Thursday, August 21, 2025
The Orthodox liturgical day, its saint, its tone, and its fast.
New Calendar
Commemorated today
- Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy
- Avram, Archimandrite of Smolensk
- Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy (44)
- Holy Martyrs Bassa and her sons Theognis, Agapios, and Pistis (4th c.)
- Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Today is not a fast day, all foods are permitted.
Old Calendar
Commemorated today
- St Emilian the Confessor
- St Emilian the Confessor, bishop of Cyzicus (820)
- St Myron the Wonderworker, Bishop of Crete (350)
- St Gregory of Sinai (Mt Athos) (1346)
Today is a strict fast, no meat, dairy, fish, wine, or oil.
- Tone 1 of the Octoechos
- 10th Sunday after Pentecost
The day’s readings
Epistle2 Corinthians 4.1-6
4:1Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint. 2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, 4in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. 5For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, 6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
WEB, public domain
GospelMatthew 24.13-28
24:13But 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 false christs and false prophets will arise, 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. 26“If 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.
WEB, public domain
The order and appointment of the readings follow the Orthodox lectionary. Come to the Liturgy to hear them proclaimed.