April 23, 2035

Events of the day

• Holy Great-martyr George the Trophy-bearer

  Polyeleos rank

• Great and Holy Monday

  Commemoration

• Holy Week begins

  Informational

Fasting

Fast day · Holy Week

Holy Week (Monday–Wednesday): xerophagy.

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

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

• Gospel · Bridegroom

  Matthew 21:18–43

• 6th Hour

  Ezekiel 1:1–20

• Vespers

  Exodus 1:1–20

• Vespers

  Job 1:1–12

• Vespers · St George

  Isaiah 43:9–14

• Vespers · St George

  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9

• Vespers · St George

  Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15

• Matins Gospel · St George

  Luke 12:2–12

  Show the text

  ²But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

  ³Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

  ⁴“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

  ⁵But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

  ⁶“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.

  ⁷But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

  ⁸“I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God;

  ⁹but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of God’s angels.

  ¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

  ¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;

  ¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

• Epistle · St George

  Acts 12:1–11

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  ¹Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.

  ²He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

  ³When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.

  ⁴When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

  ⁵Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.

  ⁶The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.

  ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off his hands.

  ⁸The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.”

  ⁹And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.

  ¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

  ¹¹When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

• Gospel · Presanctified

  Matthew 24:3–35

  Show the text

  ³As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”

  ⁴Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.

  ⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.

  ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.

  ⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.

  ⁸But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

  ⁹Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.

  ¹⁰Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.

  ¹¹Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.

  ¹²Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.

  ¹³But he who endures to the end will be saved.

  ¹⁴This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

  ¹⁵“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

  ¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

  ¹⁷Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.

  ¹⁸Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.

  ¹⁹But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!

  ²⁰Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,

  ²¹for then there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.

  ²²Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

  ²³“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There,’ don’t believe it.

  ²⁴For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

  ²⁵“Behold, I have told you beforehand.

  ²⁶If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.

  ²⁷For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

  ²⁸For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.

  ²⁹But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

  ³⁰and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

  ³¹He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

  ³²“Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.

  ³³Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

  ³⁴Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.

  ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

• Gospel · St George

  John 15:17–16:2

  Show the text

  ¹⁷“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

  ¹⁸If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

  ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

  ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

  ²¹But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.

  ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

  ²³He who hates me, hates my Father also.

  ²⁴If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.

  ²⁵But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

  ²⁶“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

  ²⁷You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

  ¹“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

  ²They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

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

Saints and icons

• Holy Great-martyr George the Trophy-bearer
• Prayer of the day: Prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian