Sunday, 9 August 2026

10th Sunday after Pentecost

119 days after Pascha · Tone 1 · Red cross half-circle (vigil typikon symbol) · Dormition Fast (Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

★ Holy Apostle Matthias

The Holy Apostle Matthias was born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah. From early childhood he studied the Law of God under the guidance of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver. When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world, Matthias believed in Him as the Messiah, followed Him constantly, and was numbered among the Seventy. After the Ascension of the Saviour the eleven remaining disciples cast lots to fill the place left vacant by the betrayer Judas Iscariot, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was thus added to the Twelve, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Matthias preached the Gospel in Jerusalem and Judea together with the other apostles. He travelled with the apostles Peter and Andrew to Syrian Antioch and to the Cappadocian city of Tyana, and preached at Sinope and Amaseia on the shore of the Black Sea. According to the tradition of the Church he carried the Gospel into Pontic Ethiopia, identified with western Georgia, and into Macedonia, where he endured many trials. Eventually he returned to Judea and was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin and stoned. To accuse him as an enemy of Caesar his head was struck off after he was already dead. He received the crown of martyrdom about the year 63. He is commemorated on 9 August.

Glorification of Saint Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America

Saint Herman of Alaska (c. 1756 to 15 December 1837) was a Russian monk of Valaam Monastery and one of the original missionaries who, in 1794, sailed to Kodiak Island in Russian America to preach the Gospel to the indigenous peoples of Alaska. After the deaths of his fellow missionaries he withdrew to nearby Spruce Island, which he named New Valaam, where he lived as a hermit for some thirty years, caring for orphans, defending the Native Alaskans against the abuses of the Russian-American Company, teaching the children, healing the sick, and praying ceaselessly. Many miracles were attributed to him during his life and after his repose, and the local people venerated him as a saint long before his formal glorification. On 9 August 1970, Metropolitan Ireney of the Orthodox Church in America, together with hierarchs and clergy from sister churches, celebrated the rite of glorification at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral on Kodiak Island, and on the same day the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia carried out a parallel glorification at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco. Saint Herman thus became the first canonised saint of the Orthodox Church in North America. The 9 August feast commemorates this glorification, while his repose is also kept on 15 December.

Holy Martyr Anthony of Alexandria

The Holy Martyr Anthony was a native of Alexandria in Egypt and a Christian who, in a time of persecution, openly confessed the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Arrested for this confession, he was severely tortured. He was first bound to a tree and his body torn with iron hooks; when this failed to break his constancy he was condemned to be burned in a heated furnace. Standing in the midst of the flames he calmly addressed the crowd, exhorting them to consider not the body, which is temporal, but the soul, which is eternal, and so to direct their toil toward God. Having finished his exhortation he gave up his soul to the Lord. When the furnace was opened his holy relics were found untouched by the fire. He is commemorated on 9 August.

Holy Ten Martyrs of Constantinople

730

The Holy Ten Martyrs of Constantinople, named in the synaxaria as Julian, Marcian, John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Photius, Peter, Leontius and the Patrician Mary, together with the Protospatharios Gregory, suffered for the holy icons in the year 730 under the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian. When the emperor ordered the great icon of Christ over the brazen gate of the imperial palace, the Chalke, to be torn down, these confessors resisted those who had been sent for the purpose. According to tradition Mary the Patrician, a noblewoman, climbed the ladder herself and pulled it down so that the soldier should not commit the sacrilege; the others gathered around the gate to defend the holy image. They were seized and subjected to many tortures, and at length all were beheaded by order of the emperor. Their relics were preserved in Constantinople and their memory is kept on 9 August together with the holy apostle Matthias.

Holy Martyr Anthony

2nd c.

A native of Alexandria, he was brought before the pagan governor and tortured for his faith, but would not renounce Christ. Finally he was burned alive, but from the flames he called out: ‘My beloved brethren, do not be enslaved by your bodies, but give thought to your souls, given to you by God and kin to God and to the heavenly powers.’

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

1 Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 4.9-16

⁹For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. ¹¹Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; ¹²And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: ¹³Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. ¹⁴I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. ¹⁵For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 17.14-23

¹⁴And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, ¹⁵Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. ¹⁹Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? ²⁰And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. ²¹Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

²²And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: ²³And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9

¹But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.

²In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,

³And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.

⁴For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.

⁵And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.

⁶As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.

⁷And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.

⁸They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

⁹They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3

¹⁵But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.

¹⁶Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord’s hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.

¹⁷He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.

¹⁸He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.

¹⁹He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.

²⁰His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.

²¹Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.

²²And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.

²³Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.

¹Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth.

²Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations.

³For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.

Vespers

Wisdom of Solomon — Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15

⁷But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.

⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.

⁹But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.

¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated.

¹¹Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

¹⁴For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.

¹⁵This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

10th Matins Gospel

John — John 21.1-14

¹After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. ²There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. ³Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. ⁴But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. ⁵Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. ⁶And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. ⁷Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. ⁸And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. ⁹As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. ¹¹Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. ¹²Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. ¹⁴This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

Epistle

— St Herman

Galatians — Galatians 5.22-6.2

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

¹Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. ²Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Gospel

— St Herman

Luke — Luke 6.17-23

¹⁷And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; ¹⁸And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. ¹⁹And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. ²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. ²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.