Friday, October 9, 2026
The Orthodox liturgical day, its saint, its tone, and its fast.
New Calendar
Commemorated today
- St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow / Holy Apostle James, Son of Alphaeus
- Holy Apostle James, Son of Alphaeus.
- Saints Andronicus and Athanasia (5th c.)
- Holy and Righteous Abraham and Lot
- St Stephen the Blind, Prince of Serbia (1476)
- Holy Hieromartyr Denis (Dionysius), first Bishop of Paris (ca. 258)
Today is a strict fast, no meat, dairy, fish, wine, or oil.
Old Calendar
The Repose of St. John the TheologianThe falling-asleep of the Beloved Disciple
Today is a strict fast, no meat, dairy, fish, wine, or oil.
- Tone 1 of the Octoechos
- 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings, New Calendar
VespersWisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3
5:15But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High. 16Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them. 17He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies. 18He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet. 19He shall take holiness for an invincible shield. 20His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise. 21Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark. 22And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. 23Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty. 6:1Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth. 2Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations. 3For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.
Brenton LXX, public domain
VespersWisdom of Solomon 4.7-15
4:7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. 8For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. 10He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. 11Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. 12For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. 13He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: 14for his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. 15This the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.
Brenton LXX, public domain
Matins GospelJohn 10.1-9
10:1“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.
WEB, public domain
EpistlePhilippians 1.27-2.4
1:27Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; 28and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. 2:1If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 4each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
WEB, public domain
EpistleHebrews 7.26-8.2
7:26For 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. 8:1Now 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.
WEB, public domain
GospelLuke 7.31-35
7:31“To what then should I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’ 33For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
WEB, public domain
GospelJohn 10.9-16
10:9I 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. 11“I 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.
WEB, public domain
The order and appointment of the readings follow the Orthodox lectionary. Come to the Liturgy to hear them proclaimed.
Readings, Old Calendar
Vespers1 John 3.21-4.6
3:21Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 24He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us. 4:1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
WEB, public domain
Vespers1 John 4.11-16
4:11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
WEB, public domain
Vespers1 John 4.20-5.5
4:20If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. 5:1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. 3For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. 5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
WEB, public domain
Matins GospelJohn 21.15-25
21:15So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” 19Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” 20Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” 21Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” 23This saying therefore went out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” 24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. 25There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.
WEB, public domain
EpistlePhilippians 1.27-2.4
1:27Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; 28and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. 29Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf, 30having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. 2:1If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 4each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
WEB, public domain
Epistle1 John 4.12-19
4:12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love him, because he first loved us.
WEB, public domain
GospelLuke 4.22-30
4:22All testified about him and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” 24He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.” 28They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue as they heard these things. 29They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.
WEB, public domain
GospelJohn 19.25-27, 21.24-25
19:25But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. 21:24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. 25There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.
WEB, public domain
The order and appointment of the readings follow the Orthodox lectionary. Come to the Liturgy to hear them proclaimed.