,
from the least to the greatest,
saying:
‘This (man?) is the power of God,
which is called Great.’
So they paid close attention to him,
because he amazed them
with magic
for a considerable time.

But when they believed Philip
as he preached about the Kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus,
they were baptised
men and also women.

Even
Simon
himself believed
and was baptised;
staying close to Philip
watching the signs and great miracles that happened,
he was amazed.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

So then those who had been scattered,
went about
preaching the Word.
And Philip
having gone down to the city of (the region of) Samaria
was preaching Christ to them.
And the crowds were paying close attention
to the words of Philip
as one,
as they heard and saw
the signs, which he did.
For many who had unclean spirits-
as they cried out with a loud voice
they came out-
and many who had been paralysed
or lame were healed.

And it happened that there was great joy in the city.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm