From the calendar, 2026.
Friday, August 21
Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy
Strict fastNo meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil.
Appointed to be read.
Epistle.
2 Corinthians 7:10–16
1 min read
10For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
12Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
13Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
14For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true.
15And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him.
16Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
Gospel.
Mark 2:18–22
1 min read
18The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, 'Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?'
19And Jesus said to them, 'Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
20But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.'
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.