Daily Readings | Christ the Savior Orthodox Church

September 14, 2026

Exaltation (Elevation) of the Precious Cross

Fast — Strict Fast (Wine and Oil)

Commemorations

The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross • St Placilla the Empress (385 or 386) • Holy New Martyr Macarius of Thessalonica (1527)

Exodus 15.22-16.1

²² Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. ²⁴ The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them. ²⁶ He said, “If you will diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.” ²⁷ They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters. ¹ They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

Proverbs 3.11-18

¹¹ My son, don’t despise the LORD’s discipline, neither be weary of his correction; ¹² for whom the LORD loves, he corrects, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights. ¹³ Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding. ¹⁴ For her good profit is better than getting silver, and her return is better than fine gold. ¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies. None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her. ¹⁶ Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. ¹⁷ Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace. ¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.

Isaiah 60.11-16

¹¹ Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. ¹² For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. ¹³ “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. ¹⁴ The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you the LORD’s City, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. ¹⁶ You will also drink the milk of the nations, and will nurse from royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

John 12.28-36

²⁸ Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ Therefore the multitude who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out. ³² And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die. ³⁴ The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever.12:34 Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 2:44; See Isaiah 53:8 How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.

1 Corinthians 1.18-24

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”1:19 Isaiah 29:14 ²⁰ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. ²² For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

Galatians 4.28-5.10

²⁸ Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹ But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. ³⁰ However, what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”4:30 Genesis 21:10 ³¹ So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman. ¹ Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. ² Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. ³ Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. ⁴ You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. ⁵ For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love. ⁷ You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? ⁸ This persuasion is not from him who calls you. ⁹ A little yeast grows through the whole lump. ¹⁰ I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

John 19.6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30-35

⁶ When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” ⁸ When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid. ⁹ He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.” ¹³ When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.” ¹⁴ Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” ¹⁶ So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. ¹⁷ He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”, ¹⁸ where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹ Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” ²⁰ Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. ²⁵ But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. ²⁸ After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty!” ³⁰ When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ³¹ Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. ³² Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him; ³³ but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. ³⁴ However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

Mark 6.54-7.8

⁵⁴ When they had come out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him, ⁵⁵ and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick on their mats to where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Wherever he entered—into villages, or into cities, or into the country—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well. ¹ Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. ² Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?” ⁶ He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. ⁷ They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’7:7 Isaiah 29:13 ⁸ “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”

The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross

“Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the Cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the precious Cross was lifed on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy.” It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the venerable Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country (See Jan. 22, Saint Anastasius the Persian). Later, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place.” (Great Horologion) A fast is kept today, whatever the day of the week.

St Placilla the Empress (385 or 386)

She was the wife of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, and the mother of two Emperors, Arcadius and Honorius. Despite her lofty station, she devoted herself to visiting the poor and to caring personally for the sick. She often worked in the kitchens of various hospices in Constantinople, taking on tasks unexpected of anyone of patrician rank, let alone the Empress herself. To fulfil these missions, she often traveled unescorted through the poorest parts of the City. When others tried to caution or dissuade her, she answered that this was her way of giving thanks for all that God had given her. “Throughout her life, Saint Placilla served God in chastity, meekness, charity and prayer, and departed in peace to eternal life in 386 (or 385), having brought to those who encountered her a pledge of the Resurrection and of endless joy.” (Synaxarion)

Holy New Martyr Macarius of Thessalonica (1527)

“A disciple of Patriarch Niphon at the time that the latter was labouring in the asceticism of silence at Vatopedi, Macarius longed for martyrdom for the sake of Christ, and begged St Niphon’s blessing to seek it. The discerning Patriarch, perceiving that this was God’s will, blessed him for the way of martyrdom. Macarius went to Salonica and, in the midst of a crowd of Turks, began to speak of Christ as the one, true God. The Turks seized him and threw him into prison. When he was brought to trial, Macarius cried out to the Turks: ‘Oh, that you would come to know the truth and be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!’ The Turks beheaded him in 1527. At that moment, Niphon saw this in his spirit at Vatopedi, and told a monk of Macarius’s death by martyrdom, saying: ‘Know, my child, that your brother Macarius has today died a martyr, and is borne to heaven, triumphing and rejoicing in the Lord. May we be worthy of blessing by his prayers!’ (From the Athonite Patrology).” (Prologue)

Scripture from the World English Bible (Orthodox Edition). Calendar data courtesy of Orthocal.info.