Candles & Incense
Church calendar · 2026
23 October Friday
Old Style — 10 OctoberToday
The 21st week after Pentecost. Friday
Commemoration
Tap a name to open the life
5 of 5 names — the rest are in Georgian only
- Sts Eulampius and Eulampia›
St Theotecnus the Martyr›
St Bassian›
St Theophilus the Confessor›
St Ambrose of Optina›
Readings
The tone and the day's psalms
3
This week's tone is 3Eight tones — the Octoechos
What is a tone?
A tone is not a psalm number. It is the mode in which that week's resurrection hymns are sung — the whole week's Vespers, Matins and Liturgy are set in one tone.
There are eight tones, and they change each week. The cycle opens with the first tone on Thomas Sunday after Pascha and returns to the first every eight weeks; Bright Week itself has no tone of its own. A new tone begins on Saturday evening, with the new church week.
The Psalter is divided into twenty kathismata and, by the usual rule, is read through once a week. Appointed for this day:
- At Matins · kathisma 19Psalms 134–142›
- At Matins · kathisma 20Psalms 143–150›
- At Vespers · kathisma 18Psalms 119–133›
This is the usual rule. In Great Lent the Psalter is read twice a week, and the kathismata are divided differently.
Word of the day
Of all the creatures of this world God listens to man alone, and to him alone He appears, for God loves mankind; and wherever a person may be, God will always be beside him; man alone is a worthy worshipper of God, and for his sake alone God changes His appearance.
