August 15, 2026

Events of the day

• Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

  Twelve Great Feast

  The falling asleep of the Mother of God and her translation to heaven. Ends the two-week Dormition Fast.

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

  Genesis 28:10–17

• Vespers

  Ezekiel 43:27–44:4

• Vespers

  Proverbs 9:1–11

• Matins Gospel

  Luke 1:39–49, 56

  Show the text

  ³⁹Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

  ⁴⁰and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

  ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

  ⁴²She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

  ⁴³Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

  ⁴⁴For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy!

  ⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”

  ⁴⁶Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.

  ⁴⁷My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

  ⁴⁸for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

  ⁴⁹For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

  ⁵⁶Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

• Epistle · Dormition

  Philippians 2:5–11

  Show the text

  ⁵Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

  ⁶who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

  ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

  ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.

  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,

  ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

  ¹¹and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• Epistle

  1 Corinthians 1:3–9

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  ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  ⁴I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;

  ⁵that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;

  ⁶even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

  ⁷so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

  ⁸who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  ⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

• Gospel · Dormition

  Luke 10:38–42, 11:27–28

• Gospel

  Matthew 19:3–12

  Show the text

  ³Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

  ⁴He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,

  ⁵and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’

  ⁶So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”

  ⁷They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce, and divorce her?”

  ⁸He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

  ⁹I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”

  ¹⁰His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”

  ¹¹But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.

  ¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Troparion of the Dormition