January 25, 2022

Events of the day

• St Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

  Polyeleos rank

Fasting

No fast

No fast today.

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

  Composite reading — Proverbs 10; Wisdom of Solomon 6, 7, 8, 9

• Vespers

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel

  John 10:1–9

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  ¹“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.

  ²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

  ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

  ⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

  ⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

  ⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

  ⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.

  ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

  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.

• Epistle

  James 3:1–10

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  ¹Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

  ²For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.

  ³Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

  ⁴Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

  ⁵So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

  ⁶And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

  ⁷For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

  ⁸but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

  ⁹With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.

  ¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

• Epistle · St Gregory

  1 Corinthians 12:7–11

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  ⁷But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.

  ⁸For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;

  ⁹to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;

  ¹⁰and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.

  ¹¹But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.

• Gospel

  Mark 10:2–12

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  ²Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

  ³He answered, “What did Moses command you?”

  ⁴They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”

  ⁵But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

  ⁶But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

  ⁷For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,

  ⁸and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

  ⁹What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

  ¹⁰In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.

  ¹¹He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.

  ¹²If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.”

• Gospel · St Gregory

  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.

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

Saints and icons

• St Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople
• Prayer of the day: The Jesus Prayer