Wednesday 25th February 2026
Lenten Fast: strict fast
Today we commemorate:
St. Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople (806). Hieromartyr Regnius, bishop of the Isle of Skopelos and Martyr Lebadeus. Holy Martyrs Alexander and Hypatius at Marcionopolis (305). St. Marcellus, bishop of Apamea in Syria.
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Ethelbert, King of Kent (616). St. Walburga the Myrrh-Giver, abbess of Heidenheim (779).
Isaiah 2:3-11; Genesis 1:24-2:3; Proverbs 2:1-22; Great Compline: Mark 11:22-25; Matthew 7:7-8
Isaiah 2:3-11
The Lord says this: The law comes forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between nations and convict many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they learn war any more. And now, house of Jacob, come let us walk in the light of the Lord. For he has abandoned his people, the house of Israel, because their land, like that of foreigners, is filled with occult practices as it was at the beginning and many foreign children have been born to them. Their land was filled with silver and gold and their treasures were numberless. The land was full of horses and their chariots were numberless. The land was also filled with abominations, the works of their own hands, and they worshipped what their own fingers had made. A human being bowed low to them, a man humbled himself, and I shall not forgive them. And now go into the rocks and hide in the earth in the face of the fear of the Lord and of the glory of his strength when he arises to crush the earth. The eyes of the Lord are exalted, but man is lowly. The arrogance of men will be humbled, and on that day the Lord alone will be exalted.
Genesis 1:24-2:3
God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth creatures that have life according to their kind: four-footed creatures and things that crawl, and the wild animals of the earth according to their kind,’ and it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kind and the livestock according to its kind, and all the things that crawl on the earth according to their kind, and God saw that they were good. God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image and according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and the livestock, over all the earth and every creature that moves on the earth.’ And God made human beings; in the image of God he made them, male and female he made them. God blessed them, saying, ‘Increase and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and the livestock, over all the earth and every creature that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘You see that I have given you every seed-bearing plant propagating its seeds on all the earth, and the fruit of every tree that has seeds that are sown. They will be food for you and for all the wild animals of the earth and all the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the earth. Everything that has the spirit of life will feed on this vegetation.’ And it was so. God saw all the things that he had made, and saw that they were very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. The heaven and the earth were finished and put in order. On the sixth day God finished his work of creation, and on the seventh he ceased from his work of creation. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it God ceased from all his work of creation.
Proverbs 2:1-22
My son, if you will accept my words of instruction and cherish them, your ear will be obedient to wisdom, you will apply your heart to knowledge and use it to teach your son. For if you appeal to wisdom and cry out for understanding, and if you search for her like silver and seek diligently for her as if for treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his presence come knowledge and understanding. He lays up salvation for the upright and protects their journey. He guards the paths of righteousness and protects the road for those who fear him. Then you will understand righteousness and judgement and will straighten all the right paths. For if wisdom enters into your understanding, and insight seems pleasant to your soul, good advice will guard you and holy understanding will keep you safe, delivering you from the path of evil and from the man who has nothing trustworthy to say. Alas for those who leave the right paths to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in evil and delight in wicked perversity, whose ways are crooked and tracks winding, who would remove you far from the straight way and would divert you from a righteous purpose. My son, do not let evil counsel overtake you. It forsakes the teaching of its youth and forgets the covenant of God. It has set up house near death, and its door posts near Hades with its spectres. None who walk that way will return, nor will they find the right paths to regain the years of life. For had they gone by good ways they would have found the smooth paths of righteousness. The good will inherit the land, the innocent will live there. Yes, the upright will dwell in the land and the holy will remain there, but the ways of the ungodly will disappear from the land and the transgressors will be rooted out.
Great Compline:
Mark 11:22-25; Matthew 7:7-8
The Lord said, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you that if you were to say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” with no doubt in your heart but believing that what you say is happening, whatever you ask will be yours. This is why I tell you that whatever you ask in prayer, however much, believe that you are receiving it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your transgressions. … Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and for everyone who knocks, it will be opened.’
The text and chapter and verse references of the Old Testament readings are those of the Septuagint