August 26, 2030

Events of the day

• Translation of the relics of St Maximus the Confessor; St Tikhon of Zadonsk

  Polyeleos rank

• Leave-taking of the feast: Transfiguration of the Lord

Fasting

Fast day · Dormition Fast

Dormition Fast, Monday, Wednesday and Friday: xerophagy.

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

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

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Proverbs 10, 3, 8

• Vespers

  Proverbs 10:31–11:12

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel

  John 10:9–16

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  ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

  ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

  ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

  ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

  ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.

  ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;

  ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

  ¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

• Epistle

  2 Corinthians 2:3–15

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  ³And I wrote this very thing to you, so that, when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy would be shared by all of you.

  ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.

  ⁵But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.

  ⁶This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;

  ⁷so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.

  ⁸Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.

  ⁹For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.

  ¹⁰Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

  ¹¹that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

  ¹²Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,

  ¹³I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.

  ¹⁴Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.

  ¹⁵For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish:

• Epistle · St Tikhon

  Hebrews 7:26–8:2

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  ²⁶For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

  ²⁷who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.

  ²⁸For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

  ¹Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

  ²a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

• Gospel

  Matthew 23:13–22

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  ¹³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

  ¹⁴“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.

  ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

  ¹⁶“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’

  ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

  ¹⁸‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’

  ¹⁹You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

  ²⁰He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.

  ²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who has been living in it.

  ²²He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.

• Gospel · St Tikhon

  Matthew 5:14–19

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  ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.

  ¹⁵Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.

  ¹⁶Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

  ¹⁷“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.

  ¹⁸For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

  ¹⁹Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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