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 Apostle Carpus of the Seventy

He was one of the Seventy and a companion of St Paul, who mentions him in 2 Timothy 4:13. He became a Bishop in Thrace (the Great Horologion says in Berea, the Prologue in Varna), where he suffered martyrdom. St Dionysius the Areopagite met and wrote about him, stating that Carpus never began the Liturgy without first receiving a heavenly vision.

From the Prologue: “We must not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing so saddens the Lord who suffered on the Cross for sinners as when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and his removal from our path. It once happened that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray God to send death upon two sinful men, the one pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. The Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Behold, here I am; ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men.’ St Carpus related this event to St Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson for all in the Church that we must pray for the salvation of sinners and not for their destruction. For the Lord ‘is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (II Peter 3:9).”

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, evangelizer of England (ca. 605)

He is the founder of the Church in southern England, which at that time was almost entirely pagan, though Christianity thrived in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland. Augustine, a monk at the monastery of St Andrew in Rome, was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead a mission to England. He and a party of about forty monks landed in England in 597; they were received warmly by King Aethelbert, who was baptised by Augustine and thus became the first Christian king of the Anglo-Saxon people. In 601 Pope Gregory made Augustine Archbishop of Britain, and he established his cathedral at Canterbury, where he also established a monastery. Saint Augustine worked unsuccessfully to unite his churches with those of the Irish monks and hierarchs, who followed different liturgical practices, kept a different date of Pascha, and disapproved of the less severe Roman monastic practices introduced by the Archbishop. He reposed in peace.

Holy New Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica (1794)

He was born in Thessalonica and, though baptised a Christian, he accepted Islam as a young man, eventually becoming a Sufi (one of a mystical sect among the Muslims). But in time he began to repent, and concluded that martyrdom was the only way for him to cleanse himself from the stain of his denial of Christ. Having repented, he presented himself to the Turks dressed as a Christian. He was thrown into prison and tortured, but in response to every enticement, threat or torment, he would only say ‘I was born a Christian, and as a Christian I shall die.’ Finally he was sentenced to death, which Alexander joyfully accepted as a sign of God’s forgiveness. He was slain by the sword in Smyrna in 1794.