From the calendar, 2027.

Thursday, June 17

Martyrs Manuel, Sabel, Ismael of Persia

Fast-free

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. EpistleActs 25:13–19
2. GospelJohn 16:23–33

Ask about these readings in Study

Epistle.

Acts 25:13–19

1 min read

13And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.

14When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying: 'There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix,

15about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.

16To them I answered, 'It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him.'

17Therefore when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.

18When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed,

19but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Open in the Reader

Gospel.

John 16:23–33

1 min read

23'And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

25'These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.

26In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;

27for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

28I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.'

29His disciples said to Him, 'See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!

30Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.'

31Jesus answered them, 'Do you now believe?

32Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

33These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.'

Open in the Reader

In remembrance.

Martyrs Manuel, Sabel, Ismael of PersiaRead the life

“The holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel, and Ishmael, Persians by race and brethren according to the flesh, were sent by the Persian King as ambassadors to Julian the Apostate to negotiate a peace treaty. While with him at a place near Chalcedon, they refused to join him in offering sacrifice to his idols. Scorning the immunity universally accorded ambassadors, he had them slain in the year 362. This was a cause of the war with Persia in which Julian perished miserably the following year.” (Great Horologion)

Our Holy Father Botolph, Abbot of the Monastery of Ikanhoe (680)Read the life

‘Saint Botolph was born in Britain about the year 610 and in his youth became a monk in Gaul. The sisters of Ethelmund, King of East Anglia, who were also sent to Gaul to learn the monastic discipline, met Saint Botolph, and learning of his intention to return to Britain, bade their brother the King grant him land on which to found a monastery. Hearing the King’s offer, Saint Botolph asked for land not already in any man’s possession, not wishing that his gain should come through another’s loss, and chose a certain desolate place called Ikanhoe. At his coming, the demons inhabiting Ikanhoe rose up against him with tumult, threats, and horrible apparitions, but the Saint drove them away with the sign of the Cross and his prayer. Through his monastery he established in England the rule of monastic life that he had learned in Gaul.

Read the full life

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.