From the calendar, 2027.

Saturday, January 16

Veneration of Chains of Apostle Peter

Fast-free

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. EpistleEphesians 1:16–23
2. GospelLuke 12:32–40

Ask about these readings in Study

Epistle.

Ephesians 1:16–23

1 min read

16do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

20which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,

23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Open in the Reader

Gospel.

Luke 12:32–40

1 min read

32'Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

35'Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;

36and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

37Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.

38And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

39But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

40Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'

Open in the Reader

In remembrance.

Veneration of Chains of Apostle PeterRead the life

The story of St Peter’s imprisonment and miraculous release by an Angel of God is told in Acts ch. 12. The chains which fell from his hands were collected by Christians and passed down through the generations as precious relics, finally coming to Constantinople and being placed in the Church of St Peter, where they worked many miracles and healings.

There is nothing superstitious about the veneration of clothing and other objects belonging to the Saints; the Acts of the Apostles describes how handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched the Apostle Paul would heal the sick (ch. 19), and that even the shadow of the Apostle Peter healed those on whom it fell (ch. 5). In the twentieth century, a shirt worn by St Nektarios on his death-bed healed a paralyzed man. The sanctity of those united to God extends not only to their bodies but at times to their garments.

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.