Friday 13th March 2026
Lenten Fast: strict fast
Today we commemorate:
Translation of the relics of St. Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople (846). Hieromartyr Publius, bishop of Athens and disciple of St. Dionysius the Areopagite (2nd C). Holy Martyrs Africanus, Publius, and Terence, of Carthage (3rd C).
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Mochoemoc, abbot (656). St. Kevoca of Kyle (7th C). St. Gerald of Mayo, abbot (732).
Isaiah 13:2-13; Genesis 8:4-21; Proverbs 10:31-11:12
Isaiah 13:2-13
On the mountain in the plain, raise a standard. Lift up your voice to them; do not be afraid. Encourage them with your hand. Open up, you rulers. It is I who appoint them, and it is I who lead them. They are consecrated, and it is I who lead them. Giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing and at the same time reviling. The sound of many nations is upon the mountains, like the voices of many nations, the sound of kings and nations mustered. The Lord of hosts has commanded a warrior nation to come from a far off land, from the furthest foundation of heaven. The Lord and his armed warriors have come to destroy the whole world. Howl, for the Day of the Lord is at hand and destruction will come from God. Every hand will therefore become limp, and every human soul afraid. The elders too will be troubled, seized with pangs like those of a woman in labour. They will wail to one another and be confounded; their faces will be contorted like a flame. For this is the coming of the unstoppable Day of the Lord, a day of wrath and anger to lay waste the whole world and to destroy the sinners from it. The stars of heaven, Orion and the whole order of heaven, will not give their light, and when the sun rises there will be darkness, nor will the moon give its light. I will summon terrible things upon the whole world, upon the ungodly because of their sins. I will destroy the vanity of transgressors and bring down the pride of the arrogant. Those who are left will be more precious than unsmelted gold, and a human being more precious than the ore of Ophir. For the heaven will be enraged, and the earth will be shaken from her foundations because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, on the day when his fury comes upon it.
Genesis 8:4-21
The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven to see if the waters had disappeared. It went out and did not return until the water had dried up from the earth. He also sent out after it a dove to see if the waters had disappeared from the face of the earth. But the dove found nowhere to perch and returned to him in the ark because the waters still covered the face of the whole earth; and so he put out his hand, caught it, and brought it back into the ark with him. He waited seven more days and again sent the dove out from the ark. The dove returned to him in the evening and in its beak it had an olive leaf, a twig, and Noah knew that the waters no longer covered the earth. He waited yet another seven days and again sent the dove out, and this time it did not return to him. In the six hundredth and first year of the life of Noah, in the first month and the first day of the month, the water subsided from the earth. Noah opened the roof of the ark he had made and saw that the waters had disappeared from the face of the earth. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. The Lord God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you, and bring out with you all the wild animals, all that are with you, all the living things, the birds and livestock and everything that lives on the earth; and increase and multiply on the earth.’ Noah came out with his wife and his sons and his sons’ wives; and all the wild animals and all the livestock and every bird and everything that lives on the earth according to its kind came out of the ark. Noah built an altar to the Lord and took from all the clean livestock and from all the clean birds, and he offered them as a whole burnt offering on the altar. Then the Lord God smelt a sweet aroma, and the Lord God pondered and said, ‘I shall not again and no longer curse the earth because of the deeds of men, for the imagination of man from his youth is bent intently upon what is evil; I shall not again strike all living things as I have done.’
Proverbs 10:31-11:12
The mouths of the righteous dispense wisdom, but the tongues of the unrighteous will perish. The lips of righteous men dispense grace, but the mouths of the ungodly are repellent. False balances are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, but a true weight is acceptable to him. Wherever pride goes there will also be dishonour, but the mouths of the humble bestow wisdom. When the righteous die they leave regret, but the destruction of the ungodly is at hand, and brings joy. Righteousness cuts straight blameless paths, but ungodliness descends into unrighteousness. The righteousness of upright men rescues them, but transgressors are overtaken by their destruction. Hope does not perish when a righteous man dies, but the boasts of the ungodly perish. The righteous escape from a trap, and the ungodly are committed instead. There is a snare for citizens in the mouths of the ungodly, but the perception of the righteous is a straight road. By the good deeds of the righteous a city prospers, but it is ruined by the mouths of the ungodly. Those of poor intellect treat citizens with scorn, but an intelligent man keeps silent.
The text and chapter and verse references of the Old Testament readings are those of the Septuagint