December 9, 2024

Events of the day

No commemorations in the content package for this day yet

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Monday: 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

• Epistle

  2 Thessalonians 1:1–10

  Show the text

  ¹Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:

  ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  ³We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds,

  ⁴so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

  ⁵This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer.

  ⁶Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,

  ⁷and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

  ⁸punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,

  ⁹who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

  ¹⁰when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

• Epistle · St Anna

  Galatians 4:22–31

  Show the text

  ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman.

  ²³However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.

  ²⁴These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

  ²⁵For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.

  ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

  ²⁷For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate have more children than her who has a husband.”

  ²⁸Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

  ²⁹But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

  ³⁰However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

  ³¹So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

• Gospel

  Mark 8:11–21

  Show the text

  ¹¹The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.

  ¹²He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

  ¹³He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.

  ¹⁴They forgot to take bread; and they didn’t have more than one loaf in the boat with them.

  ¹⁵He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

  ¹⁶They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.”

  ¹⁷Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?

  ¹⁸Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?

  ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”

  ²⁰“When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”

  ²¹He asked them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

• Gospel · St Anna

  Luke 8:16–21

  Show the text

  ¹⁶“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light.

  ¹⁷For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

  ¹⁸Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”

  ¹⁹His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd.

  ²⁰Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”

  ²¹But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Morning prayer of St Macarius the Great