1 Corinthians 1.26-29 (Epistle)

26Jer pogledajte znanje svoje, braæo, da nema ni mnogo premudrijeh po tijelu, ni mnogo silnijeh ni mnogo plemenitijeh; 27Nego što je ludo pred svijetom ono izabra Bog da posrami premudre; i što je slabo pred svijetom ono izabra Bog da posrami jako; 28I što je neplemenito pred svijetom i uništeno izabra Bog, i što nije, da uništi ono što jest, 29Da se ne pohvali nijedno tijelo pred Bogom.

Matthew 20.29-34 (Gospel)

29I kad je izlazio iz Jerihona za njim ide narod mnogi. 30I gle, dva slijepca sjeðahu kraj puta, i èuvši da Isus prolazi povikaše govoreæi: pomiluj nas Gospode, sine Davidov! 31A narod prijeæaše im da uæute; a oni još veæma povikaše govoreæi: pomiluj nas Gospode, sine Davidov! 32I ustavivši se Isus dozva ih, i reèe: šta hoæete da vam uèinim? 33Rekoše mu: Gospode, da se otvore oèi naše. 34I smilova se Isus, i dohvati se oèiju njihovijeh, i odmah progledaše oèi njihove, i otidoše za njim.

Synaxis of Serbian Hierarchs

On this day are commemorated seventeen holy Serbian hierarchs, beginning with St Sava (Sabbas), first Archbishop of Serbia and Equal to the Apostles. They are:

• St Sava, first Archbishop of Serbia, Equal to the Apostles
• Arsenius, his successor
• Sava II, son of King Stephen the First-Crowned
• Nicodemus, who lived on the Holy Mountain, was abbot of Hilandar Monastery there and Archbishop of Serbia
• Joannicius, patriarch from 1346-1349
• Ephraim, chosen as patriarch against his will in 1376. He crowned Prince Lazar, then renounced the patriarchal throne and retired into solitude
• Spiridon, his successor (+1388)
• Macarius, a great restorer of old churches and monasteries; printed many Church books (+1574)
• Gabriel, a nobleman by birth. The Prologue says that he ‘took part in the Moscow Council under Patriarch Nikhon, because of which he was tortured by the Turks for treason and hanged in 1656.’
• In addition, Eustace, Jacob, Danilo, Sava III, Gregory, John, Maxim and Nikhon.

Sts Alexander (340), John (595), and Paul the New (784), patriarchs of Constantinople

St Alexander took part in the First Ecumenical Council as delegate of Patriarch Metrophanes, who was too frail to attend; and succeeded Metrophanes on the Patriarchal throne. By his prayer to God that the Church might be spared the schemings of Arius, Arius was struck dead.

St John is, by one account, St John the Faster (Sept. 2), who reposed in 595; by another, St John Scholasticus (Feb. 21), who reposed in 577.

St Paul was Patriarch for five years, then renounced the Patriarchal throne to take the Great Schema.