July 7, 2030

Events of the day

• Nativity of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

  Great Feast

  The birth of John the Baptist to the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth. Fish is allowed within the Apostles' Fast.

Fasting

Fast day · Apostles' Fast

Nativity of the Forerunner: fish is allowed within the Apostles' Fast.

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

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Genesis 17.15-17, 19; 18.11-14; 21.1-8

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Judges 13.2-8, 13-14, 17-18, 21

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Isaiah 40, 41, 45, 48, 54

• 3rd Matins Gospel

  Mark 16:9–20

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  ⁹Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

  ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

  ¹¹When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.

  ¹²After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.

  ¹³They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.

  ¹⁴Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

  ¹⁵He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.

  ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

  ¹⁷These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;

  ¹⁸they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

  ¹⁹So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

  ²⁰They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

• Epistle · Forerunner

  Romans 13:11–14:4

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  ¹¹Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.

  ¹²The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.

  ¹³Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.

  ¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

  ¹Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

  ²One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

  ³Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

  ⁴Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

• Epistle

  Romans 5:1–10

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  ¹Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

  ²through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

  ³Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

  ⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:

  ⁵and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

  ⁶For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

  ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.

  ⁸But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

  ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

  ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

• Gospel · Forerunner

  Luke 1:1–25, 57–68, 76, 80

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  ¹Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

  ²even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

  ³it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;

  ⁴that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

  ⁵There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

  ⁶They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

  ⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.

  ⁸Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division

  ⁹according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

  ¹⁰The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

  ¹¹An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

  ¹²Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

  ¹³But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

  ¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

  ¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

  ¹⁶He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

  ¹⁷He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

  ¹⁸Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

  ¹⁹The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

  ²⁰Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

  ²¹The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple.

  ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.

  ²³When the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house.

  ²⁴After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying,

  ²⁵“Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”

  ⁵⁷Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.

  ⁵⁸Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.

  ⁵⁹On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

  ⁶⁰His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

  ⁶¹They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”

  ⁶²They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

  ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” They all marveled.

  ⁶⁴His mouth was opened immediately and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

  ⁶⁵Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

  ⁶⁶All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.

  ⁶⁷His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

  ⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people;

  ⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

  ⁸⁰The child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

• Gospel

  Matthew 6:22–33

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  ²²“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

  ²³But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

  ²⁴“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

  ²⁵Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

  ²⁶See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?

  ²⁷“Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?

  ²⁸Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

  ²⁹yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.

  ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

  ³¹“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’

  ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

  ³³But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

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)