Saturday
November 8, 2025
26 October (Old Style) · 22nd week after Pentecost
Russian Orthodox Church (Old Calendar)
Events of the day
-
Great-martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica; commemoration of the great earthquake in Constantinople (740)
Vigil rank
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
Composite reading — Isaiah 63.15-64.5, 8-9
-
Vespers
Jeremiah 2:2–12
-
Vespers
Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15
-
Matins Gospel
Matthew 10:16–22
Show the text
16“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
18Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.
19But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.
20For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
21“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
-
Epistle
2 Corinthians 5:1–10
Show the text
1For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
2For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.
4For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
7for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
-
Epistle · Earthquake
Hebrews 12:6–13, 25–27
Show the text
6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children.
9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
13and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
26whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”
27This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.
-
Epistle · St Demetrius
2 Timothy 2:1–10
Show the text
1You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
3You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
5Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.
6The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.
7Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
8Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News,
9in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
10Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
-
Gospel
Luke 8:16–21
Show the text
16“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light.
17For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
18Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”
19His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd.
20Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”
21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”
-
Gospel · Earthquake
Matthew 8:23–27
Show the text
23When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
25They came to him, and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”
26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
-
Gospel · St Demetrius
John 15:17–16:2
Show the text
17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
18If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23He who hates me, hates my Father also.
24If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.
2They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
Source: Orthocal: lectionary data — Slavic tradition, Julian calendar. Text: World English Bible.
Saints and icons
- Prayer of the day: Prayer for the departed