March 28, 2026

Events of the day

• Martyr Agapius and the seven with him

  Commemoration

Fasting

Fast day · Great Lent

Great Lent, Saturday and Sunday: food with oil and wine.

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

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

  Hebrews 9:24–28

  Show the text

  ²⁴For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

  ²⁵nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,

  ²⁶or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

  ²⁷Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

  ²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.

• Epistle · Theotokos

  Hebrews 9:1–7

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  ¹Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary.

  ²For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.

  ³After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,

  ⁴having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

  ⁵and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.

  ⁶Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,

  ⁷but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.

• Gospel

  Mark 8:27–31

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  ²⁷Jesus went out, with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”

  ²⁸They told him, “John the Baptizer, and others say Elijah, but others: one of the prophets.”

  ²⁹He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

  ³⁰He commanded them that they should tell no one about him.

  ³¹He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

• Gospel · Theotokos

  Luke 10:38–42, 11:27–28

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian