January 2, 2034

Events of the day

No commemorations in the content package for this day yet

• Forefeast: Holy Theophany. The Baptism of the Lord

Fasting

No fast

Christmastide (25 Dec – 4 Jan Old Style) is fast-free: no fasting.

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

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel

  Matthew 11:27–30

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  ²⁷All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

  ²⁸“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

  ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.

  ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

• Epistle

  Hebrews 8:7–13

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  ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

  ⁸For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

  ⁹not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.

  ¹⁰“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

  ¹¹They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.

  ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

  ¹³In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

• Epistle · St Seraphim

  Galatians 5:22–6:2

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  ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,

  ²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

  ²⁴Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

  ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

  ²⁶Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

  ¹Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.

  ²Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

• Gospel

  Mark 8:11–21

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  ¹¹The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.

  ¹²He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

  ¹³He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.

  ¹⁴They forgot to take bread; and they didn’t have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

  ¹⁵He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

  ¹⁶They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.”

  ¹⁷Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?

  ¹⁸Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?

  ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”

  ²⁰“When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”

  ²¹He asked them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

• Gospel · St Seraphim

  Luke 6:17–23

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  ¹⁷He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;

  ¹⁸as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed.

  ¹⁹All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all.

  ²⁰He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours.

  ²¹Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

  ²²Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.

  ²³Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Morning prayer of St Macarius the Great