April 25, 2027

Events of the day

• Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday

  Twelve Great Feast

  Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem a week before Pascha. Fish is allowed.

Fasting

Fast day · Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday: fish is allowed.

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

• Vespers

  Genesis 49:1–2, 8–12

• Vespers

  Zephaniah 3:14–19

• Vespers

  Zechariah 9:9–15

• Vespers · St Mark

  James 1:1–12

• Vespers · St Mark

  James 1:13–27

• Vespers · St Mark

  James 2:1–13

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  ¹My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

  ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,

  ³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”

  ⁴haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

  ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

  ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

  ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

  ⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.

  ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

  ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

  ¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

  ¹²So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

  ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

• Matins Gospel

  Matthew 21:1–11, 15–17

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  ¹When they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

  ²saying to them, “Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.

  ³If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

  ⁴All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

  ⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

  ⁶The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,

  ⁷and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.

  ⁸A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.

  ⁹The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

  ¹⁰When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

  ¹¹The multitudes said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

  ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant,

  ¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?’ ”

  ¹⁷He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there.

• Epistle

  Philippians 4:4–9

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  ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”

  ⁵Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

  ⁶In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

  ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

  ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things.

  ⁹The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

• Epistle · St Mark

  1 Peter 5:6–14

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  ⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,

  ⁷casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

  ⁸Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

  ⁹Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.

  ¹⁰But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

  ¹¹To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

  ¹²Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

  ¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you. So does Mark, my son.

  ¹⁴Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

• Gospel

  John 12:1–18

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  ¹Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

  ²So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

  ³Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

  ⁴Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

  ⁵“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

  ⁶Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

  ⁷But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

  ⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

  ⁹A large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

  ¹⁰But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

  ¹¹because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

  ¹²On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

  ¹³they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

  ¹⁴Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,

  ¹⁵“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

  ¹⁶His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

  ¹⁷The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead was testifying about it.

  ¹⁸For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

• Gospel · St Mark

  Mark 6:7–13

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  ⁷He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

  ⁸He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse,

  ⁹but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics.

  ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there.

  ¹¹Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

  ¹²They went out and preached that people should repent.

  ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed many with oil who were sick, and healed them.

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