From the calendar, 2026.

Wednesday, August 12

Afterfeast of the Transfiguration

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

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. Epistle2 Corinthians 3:4–11
2. GospelMatthew 23:29–39

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Epistle.

2 Corinthians 3:4–11

1 min read

4And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

6who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,

8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

9For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

10For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.

11For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

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Gospel.

Matthew 23:29–39

1 min read

29'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

30and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

31'Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.

33Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

34Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

38See! Your house is left to you desolate;

39for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' '

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In remembrance.

Martyrs Anicletus and Photius of NicomediaRead the life

These holy martyrs suffered victoriously in the year 305 (Prologue) or 288 (Great Horologion), during the reign of Diocletian, who visited Nicomedia to stir up a persecution of Christians there. Anicetas, one of the city governors, presented himself before the Emperor, boldly confessed his Christian faith, and denounced the worship of the idols. Anicetas was subjected to a series of cruelties: his tongue was cut out, but he miraculously continued to speak; he was thrown to a lion, but it refused to attack him; then he was savagely beaten with rods until his bones showed through his wounds. His nephew Photius, seeing his endurance of all these trials, ran forward, embraced his uncle, and declared to the Emperor that he too was a Christian. The Emperor ordered that he be beheaded immediately, but the executioner, raising his sword, gave himself such a wound that he died instead.

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Hieromaryr Alexander, Bishop of Comana (3rd c.)Read the life

“He lived in the town of Comana near Neocaesarea as a simple charcoal-burner. When the Bishop of Comana died, St Gregory of Neocaesarea, the Wonderworker (Nov. 17), was invited to preside over the Council to choose a new bishop. At the Council there were both clergy and laymen. They were unable to come to agreement on one person, estimating the candidates they selected according to their outward worth and behaviour. St Gregory told them that they must not give so much weight to the outward impression as to the soul and the spiritual aptitude. Then some wag called out mockingly: ‘Then let’s choose Alexander the charcoal-burner as bishop!’, and there was general laughter. St Gregory asked who this Alexander was. Thinking that his name would not have come up before the Council except by the providence of God, he commanded that he be brought.

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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.