December 11, 2025

Events of the day

• Monk-martyr Stephen the New; Martyr Irenarchus

  Commemoration

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday: fish is allowed.

• Meat: not allowed
• Dairy & eggs: not allowed
• Fish: allowed
• Oil: allowed
• Wine: allowed

By the Typikon (ch. 33) Tuesday and Thursday of the Apostles' and Nativity Fasts call for oil and wine only, fish only for a saint with a polyeleos; lay practice per the ROC calendar allows fish.

Food rules are reference church information. Agree your personal measure of fasting with a priest; consult a doctor if you are ill.

Readings of the day

• Epistle

  1 Timothy 6:17–21

  Show the text

  ¹⁷Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

  ¹⁸that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;

  ¹⁹laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

  ²⁰Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge,

  ²¹which some profess, and thus have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

• Gospel

  Luke 20:9–18

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  ⁹He began to tell the people this parable. “A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.

  ¹⁰At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty.

  ¹¹He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

  ¹²He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out.

  ¹³The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’

  ¹⁴“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’

  ¹⁵They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?

  ¹⁶He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

  ¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone?’

  ¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

Source: Orthocal: lectionary data — Slavic tradition, Julian calendar. Text: World English Bible.

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer to the Holy Spirit “O Heavenly King”