October 7, 2024

Events of the day

• Protomartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Thecla

  Commemoration

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

  Isaiah 43:9–14

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3

• Matins Gospel

  Luke 12:2–12

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  ²But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

  ³Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

  ⁴“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

  ⁵But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

  ⁶“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.

  ⁷But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

  ⁸“I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God;

  ⁹but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of God’s angels.

  ¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

  ¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;

  ¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

• Epistle

  Galatians 4:28–5:10

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  ²⁸Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

  ²⁹But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

  ³⁰However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

  ³¹So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

  ¹Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

  ²Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

  ³Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

  ⁴You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

  ⁵For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.

  ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

  ⁷You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?

  ⁸This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

  ⁹A little yeast grows through the whole lump.

  ¹⁰I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

• Epistle · New Martyrs

  Romans 8:28–39

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  ²⁸We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

  ²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

  ³⁰Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

  ³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

  ³²He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

  ³³Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

  ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

  ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

  ³⁶Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

  ³⁷No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

  ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

  ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Gospel

  Luke 4:37–44

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  ³⁷News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.

  ³⁸He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her.

  ³⁹He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them.

  ⁴⁰When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

  ⁴¹Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

  ⁴²When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them.

  ⁴³But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.”

  ⁴⁴He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

• Gospel · New Martyrs

  Luke 21:12–19

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  ¹²But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.

  ¹³It will turn out as a testimony for you.

  ¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer,

  ¹⁵for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.

  ¹⁶You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.

  ¹⁷You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.

  ¹⁸And not a hair of your head will perish.

  ¹⁹“By your endurance you will win your lives.

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