April 20, 2023

Events of the day

• St George, Bishop of Mitylene

  Commemoration

• Afterfeast: Pascha. The Bright Resurrection of Christ

Fasting

No fast

Bright Week is fast-free.

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 · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3

• Vespers · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel · St Tikhon

  John 10:1–9

  Show the text

  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

  Acts 2:38–43

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  ³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

  ³⁹For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

  ⁴⁰With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

  ⁴¹Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

  ⁴²They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

  ⁴³Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

• Epistle · St Tikhon

  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

  John 3:1–15

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  ¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

  ²The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”

  ³Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

  ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

  ⁵Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.

  ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

  ⁷Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’

  ⁸The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

  ⁹Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”

  ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?

  ¹¹Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.

  ¹²If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

  ¹³No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

  ¹⁴As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

  ¹⁵that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

• Gospel · St Tikhon

  John 10:9–16

  Show the text

  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: Paschal Troparion