2024
On Sunday | September 1
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The Readings from the Regular Cycle
The Epistle
Tenth Sunday
The reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.
1 Cor. 4:9 – 16
Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. [RSV]
The Gospel
Tenth Sunday of Matthew
The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Mt. 17:14 – 23
At that time, a man came up to Jesus and kneeling before him said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.” As they abode in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” [RSV]
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The Readings for the Commemoration
2024
September 1
Indiction
The Readings from Vespers the Previous Evening
From Menaion - - -
Is 61:1 – 10a
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because of which He anointed Me. He sent Me to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of recompense, and to comfort all who mourn; to give those who mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of gladness to those who mourn; the garment of glory instead of a spirit of indifference. They shall be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory. They shall build the ancient deserts, raise up those formerly abandoned, and renew the desert cities that laid waste for generations. Foreigners shall come and shepherd your sheep, and aliens shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called priests of the Lord and the ministers of God. You shall eat the strength of nations and be admired because of their wealth. So they shall inherit the land a second time, and eternal gladness shall be upon their head. For I am the Lord, who loves righteousness and hates robberies of wrongdoing. I will give their labor to the righteous and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their seed and their offspring shall be known among the Gentiles. All who see them shall know these are the seed blessed by God; and they shall have exceeding gladness in the Lord.” [SAAS]
Lv 26:3 – 12, 14 – 17, 19 – 20, 22, 33, 40b-41a
The Lord spoke to the children of Israel and said to them, “If you walk in My ordinances and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. War shall not pass through your land, and I will give peace in the land; and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; and I will utterly destroy the bad wild animals from the land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by slaughter before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. For I will look upon you and make you fruitful, and multiply and establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest of the past two years, and clear out the old because of the new. I will establish My covenant among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. Now if you do not obey Me, neither do all these ordinances, but your soul disobeys them and despises My judgments, so as not to do all My commandments but to shatter My covenant, I also will do thus to you: I will bring difficulty upon you, both the itch, the jaundice, the gangrenous eyes, and the withering away of your life. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall before your enemies. Those who hate you shall pursue you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. I will crush your excessive arrogance; I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. Your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. I will also send among you the wild animals of the land; and they will eat you, and utterly destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate. I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and the sword shall suddenly destroy you. Then your land shall be a desert and your cities deserts. That they transgressed and disregarded Me and walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked in hostility to them and destroyed them in the land of their enemies,” says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel. [SAAS]
WSol 4:7 – 15
Though a righteous man may die before his time, he shall be at rest. For old age is not honored for its length of existence, nor measured by its number of years; but discernment is gray hair for mankind, and a spotless life is the maturity of old age. There was once a man pleasing to God and loved by Him, and while living among sinners he was taken up. He was caught up lest evil change his understanding or deceit deceive his soul. For envy arising from lack of judgment obscures what is good, and a whirling of desire undermines an innocent heart. He was made perfect, for in a short time he fulfilled long years, for his soul was pleasing to the Lord; therefore, He took him early from the midst of evil. Yet peoples saw this but did not understand, nor take such a thing to heart, that the Lord’s grace and mercy are with His elect and that He watches over His holy ones. [SAAS]
The Epistle
For the Indiction.
The reading is from Paul’s First Letter to Timothy.
1 Tim. 2:1 – 7
Timothy, my son, first of all I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. [RSV]
The Gospel
For the Indiction.
The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Lk. 4:16 – 22
At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. [RSV]
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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.
Synaxarion
From the Menaion.
On September 1 is the beginning of the Indiction, i.e. the new [Ecclesiastical] Year.
By their holy intercessions, O God, have mercy on us. Amen.
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Fasting Rule
Fast Free: All foods allowed.