Daily Readings | Christ the Savior Orthodox Church

September 13, 2026

15th Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday before Elevation, Founding of Church of the Holy Sepulchre

No Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed

Commemorations

Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) at Jerusalem (335) • Holy Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion (1st c. ) • Holy Great Martyr Ketevan, Queen of Georgia (1624)

3[1] Kings 8.22-23, 27-30

²² Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; ²³ and he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ²⁷ But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; ²⁹ that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

Proverbs 3.19-34

¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. ²⁰ By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. ²¹ My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, ²² so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck. ²³ Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble. ²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. ²⁵ Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes; ²⁶ for the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken. ²⁷ Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. ²⁸ Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you. ²⁹ Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you. ³⁰ Don’t strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. ³¹ Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. ³² For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD, but his friendship is with the upright. ³³ The LORD’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous. ³⁴ Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.

Proverbs 9.1-11

¹ Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars. ² She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. ³ She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city: ⁴ “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, ⁵ “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed! ⁶ Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.” ⁷ One who corrects a mocker invites insult. One who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. ⁸ Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you. ⁹ Instruct a wise person, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous person, and he will increase in learning. ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. ¹¹ For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.

Luke 24.1-12

¹ But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. ³ They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body. ⁴ While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. ⁵ Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” ⁸ They remembered his words, ⁹ returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles. ¹¹ These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.

Galatians 6.11-18

¹¹ See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand. ¹² As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised, just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³ For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh. ¹⁴ But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. ¹⁶ As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel. ¹⁷ From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body. ¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4.6-15

⁶ seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,”4:6 Genesis 1:3 who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. ⁸ We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; ⁹ pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then death works in us, but life in you. ¹³ But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.”4:13 Psalms 116:10 We also believe, and therefore we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Hebrews 3.1-4

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. ³ For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God.

John 3.13-17

¹³ No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. ¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

Matthew 22.35-46

³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’22:37 Deuteronomy 6:5 ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’22:39 Leviticus 19:18 ⁴⁰ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” ⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, ⁴⁴ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?22:44 Psalms 110:1 ⁴⁵ “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” ⁴⁶ No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.

Matthew 16.13-18

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” ¹⁴ They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) at Jerusalem (335)

The Church is located on Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified and buried. The true Cross and the place of the Resurrection were covered over by those hostile to Christ and His Apostles, and in the reign of Hadrian a temple to Aphrodite was built over the holy sites. St Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, personally commanded and oversaw the excavations that restored the site and recovered the Cross itself. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was begun at the Empress Helena’s command, but she reposed before it could be completed. The Church was completed by Constantine and consecrated on this date in 335. Makarios archbishop of Jerusalem, presided at the consecration and also exalted the precious Cross (September 14). It is at this church that the miracle of the Holy Fire occurs every Pascha.

Holy Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion (1st c. )

This is the Cornelius who received St Peter into his household in Caesarea (Acts ch.10). He was then instructed in the Faith and baptised by St Peter, though he had been a pagan and a Gentile: a great turning point in the growth of the Church, for before this time many (including St Peter) had believed that the Church was meant only for the Jews. Tradition holds that St Cornelius later became a bishop and died a martyr.

Holy Great Martyr Ketevan, Queen of Georgia (1624)

In the seventeenth century, the Kingdom of Georgia was cruelly pressed by the Ottoman Empire on one side and Persia, under Shah Abbas the Great, on the other. King Theimuraz was taken captive by the Persians during an invasion and held captive in the fortress of Shiraz until, after many tortures, he was strangled.

The King’s mother, Queen Ketevan, travelled to the Persian court at Shiraz along with her grandsons Levan and Alexander, to plead with the Shah to spare the Kingdom. The Shah agreed, but the three were kept as hostages, where all were cruelly tortured.

Queen Ketevan endured ten years of captivity, throughout which the Shah attempted to convert her to Islam, first by persuasion and threats, then by torture. The Queen refused every effort to drive her into apostasy, and before each new torture would make the sign of the Cross and say ‘In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ At the end a brazier of burning coals was fixed to her head and, in the midst of her extreme torment, she was strangled with a bow-string on September 13 1624. After her glorious martyrdom a divine light surrounded her tomb.

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