From the calendar, 2026.
Sunday, February 22
Sunday of Cheesefare: Expulsion of Adam from Paradise
Fast-free (Cheesefare)No meat. Dairy, eggs, fish, wine and oil are allowed.
Appointed to be read.
Epistle.
Romans 13:11–14:4
1 min read
11And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
12The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
14:1Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
2For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
3Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
4Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
Gospel.
Matthew 6:14–21
1 min read
14For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16'Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
17But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
19'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matins Gospel.
Luke 24:1–12
1 min read
1Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
5Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
7saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' '
8And they remembered His words.
9Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
11And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
12But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
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.