Friday 4th July 2025
Fast day: strict fast
Today we commemorate:
St. Andrew the Hymnographer, archbishop of Crete and author of the Great Canon (726). St. Martha, mother of St. Simeon Stylites the Younger (554). Hieromartyr Theodore, bishop of Cyrene in Libya, and with him Martyrs Cyprilla, Aroa, and Lucia (310). Venerable Andrei Rublev, Iconographer (c.1430). Holy Royal Passionbearers of Russia: Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, Crown Prince Alexis, and Grand-Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia and those martyred with them (1918).
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Finbar, abbot of Innis Doimlile (6th C).
Romans 11:25-36; Matthew 12:1-8
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
Romans 11:25-36
Brothers and sisters, I do not want you, through being wise in your own estimation, to misunderstand this mystery concerning the partial hardening that has happened to Israel until the full measure of the Gentiles should come in, for in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come out from Sion and he will turn back the ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant for them when I take away their sins.’ With regard to the Gospel, they are indeed enemies on your account; but with regard to being chosen, they are beloved because of the ancestors, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. It is like this. At one time you were disobedient to God, but now you have been shown mercy through their disobedience so that they, who are now disobedient, may also receive mercy through the mercy shown to you. For God has subjected everyone to a common disobedience so that he may have mercy upon everyone. Such are the depths of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge. How unaccountable are his judgements, and how unfathomable are his ways. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has given him advice?’ Or ‘who has first given to him so that they will be repaid by him?’ For everything is from him and through him and for him. To him be glory to the ages. Amen.
Matthew 12:1-8
At that time Jesus made his way through the cornfields on the Sabbath day. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees noticed, they said to him, ‘Look at your disciples: they are doing what it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.’ But he told them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those with him? How he went into the house of God and ate the shewbread which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath yet bear no guilt? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had understood this: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’