Saturday October 3, 2026 / September 20, 2026
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Saturday after the Universal Elevation of the Precious and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord
Great-martyr Eustathius (Eustace) Placidas, his wife Martyr Theopistes, and their children Martyrs Agapius and Theopistus, of Rome (118).
Holy Martyr and Confessor Michael and his counselor Theodore, wonderworkers of Chernigov (1245).
New Hieromartyr Anatole (Kamensky), archbishop of Irkutsk (1925).
New Hieromartyrs Theoktist and Alexander priests (1937).
Venerable Oleg, prince of Briansk (1285).
Synaxis of All Saints of Briansk.
Martyr John the Confessor of Egypt, beheaded in Palestine, and with him 40 Martyrs (310).
New Martyr Hilarion of Crete (Mt. Athos) (1804) (Greek).
Venerables Theodore and Euprepius and two named Anastasius, confessors and disciples of St. Maximus the Confessor (7th c.).
Martyrs Artemidorus and Thalos (Greek).
St. Meletius of Crete (Greek).
Venerable Kyr John of Crete (Greek).
St. Eustathius, archbishop of Thessalonica (1194).
The Scripture Readings
39
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
40
There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44
It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Matthew 19:3-12
3
The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4
And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’
5
and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6
So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
7
They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8
He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.
10
His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
11
But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:
12
For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Saturday After
26
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28
and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29
that no flesh should glory in His presence.
John 8:21-30 Saturday After
21
Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
22
So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”
23
And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
25
Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.
26
I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.
27
They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.
28
Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
29
And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
30
As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.