December 17, 2025

Events of the day

• Great-martyr Barbara; St John of Damascus

  Polyeleos rank

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Wednesday and Friday: xerophagy.

• Meat: not allowed
• Dairy & eggs: not allowed
• Fish: not allowed
• Oil: not allowed
• Wine: not allowed
• Xerophagy

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

• Epistle

  2 Timothy 4:9–22

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  ⁹Be diligent to come to me soon,

  ¹⁰for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia.

  ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

  ¹²But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

  ¹³Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments.

  ¹⁴Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds,

  ¹⁵of whom you also must beware; for he greatly opposed our words.

  ¹⁶At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.

  ¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

  ¹⁸And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

  ¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus.

  ²⁰Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick.

  ²¹Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

  ²²The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.

• Epistle · St Alexander

  Hebrews 13:7–16

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  ⁷Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

  ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

  ⁹Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

  ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat.

  ¹¹For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.

  ¹²Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.

  ¹³Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.

  ¹⁴For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.

  ¹⁵Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.

  ¹⁶But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

• Gospel

  Luke 21:5–7, 10–11, 20–24

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  ⁵As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said,

  ⁶“As for these things which you see, the days will come, in which there will not be left here one stone on another that will not be thrown down.”

  ⁷They asked him, “Teacher, so when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are about to happen?”

  ¹⁰Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

  ¹¹There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

  ²⁰“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.

  ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein.

  ²²For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

  ²³Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.

  ²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

• Gospel · St Alexander

  Luke 12:32–40

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  ³²Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

  ³³Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

  ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

  ³⁵“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.

  ³⁶Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the wedding feast; that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.

  ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them.

  ³⁸They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.

  ³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into.

  ⁴⁰Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: The Trisagion