Readings and saints

Monday, December 14, 2026

December 1 on the Old Calendar

Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucis, Callinicus

Monday of the 29th week after Pentecost

Martyr

Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus

Fasting: Nativity Fast: no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, wine, or oil.Your priest can tell you how to keep the fast.
Tone: Tone 3This week’s Resurrection hymns are sung in the third of the Church’s eight tones.

The readings

TranslationTraditionalModernSide by side

Traditional: the King James Version (1611) for the New Testament. Underlined words are explained in Words of Prayer.

Modern: the World English Bible for the New Testament. Your choice is remembered on this device.

Epistle

Hebrews 3:5-11, 17-19

Traditional

⁵And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; ⁶But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. ⁷Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: ⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. ¹⁰Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. ¹¹So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) ¹⁷But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? ¹⁹So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Modern

⁵Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, ⁶but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. ⁷Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, ⁸don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, ⁹where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. ¹⁰Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’ ¹¹As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’” ¹⁷With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

Gospel

Mark 8:11-21

Traditional

¹¹And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. ¹²And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. ¹³And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.

¹⁴Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. ¹⁵And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. ¹⁶And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. ¹⁷And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? ¹⁸Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? ¹⁹When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. ²⁰And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. ²¹And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

Modern

¹¹The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven and testing him. ¹²He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³He left them, and again entering into the boat, departed to the other side.

¹⁴They forgot to take bread; and they didn’t have more than one loaf in the boat with them. ¹⁵He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” ¹⁶They reasoned with one another, saying, “It’s because we have no bread.” ¹⁷Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet or understand? Is your heart still hardened? ¹⁸Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember? ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.” ²⁰“When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.” ²¹He asked them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

Remembered on this day

Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus

Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus are remembered as martyrs in Asia Minor during the third-century persecutions. Their traditional life tells of Leucius and Thyrsus confronting the cruelty inflicted on Christians, and of Callinicus leaving pagan worship to follow Christ. Their remembrance joins courage with the possibility of change: a person who once served other gods could become a faithful witness to Christ.

How they died
Tradition holds that Leucius and Callinicus were beheaded, while Thyrsus died after torture, before his planned execution by sawing.

Thyrsus, Leucius and Callinicus: the full page

Also remembered today: Holy Martyrs Philemon, Apollonius, Arian and those with them (3rd c.).

Calendar: Orthocal, following the Revised Julian (New) Calendar of the Orthodox Church in America. Parishes on the Old Calendar keep each day 13 days later. Check your own parish calendar.