From the calendar, 2028.

Tuesday, January 18

Ss Athanasius the Great and Cyril of Alexandria

Fast-free

Appointed to be read.

At the
1. EpistleHebrews 12:25–26, 13:22–25
2. GospelMark 10:2–12

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Epistle.

Hebrews 12:25–26, 13:22–25

1 min read

25See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

26whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.'

13:22And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.

23Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly.

24Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.

25Grace be with you all. Amen.

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Gospel.

Mark 10:2–12

1 min read

2The Pharisees came and asked Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' testing Him.

3And He answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?'

4They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.'

5And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

6But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.'

7'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

8and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.'

10In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.

11So He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

12And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.'

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In remembrance.

Ss Athanasius the Great and Cyril of AlexandriaRead the life

Saint Athanasius, pillar of Orthodoxy and Father of the Church, was born in Alexandria in 275, to pious Christian parents. Even as a child, his piety and devotion to the Faith were so notable that Alexander, the Patriarch of the city, took Athanasius under his protection. As a student, he acquired a thorough education, but was more interested in the things of God than in secular learning, and withdrew for a time into the desert to sit at the feet of Saint Anthony (January 17), whose disciple he became and whose biography he later wrote. On returning to Alexandria, he was ordained to the diaconate and began his public labors for the Church. He wrote his treatise On the Incarnation, when he was only twenty. (It contains a phrase, still often quoted today, that express in a few words some of the depths of the Mystery of the Incarnation: God became man that man might become god.)

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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.