23rd Sunday After Pentecost - 11/16/25
Sunday, November 16th is the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, and on this day the Church remembers:
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (60 A.D.)
St. Fulvian, Prince of Ethiopia (1st c.)
Saint Sergius of Malopinega
Saint Hypatius of Gangra
Read more about the lives of these saints here.
Readings for Sunday, November 16th:
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9
For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
10
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!
11
To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.
12
And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
13
being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.
14
I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.
15
For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
16
Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
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9
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
10
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.
11
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
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4
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5
even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6
and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9
not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.cription
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25
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26
He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27
So he answered and said, “’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”
28
And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29
But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30
Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31
Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32
Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
33
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
34
So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35
On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
36
So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37
And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Holy Scriptures are part of the Church’s Holy Tradition. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of blessed memory wrote:
In the words of Father Alexander Schmemann, “A Christian is the one who, wherever he looks, finds everywhere Christ, and rejoices in Him.” This is true in particular of the biblical Christian. Wherever he looks, on every page, he finds everywhere Christ.
See Metropolitan Ware’s article How to Read the Bible for more on an Orthodox approach to scripture.