Saturday 22nd November 2025
Nativity Fast: fish, wine and oil allowed
Afterfeast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple
Today we commemorate:
Apostles of the Seventy Philemon and Archippus, Martyr Apphia, wife of Philemon and Equal-to-the-Apostles, and Onesimus, disciple of St. Paul (1st C). Virgin-Martyr Cecilia of Rome and those with her (c.230). Holy Martyr Michael, Prince of Tver (1318). St. Clement of Ochrida, bishop of Greater Macedonia and Enlightner of Bulgaria (916). Venerable Kallistos (Xanthopoulos) of Mt. Athos, patriarch of Constantinople (1397).
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Deiniol the Younger, abbot of Bangor (621).
2 Corinthians 11:1-6; Luke 9:57-62
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
2 Corinthians 11:1-6
Brothers and sisters, if only you would bear with me in a little foolishness, and indeed you do bear with me. I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God. I betrothed you to one husband, to present you to Christ as a pure virgin, but I fear that perhaps as the snake deceived Eve by its craftiness so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that leads to Christ. If, for example, someone appears preaching some other Jesus, not the one we preached, or you get hold of a different spirit, not the one you received, or a different gospel that is not the one you accepted, you put up with it easily. Now I do not consider that I have lagged behind the foremost apostles in any way. Even if I am untrained at speaking, I am not in knowledge, and we always explained everything to you.
Luke 9:57-62
At that time, as they went on their way, someone said to Jesus, ‘I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord.’ Jesus told him, ‘Foxes have dens and the birds of the air have roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ He said to another, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ And Jesus replied, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead. As for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I want to follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at home.’ Jesus told him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.’