Earthquake; St. Demetrius
Fast-Free Day
Gospel Reading
Matthew 8:23-27
²³ When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. ²⁵ They came to him, and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!” ²⁶ He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 12:6-13
⁶ For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” ⁷ It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children. ⁹ Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹ All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby. ¹² Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Hebrews 12:25-27
²⁵ See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more”, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.