From the calendar, 2026.

Tuesday, August 11

Afterfeast of the Transfiguration

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

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. Epistle2 Corinthians 2:14–3:3
2. GospelMatthew 23:23–28

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Epistle.

2 Corinthians 2:14–3:3

1 min read

14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

15For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

16To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

17For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

3:1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?

2You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

3clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Open in the Reader

Gospel.

Matthew 23:23–28

1 min read

23'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.

24These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

26Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

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In remembrance.

Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Euplus of CataniaRead the life

He was a deacon from Catania in Sicily during the reign of Diocletian. During a persecution of Christians there, Euplus presented himself to the governor and proclaimed himself a Christian. While he was being tortured on the rack, the governor ordered him to worship Mars, Apollos, and Aeculapius, but he answered that he worshipped the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He was beheaded in 304. His wonderworking relics are preserved in the village of Vico della Batonia near Naples.

The Holy Martyr Susanna the Virgin, and those with her (295-296)Read the life

She was the daughter of Gavinius, a Christian priest in Rome, and the niece of Pope Gaius. The Emperor Diocletian’s adopted son Maximian wished to marry Susanna, but she had no desire to marry any one, least of all a pagan. The patricians Claudia and Maxima were sent to Susanna by the Emperor to present Maximian’s suit; but instead she turned both of them, and all their households, to the Faith. The enraged Emperor had Claudia, Maxima and their families executed, then had Susanna herself beheaded. The Emperor’s wife, Serena, was a secret Christian, and took Susanna’s body secretly and buried it. Soon after this Susanna’s father Gavinius and her uncle Pope Gaius also met martyrdom.

Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople (1508)Read the life

He was born in Greece and became a monk at a young age, spending many years in asceticism on the Holy Mountain. Against his desire, he was made Bishop of Thessalonika, then Patriarch of Constantinople. He was banished by the Sultan (the Prologue does not say why), served as archbishop in Wallachia for a time, then returned to Dionysiou monastery on the Holy Mountain, where he reposed at the age of ninety. He composed the ‘Prayer at Departing’ used in the funeral service.

Repose of Fr Georges Florovsky (1979) (July 29 OC)

Further.

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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.