21 December Tuesday
Old Style — 8 DecemberToday

This year's detailed calendar has not been published yet — these are calculated dates.
Commemorated — from the synaxarion
Tap a name to open the life
- Venerable Patapius (VII)›
- Holy Apostles of the Seventy: Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesar and Onesiphorus (I)›
- Holy Martyrs: Sixty-two Presbyters and Three Hundred Laymen Slain by the Arians in Africa (+477)›
- Holy Martyr Anthusa of Rome (V)›
The tone and the day's psalms
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 7Psalms 46–54›
- At Matins · kathisma 8Psalms 55–63›
- At Vespers · kathisma 9Psalms 64–69›
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
Keep from mockery and slander of the tongue, and in general put a bridle on your tongue.
For every day — candles and incense
Candles and incense →Icon: Icon of Christ — Sinai, 6th c. · Public domain







