February 2, 2025

Events of the day

• Meeting of the Lord in the Temple

  Twelve Great Feast

  The forty-day-old Christ Child is brought to the Temple and received by the righteous Simeon and the prophetess Anna.

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 — Exodus 12, 13; Numbers 8; Leviticus 12

• Vespers

  Isaiah 6:1–12

• Vespers

  Composite reading — Isaiah 19.1, 3, 4-5, 12, 16, 19-21

• Matins Gospel

  Luke 2:25–32

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  ²⁵Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

  ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

  ²⁷He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,

  ²⁸then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

  ²⁹“Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace;

  ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,

  ³¹which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;

  ³²a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”

• Epistle · Meeting

  Hebrews 7:7–17

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  ⁷But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

  ⁸Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives.

  ⁹We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes,

  ¹⁰for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him.

  ¹¹Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

  ¹²For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made also in the law.

  ¹³For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar.

  ¹⁴For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

  ¹⁵This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest,

  ¹⁶who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life;

  ¹⁷for it is testified, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”

• Epistle

  1 Timothy 4:9–15

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  ⁹This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance.

  ¹⁰For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

  ¹¹Command and teach these things.

  ¹²Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.

  ¹³Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching.

  ¹⁴Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.

  ¹⁵Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.

• Gospel · Meeting

  Luke 2:22–40

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  ²²When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord

  ²³(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),

  ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

  ²⁵Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

  ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

  ²⁷He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,

  ²⁸then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

  ²⁹“Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace;

  ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,

  ³¹which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;

  ³²a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”

  ³³Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him,

  ³⁴and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.

  ³⁵Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

  ³⁶There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity,

  ³⁷and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.

  ³⁸Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

  ³⁹When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.

  ⁴⁰The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

• Gospel

  Luke 19:1–10

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  ¹He entered and was passing through Jericho.

  ²There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

  ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short.

  ⁴He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.

  ⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

  ⁶He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.

  ⁷When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

  ⁸Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

  ⁹Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.

  ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

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