Orthodox readings for 19 September 2026

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

1 Corinthians, Chapter 10, verses 23-28

²¹ We must not make the Lord's Table the table of devils, ²⁴ and in things indifferent, we must have regard of our brethren

²³All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

²⁴Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

²⁵Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:

²⁶For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

²⁷If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

²⁸But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:

Read more:1 Corinthians, Chapter 10

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10

10:23 Supposing this were lawful in itself, yet it is not expedient, it is not edifying to my neighbour.

10:24 His own only, but another's welfare also.

10:25 The apostle now applies this principle to the point in question. Asking no questions - Whether it has been sacrificed or not.

10:26 For God, who is the Creator, Proprietor, and Disposer of the earth and all that is therein, hath given the produce of it to the children of men, to be used without scruple. Psa 24:1

10:28 For his sake that showed thee, and for conscience' sake - That is, for the sake of his weak conscience, lest it should be wounded.

Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 34-44

¹⁹ the signs of his coming judgment, ³⁶ And because that day and hour is unknown, ⁴² we ought to watch like good servants, expecting every moment our Master's coming

³⁴Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

³⁵Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

³⁶But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

³⁷But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

⁴⁰Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴¹Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴²Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

⁴³But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Read more:Matthew, Chapter 24

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24

24:34 This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies, that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was. For the city and temple were destroyed thirty - nine or forty years after.

24:36 But of that day - The day of judgment; Knoweth no man - Not while our Lord was on earth. Yet it might be afterward revealed to St. John consistently with this.

24:37 Luk 17:26.

24:40 One is taken - Into God's immediate protection: and one is left - To share the common calamities. Our Lord speaks as having the whole transaction present before his eyes.

24:41 Two women shall be grinding - Which was then a common employment of women.

24:42 Ye know not what hour your Lord cometh - Either to require your soul of you, or to avenge himself of this nation. Mar 13:33; Luk 12:35; Luk 21:34.

Topics:

End of the World

NOTES

When speaking about the day of His return and the triumph of the Kingdom, it is certainly no accident that Jesus warns against any attempt to determine its exact date. It is not that His Father knows something He does not. Most likely, the point is that...

When speaking about the day of His return and the triumph of the Kingdom, it is certainly no accident that Jesus warns against any attempt to determine its exact date. It is not that His Father knows something He does not. Most likely, the date has simply not yet been determined—and perhaps it will be determined only at the very last moment. Indeed, Christ's return in glory cannot be regarded as an isolated historical event. It must become, and will become, the completion of a particular stage in the history of the Kingdom—a stage that will probably be followed by others, but after which the world will be transformed and completely renewed.

When this stage ends, however, depends not only on God but also on human beings. We live in the age of the advancing Kingdom, and in a certain sense its advance depends on us even more than it does on Him. For His part, He has already done everything necessary for the Kingdom to be revealed in all its fullness.

Now it is up to us: what happens next will be determined to a considerable degree by our choice. Every “yes” to Christ and the Kingdom brings nearer the day of the Messiah's return in glory, while every “no” puts it farther away. Any such “yes” or “no” may become the last in the earthly history we see and within which we live. This is not because God will grow tired of waiting and decide to bring it to an end, but because the process really must be completed someday: sooner or later a moment will come when there is nothing left to wait for. For humanity, however, that moment may apparently come unexpectedly. It is no accident that Jesus compares the day of His return with the coming of the worldwide flood, which no one took seriously despite the warnings.

Of course everyone, or at least every Christian, knows in theory that the present stage of world history must end someday, and that the Savior, who promised to return in glory, will certainly fulfill His promise. Yet it is no secret that for most Christians today all this is, unfortunately, more an abstraction than a reality shaping their lives.

At times such lukewarmness gives way to brief bursts of feverish expectation of the “end of the world,” but these bring nothing into the lives of those waiting apart from emotional excitement. Jesus calls us to something else: daily readiness, so that His return will take no one by surprise, even if at that moment a Christian is occupied with everyday affairs. Evidently, there is no other way to meet Christ and enter the Kingdom.

Of course, we believe in the Lord's Second Coming. We believe that He will come in power and glory, victorious over all evil, bringing the history of this world to an end and opening the gates to a new mode of being, with a new earth and a new heaven. And of course, we understand that we...

Perhaps the most important thing Holy Scripture tells us about the end of the world is that it will come. The Lord explains to the disciples in considerable detail that the end will be like a harvest, when...

Perhaps the most important thing Holy Scripture tells us about the end of the world is that it will come. The Lord explains to the disciples in considerable detail that the end will be like a harvest, when creation brings its fruit to the Creator. But what He adds next is also very important: we do not know the hour at which our Lord will come. Later, after the Resurrection, the Savior will say this even more definitely: it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. It follows that we need to know the fact that the end will come, since the Lord Himself bears witness to it, but we are not meant to know the time of its coming. Moreover, in His parables Christ calls us always to be ready for that day.

The ancient Christians expected the end of the world to come from day to day, and this expectation, on the one hand, inspired them and gave them strength to withstand persecutions and temptations, but, on the other hand, after two or three centuries had passed, it became the cause of a certain perplexity, disappointment, and rethinking of the Gospel. In our time we have so forgotten the very essence of the coming end that dates and signs of its arrival trouble us more than what we will say at the Last Judgment.

The point is presumably that the news of the end of time is necessary for us not so that we might determine our actions and deeds in some different way. We must live in God’s truth always: on the day after the creation of the world and on the eve of its end. Rather, the fact that history is to be completed is needed so that we may have the right attitude toward this world and its realities. The heavens will grow old like a worn-out garment, and together with them evil and suffering, violence and lies, which we bring into creation, will disappear. This is at once a day of judgment and a day of hope. We will see Christ and we will see His creation in all the beauty He intended. Compared with this, the whole burden of dependencies and illusions that fills our consciousness and from which we will in any case have to part recedes into the background.

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