Thursday 19th February 2026
Cheesefare week: abstain only from meat
Today we commemorate:
Apostles of the Seventy Archippus and Philemon, and Martyr Apphias (1st C). St. Philotheia of Athens, Nun-martyr (1589). New Hieromartyr Nicetas of Epirus (1809).
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Odran the Martyr (452).
Jude 1:11-25; Luke 23:1-31,33,44-56
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
Jude 1:11-25
Beloved, woe to the ungodly because they went the way of Cain, and for a reward rushed headlong into Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These people who feast with you in your agape meals are hidden reefs; fearlessly self-serving; clouds without rain, blown along by the winds; trees without fruit in autumn, twice dead, uprooted; tempestuous waves of the sea frothing with their own shame; wandering stars for whom the shroud of darkness has for ever been reserved. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, even prophesied about these people, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute justice upon all, and to convict the ungodly among them for all their ungodly deeds that they irreverently committed, and for all the harsh things the ungodly sinners spoke against him.’ These people are grumblers, complainers. They live for their passions and their mouths talk bombastic nonsense, flattering people for the sake of profit. As for you, beloved, remember the words spoken earlier by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told you that at the end of the age there would be scoffers going the way of their own ungodly passions. These are the ones causing division, worldly people who lack the Spirit. But you, beloved, continue building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life. Show mercy to some who doubt, and save some through fear, snatching them from the fire but hating the clothing soiled by the flesh. Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to present you blameless in the presence of his glory with great joy, to God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, power and authority, both now and for all the ages. Amen.
Luke 23:1-31,33,44-56
At that time the whole assembly rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to lay charges against him, saying, ‘We found this man subverting the nation, forbidding the payment of tax to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’ Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ And he responded by saying, ‘Those are your words.’ Pilate then announced to the chief priests and to the crowd, ‘I find no fault in this man.’ But they were all the more insistent, saying, ‘He is stirring up the people, teaching throughout all Judaea, from Galilee where he began, all the way here.’ Now when Pilate heard ‘Galilee’ he asked if the man was a Galilean, and discovering that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus he was very pleased because he had wanted to see him for some time. He had heard much about him and was hoping to see some sign done by him. He questioned him at great length but received no answers. The scribes and the chief priests stood by, vehemently denouncing him. Then Herod with his soldiers humiliated him. In mockery, they dressed him in a magnificent robe and sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that day, where previously there had been hostility between them. Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people. He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me as one subverting the people, but under questioning in your presence I did not find this man guilty of any of the charges you lay against him, and neither did Herod when I sent you back to him. Nothing deserving death has been done by him. I shall therefore flog him and release him.’ He was under an obligation to release someone for them at each feast, but with everyone yelling at once they shouted, ‘Away with this man. Release for us Barabbas,’ who had been thrown into prison because of an insurrection in the city, and for murder. Then Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, again appealed to them. But they went on chanting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ For the third time he called out to them, ‘Why? What harm has he done? I have found in him nothing deserving death. I shall flog him and then release him.’ But with deafening shouts they were relentless, demanding that he should be crucified, and their voices with those of the chief priests prevailed. And so Pilate decreed that what they asked should be done. As they had requested, he released for them Barabbas, the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, and he surrendered Jesus to their will. As they led him away they detained a man returning from the countryside, Simon of Cyrene, and they laid the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus. A great company of people were following him, including women who were beating their breasts and lamenting him. Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children, for the days are coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, the wombs that have not given birth and the breasts that have not suckled.” They will then begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and to the hills, “Bury us.” For if they do these things when the timber is wet, what will happen when it is dry?’ … And when they reached the place called The Skull, there they crucified him with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. … It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell upon the whole land until the ninth hour because the sun was eclipsed. Then the veil of the sanctuary was torn down the middle, and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ And as he said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God and said, ‘Truly, this was a righteous man.’ And when the crowds of people who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they turned away, beating their breasts. All who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, had been standing a long way off, watching these things. Then a man called Joseph appeared, a member of the Sanhedrin, a good and righteous man who had not agreed to what they had planned and done. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, and he too was waiting for the Kingdom of God. This man approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. When he had taken him down, he wrapped him in linen and placed him in a tomb hewn from the rock where no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day. The Sabbath was drawing near. The women who had come with him from Galilee had followed and seen the tomb and how his body was laid, and they returned and prepared spices and ointments. Then on the Sabbath they rested in accordance with the commandment.