December 31, 2020

Events of the day

No commemorations in the content package for this day yet

• Leave-taking of the feast: Nativity of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ

Fasting

No fast

Christmastide (25 Dec – 4 Jan Old Style) is fast-free: no fasting.

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

  Hebrews 10:35–11:7

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  ³⁵Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

  ³⁶For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

  ³⁷“In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.

  ³⁸But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

  ³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

  ¹Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

  ²For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

  ³By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

  ⁴By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

  ⁵By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.

  ⁶Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

  ⁷By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

• Gospel

  Mark 11:27–33

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  ²⁷They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him,

  ²⁸and they began saying to him, “By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”

  ²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

  ³⁰The baptism of John—was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.”

  ³¹They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

  ³²If we should say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all held John to really be a prophet.

  ³³They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Source: Orthocal: lectionary data — Slavic tradition, New Calendar (OCA practice). Text: World English Bible.

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer to the Holy Spirit “O Heavenly King”