May 8, 2025

Events of the day

• Apostle and Evangelist Mark

  Polyeleos rank

• Afterfeast: Pascha. The Bright Resurrection of Christ

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 · St Mark

  James 1:1–12

• Vespers · St Mark

  James 1:13–27

• Vespers · St Mark

  James 2:1–13

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  ¹My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

  ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,

  ³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”

  ⁴haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

  ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

  ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

  ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

  ⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.

  ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

  ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

  ¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

  ¹²So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

  ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

• Matins Gospel · St Mark

  Luke 10:1–15

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  ¹Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come.

  ²Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.

  ³Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

  ⁴Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.

  ⁵Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’

  ⁶If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

  ⁷Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.

  ⁸Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.

  ⁹Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’

  ¹⁰But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say,

  ¹¹‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’

  ¹²I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

  ¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

  ¹⁴But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.

  ¹⁵You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

• Epistle

  Acts 8:26–39

• Epistle · St Mark

  1 Peter 5:6–14

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  ⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,

  ⁷casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

  ⁸Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

  ⁹Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

  ¹⁰But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

  ¹¹To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

  ¹²Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

  ¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you. So does Mark, my son.

  ¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

• Gospel

  John 6:40–44

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  ⁴⁰This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

  ⁴¹The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.”

  ⁴²They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven?’ ”

  ⁴³Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves.

  ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.

• Gospel · St Mark

  Mark 6:7–13

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  ⁷He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

  ⁸He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse,

  ⁹but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics.

  ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there.

  ¹¹Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

  ¹²They went out and preached that people should repent.

  ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed many with oil who were sick, and healed them.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer to the Holy Spirit “O Heavenly King”