January 2, 2027

Events of the day

• Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer; Righteous John of Kronstadt

  Polyeleos rank

• Forefeast: Nativity of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast (from 20 Dec Old Style), Saturday and Sunday: food with oil, no fish.

• 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

  Colossians 1:3–6

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  ³We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

  ⁴having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints,

  ⁵because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News

  ⁶which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,

• Epistle · Saturday before Nativity

  Galatians 3:8–12

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  ⁸The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”

  ⁹So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

  ¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

  ¹¹Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.”

  ¹²The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

• Gospel

  Luke 14:1–11

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  ¹When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.

  ²Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.

  ³Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

  ⁴But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go.

  ⁵He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

  ⁶They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.

  ⁷He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them,

  ⁸“When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him,

  ⁹and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

  ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

  ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

• Gospel · Saturday before Nativity

  Luke 13:18–29

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  ¹⁸He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it?

  ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.”

  ²⁰Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom?

  ²¹It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

  ²²He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

  ²³One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them,

  ²⁴“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.

  ²⁵When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

  ²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

  ²⁷He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’

  ²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside.

  ²⁹They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer for the departed