March 21, 2021

Events of the day

• First Sunday of Great Lent. Triumph of Orthodoxy

  Commemoration

  Commemorates the restoration of the veneration of icons in 843.

Fasting

Fast day · Great Lent

Great Lent, Saturday and Sunday: food with oil and wine.

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

The first week of Great Lent is kept with particular strictness; agree your measure with a priest.

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

• 8th Matins Gospel

  John 20:11–18

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  ¹¹But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

  ¹²and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

  ¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

  ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

  ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

  ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

  ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

  ¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

• Epistle

  Hebrews 11:24–26, 32–12:2

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  ²⁴By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

  ²⁵choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,

  ²⁶considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

  ³²What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

  ³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

  ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

  ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

  ³⁶Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

  ³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—

  ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

  ³⁹These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,

  ⁴⁰God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

  ¹Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

  ²looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

• Gospel

  John 1:43–51

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  ⁴³On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

  ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

  ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

  ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

  ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

  ⁴⁸Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

  ⁴⁹Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”

  ⁵⁰Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!”

  ⁵¹He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Source: Orthocal: lectionary data — Slavic tradition, New Calendar (OCA practice). Text: World English Bible.

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian