From the calendar, 2026.

Friday, July 31

Forefeast of the Procession of the Lifegiving Cross

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

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. Epistle1 Corinthians 14:26–40
2. GospelMatthew 21:12–14, 17–20

Ask about these readings in Study

Epistle.

1 Corinthians 14:26–40

2 min read

26How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.

28But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

30But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent.

31For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

32And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

33For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

34Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.

35And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

36Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached?

37If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.

38But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.

39Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.

40Let all things be done decently and in order.

Open in the Reader

Gospel.

Matthew 21:12–14, 17–20

1 min read

12Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

13And He said to them, 'It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' '

14Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

17Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

18Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

19And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again.' Immediately the fig tree withered away.

20And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, 'How did the fig tree wither away so soon?'

Open in the Reader

six stichera · forefeast.

Forefeast of the Procession of the Lifegiving Cross

In remembrance.

Righteous Joseph of ArimatheaRead the life

The “noble Joseph” was a secret follower of Christ and a wealthy member of the Jewish Sanhendrin (ruling council); it was he who provided Christ’s tomb. When his faith became known he was driven from the Sanhendrin, from the synagogues, and from the Holy Land, and traveled through many lands, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. According to some accounts he eventually reached England, where he reposed in peace.

Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia (9th c.)Read the life

“Saint Eudocimus was from Cappadocia, the son of pious and most illustrious parents, patricians in rank. He especially cultivated chastity and mercy, the one by never meeting the gaze of a woman, the other by cheerfully providing the needs of the poor. When he was made military commander of Cappadocia, he continued in his righteous ways, showing mercy and uprightness in all his dealings. Having so lived in piety, quietly and without ostentation, he was called from this life at the age of thirty-three, about the year 840, during the reign of the Iconoclast Theophilus. Not long after his burial, his grave became a fountain of unending miracles, as God revealed the virtue that Eudocimus had striven to hide; when his grave was later opened, his body was found incorrupt. His holy relics were translated to Constantinople.” (Great Horologion)

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.