Acts 21.26-32 (Epistle)

26Tada Pavle uze one ljude, i sjutradan oèistivši se s njima, uðe u crkvu, i pokaza kako izvršuje dane oèišæenja dokle se ne prinese žrtva za svakoga njih. 27A kad šæaše da se navrši sedam dana, vidjevši ga u crkvi oni Jevreji što bijahu iz Azije, pobuniše sav narod, i metnuše ruke na nj 28Vièuæi: pomagajte, ljudi Izrailjci! ovo je èovjek koji protiv naroda i zakona i protiv ovoga mjesta uèi sve svuda; pa još i Grke uvede u crkvu i opogani sveto mjesto ovo. 29Jer bijahu vidjeli s njim u gradu Trofima iz Efesa, kojega mišljahu da je uveo Pavle u crkvu. 30I sav se grad podiže, i navali narod sa sviju strana, i uhvativši Pavla vucijahu ga napolje iz crkve; i odmah se zatvoriše vrata. 31A kad šæahu da ga ubiju, doðe glas gore k vojvodi od èete da se pobuni sav Jerusalim. 32A on odmah uzevši vojnike i kapetane dotrèa na njih. A oni vidjevši vojvodu i vojnike prestaše biti Pavla.

John 16.2-13 (Gospel)

2Izgoniæe vas iz zbornica; a doæi æe vrijeme kad æe svaki koji vas ubije misliti da Bogu službu èini. 3I ovo æe èiniti, jer ne poznaše oca ni mene. 4Nego vam ovo kazah kad doðe vrijeme da se opomenete ovoga da vam ja kazah; a isprva ne kazah vam ovo, jer bijah s vama. 5A sad idem k onome koji me posla, i niko me od vas ne pita: kuda ideš? 6Nego što vam ovo kazah žalosti napuni se srce vaše. 7Nego vam ja istinu govorim: bolje je za vas da ja idem: jer ako ja ne idem, utješitelj neæe doæi k vama; ako li idem, poslaæu ga k vama. 8I kad on doðe pokaraæe svijet za grijeh, i za pravdu, i za sud: 9Za grijeh dakle što ne vjeruju mene; 10A za pravdu što idem k ocu svojemu; i više me neæete vidjeti; 11A za sud što je knez ovoga svijeta osuðen. 12Još vam mnogo imam kazati; ali sad ne možete nositi. 13A kad doðe on, Duh istine, uputiæe vas na svaku istinu; jer neæe od sebe govoriti, nego æe govoriti što èuje, i javiæe vam što æe biti unapredak.

Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him (270)

Lucilian spent most of his life as a pagan priest. In advanced old age, he learned the truth of the Christian faith and was baptized. The conversion of so public a figure quickly attracted attention, and Lucilian was brought to trial in Nicomedia. After enduring many tortures he was imprisoned with four young Christians, scarcely older than children: Claudius, Hypatius, Paul and Dionysius. When they were brouht before Silvanos the governor, all five confessed their faith and were sentenced to death and cast into a fiery furnace. When they miraculously emerged unharmed, they were taken to Byzantium, where the four young men were beheaded and Lucillian was crucified. A maiden named Paula openly carried away the martyrs’ bodies and buried them. For this she in turn was tortured and, refusing to renounce her faith in Christ, beheaded. This was in the reign of the Emperor Aurelian. A church was built in their honor in Constantinople.

Hieromartyr Lucian (2nd c.)

He was a Roman nobleman, a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Pope Clement sent him, along with St Dionysius the Areopagite, to preach the Gospel in Gaul, ordaining them both as bishops before they left. The Emperor Domitian later sent soldiers to Rome to seize Christian evangelists. They killed St Dionysius in Rome, then, hearing of the work of St Lucian, tracked him until found him in what is now Belgium. There he was beheaded along with his two fellow-missionaries, Maxianus the priest and Julian the deacon. A church was built over his relics.

Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevich of Russia (1591)

He was murdered at the age of eight by the evil designs of Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich. After his death he appeared to a monk and accurately foretold Boris Godunov’s death. Countless miracles were worked at the grave of the Tsarevich. When his tomb was opened fifteen years after his death, his relics were found whole and incorrupt, and were solemnly buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael in Moscow.

The circumstances of Boris Godunov’s death are worth telling. He first tried to kill the Tsarevich using the strongest poison, but it had no effect. He then had the child publicly beheaded. Not long afterwards a ‘false Dimitri’ arose, claiming to be the Tsarevich, and rallied a great army against Godunov. Godunov was driven to such a desperate position that he took his own life by poison, the ‘remedy’ he had intended for the true Dimitri.