January 24, 2023

Events of the day

• St Theodosius the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism; St Michael of Klops

  Polyeleos rank

• Afterfeast: Holy Theophany. The Baptism of the Lord

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

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel

  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.

• Epistle

  James 3:1–10

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  ¹Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

  ²For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.

  ³Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

  ⁴Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

  ⁵So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

  ⁶And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

  ⁷For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

  ⁸but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

  ⁹With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.

  ¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

• Epistle · St Theodosius

  2 Corinthians 4:6–15

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  ⁶seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

  ⁷But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

  ⁸We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

  ⁹pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;

  ¹⁰always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

  ¹¹For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.

  ¹²So then death works in us, but life in you.

  ¹³But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak;

  ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.

  ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

• Gospel

  Mark 11:11–23

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  ¹¹Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

  ¹²The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.

  ¹³Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

  ¹⁴Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.

  ¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables, and the seats of those who sold the doves.

  ¹⁶He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.

  ¹⁷He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

  ¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.

  ¹⁹When evening came, he went out of the city.

  ²⁰As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.

  ²¹Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.”

  ²²Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

  ²³For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says.

• Gospel · St Theodosius

  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.”

Source: Orthocal: lectionary data — Slavic tradition, Julian calendar. Text: World English Bible.

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: The Jesus Prayer