Readings for Sunday 11 January 2026
3 Tubah 1742
First Sunday of Tubah
Vespers Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 47 : 1 - 2
| 1 | Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! |
| 2 | For the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint Luke the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Luke 4 : 40 - 44
| 40 | When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. |
| 41 | And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!" And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. |
| 42 | Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; |
| 43 | but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent." |
| 44 | And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. |
Glory be to God forever.
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Matins Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 93 : 1 - 2
| 1 | The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved. |
| 2 | Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint Luke the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Luke 4 : 31 - 37
| 31 | Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. |
| 32 | And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. |
| 33 | Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, |
| 34 | saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" |
| 35 | But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. |
| 36 | Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." |
| 37 | And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region. |
Glory be to God forever.
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Divine Liturgy
Pauline Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God. A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to the Romans.
May his blessings be with us. Amen.
Romans 15 : 4 - 19
| 4 | For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. |
| 5 | Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, |
| 6 | that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 7 | Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. |
| 8 | Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, |
| 9 | and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: "For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name." |
| 10 | And again he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!" |
| 11 | And again: "Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!" |
| 12 | And again, Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope." |
| 13 | Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
| 14 | Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. |
| 15 | Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, |
| 16 | that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. |
| 17 | Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. |
| 18 | For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- |
| 19 | in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all. Amen.
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Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. John . May his blessings be upon us. Amen.
1 John 3 : 1 - 11
| 1 | Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. |
| 2 | Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. |
| 3 | And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. |
| 4 | Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. |
| 5 | And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. |
| 6 | Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. |
| 7 | Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. |
| 8 | He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. |
| 9 | Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. |
| 10 | In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. |
| 11 | For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, |
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Amen.
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Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us. Amen.
Acts 14:24-28 Acts 15:1-3
| 24 | And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. |
| 25 | Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. |
| 26 | From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. |
| 27 | Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. |
| 28 | So they stayed there a long time with the disciples. |
| 1 | And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." |
| 2 | Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. |
| 3 | So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God. Amen.
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Synaxarium
Day 3 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Tubah.
May God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins are forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers. Amen.
The Third Day of the Blessed Month of Tubah
Commemoration of the Slain Children of
Bethlehem by the order of King Herod
On this day, in the second year of the
Advent of Christ, the children of Bethlehem were martyred. King Herod secretly
called the wise men and determined from them what time the star had appeared.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young
Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come
and worship Him also." When they had come into the house, they saw the
young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. When
they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense
and myrrh. When they were about to return to Herod, the Angel of the Lord
warned them in a dream that they should not return to Herod, and that they
should depart for their own country another way. When they had departed,
the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, "Arise, take
the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring
you word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him."
Joseph arose, took the young child
and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the
death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son." (Matthew 2:7-15) and
(Hosea 11:1) Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men,
was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male
children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts from two years
old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise
men. Herod's intention was for Jesus to be slain among the children who
were slain. It was said that Herod schemed to achieve his evil objective,
by sending envoys to Bethlehem and all its districts saying, "By the command
of Caesar all the children two years old and under had to be counted."
They gathered 144,000 children in the hands of their mothers. He thought
that Jesus would be among them. Then King Herod sent a commander with one
thousand soldiers, who slaughtered all these children on one of the mountains
in one day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet
saying, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and a great
mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15-16) For Bethlehem is related to Rachel,
and the children were killed nearby her tomb, which is located close to
Bethlehem.
(Genesis 48:7) St. John the Evangelist said in Revelation that
he saw under the altar the souls of those children that had been slain
for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried
with a loud voice saying, "How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, until You judge
and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
A white robe was given to each
of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer,
until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who
would be killed as they were, was completed."
(Revelation 6:9-11) St. John
said also that the new song that the four living creatures and the elders
were singing, no one could learn except the 144,000 who were redeemed from
the earth, who were not defiled with women for they are virgins. They follow
the Lord (the Lamb) wherever He goes, and He wipes every tear from their
eyes. (Revelation 14:3-4)
Blessed are they, and blessed are the wombs that carried them.
May Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our Lord, now
and forever. Amen.
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Divine Liturgy Psalm & Gospel
From the Psalms of our father David the prophet and the king, may his blessings be with us all. Amen.
Psalms 98 : 2 - 3
| 2 | The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. |
| 3 | He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. |
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord. Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, unto Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to our teacher Saint Matthew the Evangelist. May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
Matthew 2 : 13 - 23
| 13 | Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." |
| 14 | When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, |
| 15 | and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son." |
| 16 | Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. |
| 17 | Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: |
| 18 | "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more." |
| 19 | Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, |
| 20 | saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead." |
| 21 | Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. |
| 22 | But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. |
| 23 | And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." |
Glory be to God forever.
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