May 21, 2033

Events of the day

• Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena

  Polyeleos rank

• Afterfeast: Pascha. The Bright Resurrection of Christ
• Afterfeast: Mid-Pentecost

Fasting

No fast

No fast today.

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

  3[1] Kings 8:22–23, 27–30

• Vespers

  Isaiah 61:10–62:5

• Vespers

  Isaiah 60:1–16

• 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

  Acts 12:1–11

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  ¹Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.

  ²He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

  ³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.

  ⁴When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

  ⁵Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.

  ⁶The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.

  ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off his hands.

  ⁸The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.”

  ⁹And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.

  ¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

  ¹¹When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

• Epistle · Saints

  Acts 26:1–5, 12–20

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  ¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

  ²“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews,

  ³especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

  ⁴“Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;

  ⁵having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

  ¹²“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,

  ¹³at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.

  ¹⁴When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

  ¹⁵“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

  ¹⁶But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;

  ¹⁷delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,

  ¹⁸to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

  ¹⁹“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

  ²⁰but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

• Gospel

  John 8:31–42

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  ³¹Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

  ³²You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

  ³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

  ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

  ³⁵A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

  ³⁶If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

  ³⁷I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

  ³⁸I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

  ³⁹They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

  ⁴⁰But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

  ⁴¹You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

  ⁴²Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

• Gospel · Saints

  John 10:1–9

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  ¹“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.

  ²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

  ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

  ⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

  ⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

  ⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

  ⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.

  ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

  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.

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

Saints and icons

• Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great
• Prayer of the day: Prayer for the departed