November 19, 2021

Events of the day

No commemorations in the content package for this day yet

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, 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

• Epistle

  Colossians 4:10–18

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  ¹⁰Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you received commandments, “if he comes to you, receive him”),

  ¹¹and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for God’s Kingdom who are of the circumcision, men who have been a comfort to me.

  ¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

  ¹³For I testify about him that he has great zeal for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.

  ¹⁴Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.

  ¹⁵Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the assembly that is in his house.

  ¹⁶When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans, and that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

  ¹⁷Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”

  ¹⁸The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.

• Gospel

  Luke 16:15–18, 17:1–4

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  ¹⁵He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

  ¹⁶The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

  ¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.

  ¹⁸Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

  ¹He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!

  ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

  ³Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.

  ⁴If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Short penitential prayers