Week 15 after Pentecost ·
Orthodox Study

Sunday, September 17

15th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday after Elevation

Fast-free

Appointed to be read.

  1. At the

    1. EpistleGalatians 2:16–20
    2. Epistle2 Corinthians 4:6–15
    3. GospelMark 8:34–9:1
    4. GospelMatthew 22:35–46
  2. At

    1. GospelLuke 24:1–12

More than one commemoration is kept today, so more than one Epistle and Gospel is appointed.

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Epistle.

Galatians 2:16–20

1 min read

16knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

17'But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!

18For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

19For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.

20I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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Epistle.

2 Corinthians 4:6–15

1 min read

6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

8We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—

10always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

12So then death is working in us, but life in you.

13And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak,

14knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.

15For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

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Gospel.

Mark 8:34–9:1

1 min read

34When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

35For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.

36For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

37Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

38For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.'

9:1And He said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.'

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Gospel.

Matthew 22:35–46

1 min read

35Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

36'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?'

37Jesus said to him, ''You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'

41While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?'

43They said to Him, 'The Son of David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

44'The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool''?

45If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?'

46And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

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Matins Gospel.

Luke 24:1–12

1 min read

1Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

2But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

3Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

5Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?

6He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,

7saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' '

8And they remembered His words.

9Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.

11And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

12But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

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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.

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