December 7, 2026

Events of the day

• Great-martyr Catherine; Great-martyr Mercurius

  Polyeleos rank

• Afterfeast: Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Monday: cooked food without oil.

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

  2 Timothy 2:20–26

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  ²⁰Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.

  ²¹If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

  ²²Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

  ²³But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

  ²⁴The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

  ²⁵in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

  ²⁶and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

• Gospel

  Luke 17:20–25

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  ²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation;

  ²¹neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”

  ²²He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

  ²³They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them,

  ²⁴for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.

  ²⁵But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Morning prayer of St Macarius the Great