November 8, 2026

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

• 1st Matins Gospel

  Matthew 28:16–20

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  ¹⁶But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

  ¹⁷When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

  ¹⁸Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

  ¹⁹Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

  ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

• Epistle

  Ephesians 2:4–10

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  ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

  ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

  ⁶and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

  ⁷that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

  ⁸for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

  ⁹not of works, that no one would boast.

  ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

• Epistle · Earthquake

  Hebrews 12:6–13, 25–27

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  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

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  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 16:19–31

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  ¹⁹“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

  ²⁰A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,

  ²¹and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

  ²²The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.

  ²³In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

  ²⁴He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’

  ²⁵“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

  ²⁶Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’

  ²⁷“He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house;

  ²⁸for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’

  ²⁹“But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’

  ³⁰“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

  ³¹“He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ ”

• Gospel · Earthquake

  Matthew 8:23–27

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  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

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  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: The Symbol of Faith (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)