From the calendar, 2026.

Wednesday, January 14

Leavetaking of Theophany

Strict fastNo meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil.

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. EpistleJames 3:11–4:6
2. GospelMark 10:11–16

Ask about these readings in Study

Epistle.

James 3:11–4:6

2 min read

11Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

12Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

14But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

15This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

16For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

18Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

4:1Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

2You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

3You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously'?

6But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.'

Open in the Reader

Gospel.

Mark 10:11–16

1 min read

11So He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

12And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.'

13Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

14But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.

15Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

16And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

Open in the Reader

polyeleos · leavetaking.

Leavetaking of Theophany

In remembrance.

St Nino of GeorgiaRead the life

She is called “Nino” in many accounts. This holy maiden was a Cappadocian, the only daughter of Zabullon, a kinsman of the Great Martyr George. She was captured and enslaved by the Iberians (later called the Georgians) and taken away to their homeland. In captivity, she lived a sober and pious life, devoting every free moment day and night to prayer. Her exceptional virtue attracted the attention of many, especially those hungry for Truth, and she simply and boldly proclaimed the Gospel to all who inquired of her.

Read the full life

Our Holy Father Sava (Sabbas), Enlightener and first Archbishop of Serbia (1236)Read the life

This best-loved Saint of the Serbian people was born in 1169, the son of Stephen Nemanja, Grand Prince of Serbia. He was named Rastko by his parents. At the age of fifteen he was appointed governor of the province of Herzegovina, but worldly power was of no interest to him, and he began to wish to give himself more fully to God. He secretly left home and traveled to Mount Athos, where he became a novice at the Monastery of St Panteleimon. His father learned where he had gone and sent soldiers to bring him back, but before the soldiers could claim him, he was tonsured a monk with the name of Sabbas (Sava), after St Sabbas the Sanctified (December 5).

Read the full life

The Holy Fathers slain at Sinai and Raithu (4th – 5th c.)Read the life

The Holy Fathers at Mount Sinai lived in the wilderness around the holy mountain before the Emperor Justinian built the famous Monastery there in 527. The brethren were attacked by a band of Saracen barbarians who massacred Doulas, the superior of the community, and most of the other monks. They only stopped when a pillar of fire rose to the sky from the summit of Sinai, causing them to flee in fear.

Read the full life

Further.

The Library

The Fathers, the services and the lives of the saints.

Study

Ask a question about a passage. Answers cite their sources.

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.