December 18, 2033

Events of the day

No commemorations in the content package for this day yet

Fasting

Fast day · Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast, Saturday and 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 14:14–20

• Vespers

  Deuteronomy 1:8–11, 15–17

• Vespers

  Deuteronomy 10:14–21

• 5th Matins Gospel

  Luke 24:12–35

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  ¹²But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.

  ¹³Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.

  ¹⁴They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.

  ¹⁵While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.

  ¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

  ¹⁷He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”

  ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”

  ¹⁹He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

  ²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

  ²¹But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

  ²²Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;

  ²³and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

  ²⁴Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

  ²⁵He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

  ²⁶Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”

  ²⁷Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

  ²⁸They came near to the village where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.

  ²⁹They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.

  ³⁰When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them.

  ³¹Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, then he vanished out of their sight.

  ³²They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

  ³³They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,

  ³⁴saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

  ³⁵They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

• Epistle · Sunday before Nativity

  Hebrews 11:9–10, 17–23, 32–40

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  ⁹By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

  ¹⁰For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

  ¹⁷By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son,

  ¹⁸to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,”

  ¹⁹concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

  ²⁰By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.

  ²¹By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

  ²²By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

  ²³By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

  ³²What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

  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.

• Gospel · Sunday before Nativity

  Matthew 1:1–25

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  ¹The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

  ²Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.

  ³Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.

  ⁴Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.

  ⁵Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.

  ⁶Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife.

  ⁷Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.

  ⁸Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.

  ⁹Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.

  ¹⁰Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.

  ¹¹Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon.

  ¹²After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.

  ¹³Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.

  ¹⁴Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.

  ¹⁵Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.

  ¹⁶Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

  ¹⁷So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

  ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

  ¹⁹Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

  ²⁰But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

  ²¹She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

  ²²Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,

  ²³“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

  ²⁴Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;

  ²⁵and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

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

Saints and icons

• Prayer of the day: The Symbol of Faith (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)