April 7, 2029

Events of the day

• Great and Holy Saturday

  Commemoration

  Holy Week: a distinct period of strict fasting following Great Lent.

Fasting

Fast day · Holy Week

Great Saturday: 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

• Matins · Prophecy

  Ezekiel 37:1–14

• Matins Epistle

  1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Galatians 3:13–14

• Matins Gospel

  Matthew 27:62–66

  Show the text

  ⁶²Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate,

  ⁶³saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’

  ⁶⁴Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

  ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.”

  ⁶⁶So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.

• Vespers · 1st reading

  Genesis 1:1–13

• Vespers · 2nd reading

  Isaiah 60:1–16

• Vespers · 3rd reading

  Exodus 12:1–11

• Vespers · 4th reading

  Jonah 1:1–4:11

• Vespers · 5th reading

  Joshua 5:10–15

• Vespers · 6th reading

  Exodus 13:20–15:19

• Vespers · 7th reading

  Zephaniah 3:8–15

• Vespers · 8th reading

  3[1] Kings 17:8–24

• Vespers · 9th reading

  Isaiah 61:10–62:5

• Vespers · 10th reading

  Genesis 22:1–18

• Vespers · 11th reading

  Isaiah 61:1–9

• Vespers · 12th reading

  4[2] Kings 4:8–37

• Vespers · 13th reading

  Isaiah 63:11–64:5

• Vespers · 14th reading

  Jeremiah 31:31–34

• Vespers · 15th reading

  Daniel 3:1–23; Song of the Three 1–66 with verses

• Vespers · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3

• Vespers · St Tikhon

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel · St Tikhon

  John 10:1–9

  Show the text

  ¹“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.

  ²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

  ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

  ⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

  ⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

  ⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

  ⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.

  ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

  ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

• Epistle

  Romans 6:3–11

  Show the text

  ³Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

  ⁴We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

  ⁵For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;

  ⁶knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.

  ⁷For he who has died has been freed from sin.

  ⁸But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;

  ⁹knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!

  ¹⁰For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

  ¹¹Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Epistle · St Tikhon

  Hebrews 7:26–8:2

  Show the text

  ²⁶For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

  ²⁷who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself.

  ²⁸For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.

  ¹Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

  ²a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

• Gospel

  Matthew 28:1–20

  Show the text

  ¹Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

  ²Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.

  ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

  ⁴For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.

  ⁵The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.

  ⁶He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.

  ⁷Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

  ⁸They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.

  ⁹As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

  ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”

  ¹¹Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.

  ¹²When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,

  ¹³saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

  ¹⁴If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.”

  ¹⁵So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.

  ¹⁶But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

  ¹⁷When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

  ¹⁸Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

  ¹⁹Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

  ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

• Gospel · St Tikhon

  John 10:9–16

  Show the text

  ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

  ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

  ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

  ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

  ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.

  ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;

  ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

  ¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: Prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian