Saturday 30th August 2025
Leavetaking of The Beheading of the Forerunner
Today we commemorate:
SS Alexander (340), John (595), and Paul the New (784), patriarchs of Constantinople. St. Phantinos of Calabria (9th C). Translation of the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky (1724). St. Alexander, abbot of Svir (1533).
British Isles and Ireland:
St. Loarn, bishop of Downpatrick (5th C). St. Fiacre of Brogillum (670). St. Rumon of Romansleigh, Devon (6th C).
1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5; Matthew 20:29-34
Readings in bold type are those appointed by the Typikon for use at the Liturgy
1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5
Look at your own calling, brothers and sisters. There are not many with worldly wisdom, not many with great power, not many of noble birth. But God chose the world’s foolish things in order to confound the wise; and God chose the world’s weak things in order to confound the strong; and God chose the world’s lowly things and the despised things and what is nothing in order to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being may boast in the presence of God. It is his doing that you are in Christ Jesus, the one who for us became wisdom from God as well as righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘The one who boasts should boast in the Lord.’ When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come to you preaching the testimony of God with grand words or wisdom, for I was determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in great fear and trembling. Neither my message nor my preaching were in persuasive words of human wisdom, but were a manifestation of the Spirit and of power so that your faith may not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Matthew 20:29-34
At that time, on leaving Jericho, a great crowd followed Jesus. Two blind men could be seen sitting at the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by they shouted out, saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, you Son of David.’ The crowd cautioned them to be silent, but they shouted out even more, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, Lord, you Son of David.’ Jesus stopped and called them, and said, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ They told him, ‘Lord, that our eyes may be opened.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately their eyes could see again, and they followed him.