Monday 12th January 2026
Afterfeast of The Theophany
Today we commemorate:
Holy martyr Tatiana of Rome and those who suffered with her (3rd C). Holy martyr Mertius of Mauretania (c.305). Virgin-martyr Euthasia. Martyr Philotheus of Antioch (c.305)
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Benedict Biscop, 1st abbot of Wearmouth, scholar (690).
James 2:14-26; Mark 4:10-23
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
James 2:14-26
Brothers and sisters, what benefit is there for those who say they have faith but do nothing? Can that faith save them? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and lacks food for the day, and one of you tells them, ‘Go in peace. Be warm and satisfied,’ but does not give them what the body requires, where is the benefit? And so faith by itself, where there are no deeds, is dead. Then someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have deeds.’ Show me your faith from your deeds, and I, from my deeds, will show you my faith. You believe that God is one. Congratulations: the demons believe that as well, and they shudder. You need to know, empty-headed one, that faith without deeds is dead. Was our father Abraham not made righteous through what he did when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? Faith, you see, was working together with what he did, and through deeds faith was perfected. Then the Scripture that says ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness’ was fulfilled, and he was called the Friend of God. And so you see that a person is made righteous from what is done, and not from faith by itself. In the same way, was it not from what she did that the prostitute Rahab was also made righteous when she received the messengers hospitably and sent them off by a different road? For just as the body without breath is dead, so faith without deeds is also dead.
Mark 4:10-23
At that time when Jesus was alone, those around him together with the Twelve asked him about the parable, and he told them, ‘To you it has been granted to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to those outside everything comes in parables so that, “Looking, they may see but not perceive; and listening, they may hear but not understand, nor repent for their sins to be forgiven.”’ He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. Now these are the ones where the word is sown beside the path: as soon as they hear, Satan comes and takes away the word that has been sown in their hearts. It is the same with those sown on stony ground: when they hear the word they accept it at once with joy, but they have no root in them and are short-lived. Later, affliction or persecution comes along because of the word, and they immediately stumble. And these are the ones sown among thorns: they hear the word, but the anxieties of this age and the treachery of wealth and all the other cravings come in and choke the word, and they produce no fruit. And these are the ones sown in good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit; one, thirty times over, and one sixty, and one a hundred.’ Then he said to them, ‘Is a lamp there to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lamp stand? And there is no secret that is not revealed, nothing kept hidden that does not come to light. If anyone has ears for listening, listen.’