May 29, 2025

Events of the day

• Ascension of the Lord

  Twelve Great Feast

  On the fortieth day after Pascha Christ ascends into heaven from the Mount of Olives.

• St Theodore the Sanctified; St Ephrem of Perekom

  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 2:2–3

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Isaiah 62.10-63.3, 7-9

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Zechariah 14.1, 4, 8-11

• Matins Gospel

  Mark 16:9–20

  Show the text

  ⁹Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

  ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

  ¹¹When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.

  ¹²After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.

  ¹³They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.

  ¹⁴Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

  ¹⁵He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.

  ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

  ¹⁷These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;

  ¹⁸they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

  ¹⁹So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

  ²⁰They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

• Epistle

  Acts 1:1–12

• Gospel

  Luke 24:36–53

  Show the text

  ³⁶As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

  ³⁷But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

  ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?

  ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”

  ⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

  ⁴¹While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

  ⁴²They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.

  ⁴³He took them, and ate in front of them.

  ⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

  ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.

  ⁴⁶He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

  ⁴⁷and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

  ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

  ⁴⁹Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

  ⁵⁰He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

  ⁵¹While he blessed them, he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven.

  ⁵²They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

  ⁵³and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

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