---
title: "December 7, 2026 — Great-martyr Catherine | Church calendar"
description: "Monday, December 7, 2026. 24 November (Old Style). Great-martyr Catherine; Great-martyr Mercurius. Fast day"
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/2026-12-07"
language: "en"
---

Monday

# December 7, 2026

24 November (Old Style) · 28th week after Pentecost

Russian Orthodox Church (Old Calendar)

[Old Style](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/2026-12-07) [New Style](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/new-style/2026-12-07)

[Month calendar](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/2026-12)

[← December 6](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/2026-12-06) [December 8 →](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/calendar/2026-12-08)

## Events of the day

- Great-martyr Catherine; Great-martyr Mercurius

  Polyeleos rank

- Afterfeast: Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple

## Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Monday: cooked food without oil.

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

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

  2 Timothy 2:20–26

  **Show the text**

  20 Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.

  21 If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

  22 Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

  23 But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

  24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

  25 in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

  26 and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

- Gospel

  Luke 17:20–25

  **Show the text**

  20 Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation;

  21 neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”

  22 He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

  23 They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them,

  24 for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.

  25 But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

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

## Saints and icons

- Prayer of the day: [Morning prayer of St Macarius the Great](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/prayers/morning-macarius)