Office Of Readings

From an Old Slavonic Life of Constantine⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Build up your Church and gather all into unity⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Constantine, already burdened by many hardships, became ill. At one point during his extended illness, he experienced a vision of God and began to sing this verse: “My spirit rejoiced and my heart exulted because they told me we shall go into the house of the Lord.”⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Afterward he remained dressed in the vestments that were to be venerated later, and rejoiced for an entire day, saying: “From now on, I am not the servant of the emperor or of any man on earth, but of almighty God alone. Before, I was dead, now I am alive and I shall live for ever. Amen.”⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ The following day, he assumed the monastic habit and took the religious name Cyril. He lived the life of a monk for fifty days.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ When the time came for him to set out from this world to the peace of his heavenly homeland, he prayed to God with his hands outstretched and his eyes filled with tears: “O Lord, my God, you have created the choirs of angels a