Liturgical Calendar

My trust is in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad of your kindness, when You have seen my affliction.

In You, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice rescue me.

My trust is in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad of your kindness, when You have seen my affliction.

Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that, improved by wholesome fasting, and thus abstaining from harmful sin, we may the more readily receive Your mercy.

Lesson from the book of Exodus

Thus says the Lord God: Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female slave, not his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him. When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoking, they all feared and trembled. So they took up a position much farther away and said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen; but let not the Lord speak to us, or we shall die. Moses answered the people, Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put His fear upon you, lest you should sin. Still the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the cloud where God was. The Lord told Moses, Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make anything to rank with Me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and upon it you shall sacrifice your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen, in whatever place I choose for the remembrance of My name.

Have pity on me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord.

For my body is in terror; my soul, too, is utterly terrified.

O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes.

O Lord, remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may Your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. (kneel)

Help us, O God, our Saviour, because of the glory of Your Name, O Lord; deliver us and pardon our sins for Your Name’s sake.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

At that time, the Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they do not wash their hands when they take food. But He answered and said to them, And why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Let him who curses father or mother be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God, does not have to honor his father or his mother.’ So you have made void the commandment of God by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; and in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men.’ Then He called the crowd to Him, and said to them, Hear, and understand. What goes into the mouth does not defile a man; but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man. Then His disciples came up and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees have taken offense at hearing this saying? But He answered and said, Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of blind men. But if a blind man guide a blind man, both fall into a pit. But Peter spoke to Him, saying, Explain to us this parable. And He said, Are you also even yet without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever enters the mouth passes into the belly and is cast out into the drain? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is they that defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immorality, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

O Lord, deal kindly with me for Your Name’s sake; because your kindness is generous.

O Lord, receive, we beseech You, the prayers of Your people with offerings of sacrifices, and defend us, who celebrate Your mysteries, from all dangers.

You will show me the path to life, You will fill me with fullness of joys in Your presence, O Lord.

May the heavenly banquet with which we have been nourished, make us holy, O Lord; may it be an atonement for all our sins, and make us worthy of the heavenly promises.

Let us pray. Bow your heads to God. Grant, almighty God, we beseech You, that we who seek the grace of Your protection, delivered from all evils, may serve You with untroubled minds.