Saturday, February 23, 2030
Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; Saint Gorgonia (372); Our Venerable Father Alexander the Unsleeping (430)
Tone 5. Fast-free. What this means
The Epistle
1 Timothy 6:11–16
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 13I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; 14That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
The Gospel
Luke 20:46–21:4
Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; 47Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
1And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. 2And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. 3And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: 4For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
Commemorated today
- Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna
- Proterios, Archbishop of Alexandria
- Damian the New Martyr of Mount Athos
- Boswell, Abbot of Melrose Abbey
- Saint Gorgonia (372)
- Our Venerable Father Alexander the Unsleeping (430)
Hymns and lives of the saints are on the Online Chapel of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.