October 19, 2020

Events of the day

• Apostle Thomas

  Polyeleos rank

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

  Composite reading — Proverbs 10, 3, 8

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Wisdom of Solomon 4, 5

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Proverbs 10; Wisdom of Solomon 6, 7, 8, 9

• Matins Gospel

  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.

• Epistle

  Philippians 2:12–16

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  ¹²So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

  ¹³For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

  ¹⁴Do all things without complaining and arguing,

  ¹⁵that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

  ¹⁶holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

• Epistle · St Innocent

  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

  Luke 6:24–30

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  ²⁴“But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.

  ²⁵Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

  ²⁶Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.

  ²⁷“But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

  ²⁸bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.

  ²⁹To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also.

  ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.

• Gospel · St Innocent

  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.

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