From the calendar, 2025.
Saturday, November 15
Begin Nativity Fast
Fish allowedFish, wine and oil are allowed. No meat, dairy or eggs.
Appointed to be read.
Epistle.
2 Corinthians 8:1–5
1 min read
1Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:
2that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
3For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
4imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
Gospel.
Luke 9:37–43
1 min read
37Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.
38Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, 'Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.
39And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.
40So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.'
41Then Jesus answered and said, 'O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.'
42And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.
43And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.
What this is.
The Scripture the Orthodox Church reads each day, the saints it remembers, and a study aid that answers from Scripture and the Fathers and shows its sources.
Divine Liturgy. The Church's main service, at which Holy Communion is given. Its Epistle and Gospel are what most people mean by the day's readings.
Matins. The morning service of praise. On Sundays and feasts it has a Gospel of its own.
Vespers. The evening service. The Church's day begins at sunset, so a feast's Vespers is served the evening before.
Hours. Short services of psalms and prayer at set times of the day: the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours.
Tone. The hymns of the week are sung in one of eight tones, or melodies, which follow each other week by week.
New Calendar. Fixed feasts are kept on the civil date, as in the OCA and the Antiochian Archdiocese. Churches on the Old Calendar keep them 13 days later. Pascha is the same for both.