August 26, 2031

Events of the day

• Translation of the relics of St Maximus the Confessor; St Tikhon of Zadonsk

  Polyeleos rank

• Leave-taking of the feast: Transfiguration of the Lord

Fasting

Fast day · Dormition Fast

Dormition Fast, Tuesday and Thursday: 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

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Proverbs 10, 3, 8

• Vespers

  Proverbs 10:31–11:12

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel

  John 10:9–16

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  ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

  ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

  ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

  ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

  ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.

  ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;

  ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

  ¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

• Epistle

  2 Corinthians 8:16–9:5

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  ¹⁶But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

  ¹⁷For he indeed accepted our exhortation, but being himself very earnest, he went out to you of his own accord.

  ¹⁸We have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Good News is known throughout all the assemblies.

  ¹⁹Not only so, but he was also appointed by the assemblies to travel with us in this grace, which is served by us to the glory of the Lord himself, and to show our readiness.

  ²⁰We are avoiding this, that any man should blame us concerning this abundance which is administered by us.

  ²¹Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

  ²²We have sent with them our brother, whom we have many times proved earnest in many things, but now much more earnest, by reason of the great confidence which he has in you.

  ²³As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. As for our brothers, they are the apostles of the assemblies, the glory of Christ.

  ²⁴Therefore show the proof of your love to them before the assemblies, and of our boasting on your behalf.

  ¹It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,

  ²for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.

  ³But I have sent the brothers that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,

  ⁴lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting.

  ⁵I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.

• Epistle · St Tikhon

  Hebrews 7:26–8:2

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  ²⁶For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

  ²⁷who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.

  ²⁸For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

  ¹Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

  ²a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

• Gospel

  Mark 3:13–19

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  ¹³He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him.

  ¹⁴He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach,

  ¹⁵and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:

  ¹⁶Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);

  ¹⁷James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder);

  ¹⁸Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;

  ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Then he came into a house.

• Gospel · St Tikhon

  Matthew 5:14–19

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  ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.

  ¹⁵Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.

  ¹⁶Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

  ¹⁷“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.

  ¹⁸For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

  ¹⁹Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: The Jesus Prayer