Finished the Old Testament today. From October 20 to December 21, I completed a full read of the Old Testament—39 books and 929 chapters—in roughly 60 hours of focused reading. I tracked every session, stayed disciplined through the hardest sections, and built in time to reflect instead of rushing. This wasn’t about speed or checking a box. It’s one of the most demanding—and meaningful—achievements of my life.
Oct 20: Genesis: 3:35 minutes
Oct 21: Exodus 1-20: 1:20 minutes
Oct 22: Exodus 20-40: 1:21 minutes
Oct 23: Leviticus 1-5: 15 mins
Oct 24: Leviticus 6-15: 47 minutes
Oct 25: Leviticus 16-27 : 54 minutes
Oct 26: Numbers 1-14: 1:01 minutes
Oct 27: Numbers 15-26: 50 minutes
Oct 28: Numbers 27-36: 44 minutes
Oct 28: Deuteronomy 1-4: 23 minutes
Oct 29: Deuteronomy 5-8: 16 minutes
Oct 30: Day of reflection
Oct 31: Deuteronomy 9-14: 21 minutes
Nov 1: Deuteronomy 15-28: 47 minutes
Nov 2: Deuteronomy 29-34 31 minutes
Nov 2: Joshua 1-13 52 minutes
Nov 3: Joshua 14-24 43 minutes
Nov 3: Judges 1-5: 23 minutes
Nov 4: Judges 6-12: 40 minutes
Nov 5: Judges 13-18: 30 minutes
Nov 6: Judges 19-21: 16 minutes
Nov 6: Ruth 1-4: 16 minutes
Nov 7: Samuel 1-12: 50 minutes
Nov 8: Samuel 1 23-31: 1:34 minutes
Nov 9: Samuel 2 1-24: 2:17 minutes
Nov 10: Day of reflection
Nov 11: 1 Kings; 1: 15 minutes
Nov 12: Day of reflection
Nov 13: 1 Kings 2-22: 2:40 minutes
Nov 13: 2 Kings 1-9: 42 minutes
Nov 14: 2 Kings 10-18: 45 minutes
Nov 15: 2 Kings 19-25: 46 minutes
Nov 15: 1 Chronicles 1-8: 32 minutes
Nov 16: 1 Chronicles 9-22: 48 minutes
Nov 17: 1 Chronicles 23-29: 25 minutes
Nov 18: Day of reflection
Nov 19: 2 Chronicles 1-8: 32 minutes
Nov 20: day of reflection
Nov 21: 2 Chronicles 9-22: 45 minutes
Nov 22: 2 Chronicles 23-36: 59 minutes
Nov 22: Ezra 1-10: 35 minutes
Nov 23: Nehemiah 1-13: 1:04 minutes
Nov 23: Esther: 1-10: 50 minutes
Nov 23: Job 1-28: 1:17 minutes
Nov 24: day of reflection
Nov 25: Job 29-33: 18 minutes
Nov 26: Job 34-42: 32 minutes
Nov 27: Psalms 1-6: 8 mins
Nov 28: Psalms 7-49: 1:28minutes
Nov 29: Psalms 50-106: 2:14 minutes
Nov 30: Psalms 107-150 1:29 minutes
Dec 1: Proverbs 1-10: 31 minutes
Dec 2: Proverbs 11-20: 36 minutes
Dec 3: day of reflection
Dec 4: day of reflection
Dec 5: Proverbs 21-31: 38 minutes
Dec 5: Ecclesiastes 1-12: 40 minutes
Dec 5: Song of Solomon: 1-8: 17 minutes
Dec 6: Isaiah 1-23: 1:25 minutes
Dec 7: Isaiah 24-48 1:47 minutes
Dec 8: Isaiah 49-66: 1:04 minutes
Dec 9: Jeremiah: 1-13: 1:05 minutes
Dec 10: day of reflection
Dec 11: Jeremiah: 14-29: 1:04 minutes
Dec 12: day of reflection
Dec 13: Jeremiah: 30-52: 1:48 minutes
Dec 13: Lamentations: 1-5: 20 minutes
Dec 14: Ezekiel: 1-24: 1:52 minutes
Dec 15: day of reflection
Dec 16: Ezekiel: 25-48: 1:42 minutes
Dec 17: Daniel: 1-13 1:04 minutes
Dec 18: Day of reflection
Dec 19: Hosea: 1-14: 34 minutes
Dec 19: Joel: 1-3: 12 minutes
Dec 19: Amos: 1-9: 27 minutes
Dec 19: Obadiah 1: 4 minutes
Dec 19: Jonah: 1-4: 7 minutes
Dec 20: Micah: 1-7: 21 minutes
Dec 20: Nahum: 1-3: 8 minutes
Dec 20: Habakkuk 1-3: 9 minutes
Dec 20: Zephaniah 1-3: 9 minutes
Dec 21: Haggai 1-2: 6 minutes
Dec 21: Zechariah: 1-14: 37 minutes
Dec 21: Malachi: 1-4: 11 minutes
Merry Christmas
THE NATIVITY OF THE MOST-HOLY THEOTOKOS
The Holy Virgin Mary was born of aged parents, Joachim and Anna. Her father was of the lineage of David, and
her mother of the lineage of Aaron. Thus, she was of royal birth by her father, and of priestly birth by her mother. In
this, she foreshadowed Him Who would be born of her as King and High Priest.
Her parents were quite old and had
no children. Because of this they were ashamed before men and humble before God. In their humility they prayed to
God with tears, to bring them joy in their old age by giving them a child, as He had once given joy to the aged Abraham and his wife Sarah by giving them Isaac. The Almighty and All-seeing God rewarded them with a joy that surpassed all their expectations and all their most beautiful dreams. For He gave them not just a daughter, but the Mother of God.
He illumined them not only with temporal joy, but with eternal joy as well. God gave them just one daughter, and she would later give them just one grandson-but what a daughter and what a Grandson!
Mary, Full of grace, Blessed among women, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Altar of the Living God, the Table of the Heavenly Bread, the Ark of God's Holiness, the Tree of the Sweetest Fruit, the Glory of the race of man, the Praise of womanhood, the Fount of virginity and purity-this was the daughter given by God to Joachim and Anna.
She was born in Nazareth, and at the age of three, was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem. In her young womanhood she returned again to Nazareth, and shortly thereafter heard the Annunciation of the Holy Archangel Gabriel concerning the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, from her most-pure virgin body.
Happy New Year!!
1. THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH YEAR, OR THE BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION
The First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 325] decreed that the Church year should begin on September 1. The
month of September was, for the Hebrews, the beginning of the civil year (Exodus 23:16), the month of gathering
the harvest and of the offering of thanks to God. It was on this feast that the Lord Jesus entered the synagogue in
Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21), opened the book of the Prophet Isaiah and read the words: The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:1-2). The
month of September is also important in the history of Christianity, because Emperor Constantine the Great was
victorious over Maxentius, the enemy of the Christian Faith, in September. Following this victory, Constantine
granted freedom of confession to the Christian Faith throughout the Roman Empire. For a long time, the civil year in
the Christian world followed the Church year, with its beginning on September 1. The civil year was later changed,
and its beginning transferred to January 1. This occurred first in Western Europe, and later in Russia, under Peter the
Great.
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always active in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:56-58
If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body so that I will burn but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not brag, it is not proud,
it does not behave inappropriately, it is not self-oriented. Love does not take offense and does not keep track of evil,
it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
We know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;
But when that which is incomplete comes, then that which is incomplete will be done away with.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become full grown, I have put away childish things.
Now indeed, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face. Now I know only in part, but then, I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
But now, faith, hope, and love remain: these three, and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians All chapter 13
For I received from the Lord what also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
Likewise, he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up.
We should not seek our own good, but each one the other’s good.
1 Corinthians 10:23-24
“No temptation has come to you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful: he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to resist, but with the temptation he will also create a way to escape, so that you may be able to endure it. “
1 Corinthians 10:13
Instead, I chastise my body and bring it into submission, for fear that after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:27
To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 9:22
This is because the unbelieving husband is sanctified in his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but in fact, are holy.
Truly, how do you know wife, if you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, if you will save your wife?
1 Corinthians 7:14-16