Leer en español

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

On the Old (Julian) Calendar this is 7 October.

Readings for October 20, 2026: Tuesday of the 21st week after Pentecost

Tone 3

The Scripture readings appointed for the Divine Liturgy, following the practice of the Orthodox Church in America.

New Calendar Old Calendar

Commemorated today: Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in Syria

A prayer before reading the Scriptures

The priest says this prayer quietly before the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy. Many Orthodox Christians also say it before reading the Bible at home.

Illumine our hearts, O God who lovest mankind, with the pure light of thy divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our understanding to the comprehension of the proclamation of thy Gospel. Implant in us, likewise, the fear of thy blessed commandments; that, trampling down all carnal desires, we may pursue a godly life, both thinking and performing such things as are well-pleasing unto thee. For thou art the light of our souls, and of our bodies, O Christ our God, and unto thee do we ascribe glory, together with thy Father who is from everlasting, and thy holy, and blessed, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

From the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, in Isabel F. Hapgood's translation (Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906, pp. 88–89; public domain). See the scan

At the Divine Liturgy

Epistle Colossians 1:1–2, 7–11 WEB

Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

7 even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,

Read the whole chapter →

Gospel Luke 6:37–45 WEB

37 Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. 38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.” 39 He spoke a parable to them. “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? 42 Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye. 43 “For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.

Read the whole chapter →

All readings of the day

Vespers, Matins, the Hours and the Liturgy, as listed in our tables.

Divine Liturgy

About these readings

The readings follow the usage of the Orthodox Church in America (Slavic practice) and are calculated from the MIT-licensed tables of Paul Kachur's orthodox_calendar, checked day by day against the OCA's published readings for 2023 to 2027. Greek practice differs on many days and is not offered yet, because no openly licensed table of it exists. Your parish calendar always comes first.

Psalms are numbered as in the Septuagint, with the Hebrew numbering in brackets.