August 1, 2026

Events of the day

• Dormition Fast begins. Procession of the Precious Wood of the Cross

  Informational

Fasting

Fast day · Dormition Fast

Dormition Fast, Saturday and Sunday: food with oil and wine.

• Meat: not allowed
• Dairy & eggs: not allowed
• Fish: not allowed
• Oil: allowed
• Wine: 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

  Romans 14:6–9

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  ⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

  ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.

  ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

  ⁹For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

• Epistle · Cross

  1 Corinthians 1:18–24

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  ¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

  ¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

  ²⁰Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

  ²¹For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

  ²²For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

  ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,

  ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

• Epistle · Martyrs

  Hebrews 11:33–12:2

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  ³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

  ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

  ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

  ³⁶Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

  ³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—

  ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

  ³⁹These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,

  ⁴⁰God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

  ¹Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

  ²looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

• Gospel

  Matthew 15:32–39

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  ³²Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”

  ³³The disciples said to him, “Where should we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?”

  ³⁴Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

  ³⁵He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground;

  ³⁶and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes.

  ³⁷They all ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.

  ³⁸Those who ate were four thousand men, in addition to women and children.

  ³⁹Then he sent away the multitudes, got into the boat, and came into the borders of Magdala.

• Gospel · Cross

  John 19:6–11, 13–20, 25–28, 30–35

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  ⁶When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

  ⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

  ⁸When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.

  ⁹He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

  ¹⁰Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

  ¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

  ¹³When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.”

  ¹⁴Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”

  ¹⁵They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

  ¹⁶So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.

  ¹⁷He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,

  ¹⁸where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.

  ¹⁹Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

  ²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

  ²⁵But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

  ²⁶Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

  ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

  ²⁸After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”

  ³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

  ³¹Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

  ³²Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;

  ³³but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.

  ³⁴However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

  ³⁵He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

• Gospel · Martyrs

  Matthew 10:32–36, 11:1

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  ³²Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

  ³³But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

  ³⁴“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.

  ³⁵For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

  ³⁶A man’s foes will be those of his own household.

  ¹When Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

• Epistle · At the Blessing of Waters

  Hebrews 2:11–18

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  ¹¹For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

  ¹²saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the congregation I will sing your praise.”

  ¹³Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me.”

  ¹⁴Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

  ¹⁵and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

  ¹⁶For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham.

  ¹⁷Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

  ¹⁸For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

• Gospel · At the Blessing of Waters

  John 5:1–4

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer for the departed