Acts 12.25-13.12 (Epistle)

25A Varnava i Savle predavši pomoæ vratiše se iz Jerusalima u Antiohiju, uzevši sa sobom i Jovana koji se zvaše Marko.

1A u crkvi koja bješe u Antiohiji bijahu neki proroci i uèitelji, to jest: Varnava i Simeun koji se zvaše Nigar, i Lukije Kirinac, i Manail odgajeni s Irodom èetverovlasnikom, i Savle. 2A kad oni služahu Gospodu i pošæahu, reèe Duh sveti: odvojte mi Varnavu i Savla na djelo na koje ih pozvah. 3Tada postivši i pomolivši se Bogu metnuše ruke na njih, i otpustiše ih. 4Ovi dakle poslani od Duha svetoga siðoše u Seleukiju, i odande otploviše u Kipar. 5I došavši u Salamin javiše rijeè Božiju u zbornicama Jevrejskima; a imahu i Jovana slugu. 6A kad proðoše ostrvo tja do Pafa, naðoše nekakvoga èovjeka vraèara i lažna proroka, Jevrejina, kome bješe ime Varisus, 7Koji bješe s namjesnikom Srðem Pavlom, èovjekom razumnijem. Ovaj dozvavši Varnavu i Savla zaiska da èuje rijeè Božiju. 8A Elima vraèar jer to znaèi ime njegovo) stade im se suprotiti, gledajuæi da odvrati namjesnika od vjere. 9A Savle koji se zvaše i Pavle, pun Duha svetoga pogledavši na nj 10Reèe: o napunjeni svakoga lukavstva i svake pakosti, sine ðavolji! neprijatelju svake pravde! zar ne prestaješ kvariti pravijeh putova Gospodnjijeh? 11I sad eto ruke Gospodnje na te, i da budeš slijep da ne vidiš sunca za neko vrijeme. I ujedanput napade na nj mrak i tama, i pipajuæi tražaše voða. 12Tada namjesnik, kad vidje šta bi, vjerova, diveæi se nauci Gospodnjoj.

John 8.51-59 (Gospel)

51Zaista, zaista vam kažem: ko održi rijeè moju neæe vidjeti smrti dovijeka. 52Tada mu rekoše Jevreji: sad vidjesmo da je ðavo u tebi: Avraam umrije i proroci, a ti govoriš: ko održi rijeè moju neæe okusiti smrti dovijeka. 53Eda li si ti veæi od oca našega Avraama, koji umrije? I proroci pomriješe: ko se ti sam gradiš? 54Isus odgovori: ako se ja sam slavim, slava je moja ništa: otac je moj koji me slavi, za kojega vi govorite da je vaš Bog. 55I ne poznajete ga, a ja ga znam; i ako reèem da ga ne znam biæu laža kao vi. Nego ga znam, i rijeè njegovu držim. 56Avraam, otac vaš, bio je rad da vidi dan moj; i vidje, i obradova se. 57Tada mu rekoše Jevreji: još ti nema pedeset godina, i Avraama li si vidio? 58A Isus im reèe: zaista, zaista vam kažem: ja sam prije nego se Avraam rodio. 59Tada uzeše kamenje da bace na nj; a Isus se sakri, i iziðe iz crkve prošavši izmeðu njih i otide tako.

Martyr Justin the Philosopher and those with him at Rome (166)

Born in 103, he was a philosopher from the Samaritan town of Shechem in Palestine, who had devoted his life to the search for truth, trying many philosophical schools and sources of human wisdom: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans and finally the Platonists. One day an old man (whose name and origin are unknown) appeared to him and spoke to him of the Prophets and Apostles who had learned of God not by their own wisdom, but by revelation of God Himself. He read the scriptures and was convinced of the truth of the Faith, but he would not be baptised or call himself a Christian until he had tested all the pagans’ arguments against Christianity. To this end he traveled to Rome, where he engaged in debate at philosophical gatherings, impressing all with his wisdom. In Rome he also witnessed the martyrdom of Sts Ptolemy and Lucian; this moved him to write an Apologia for the Christian faith and the Christian people, which he gave to the Emperor Antoninus and the Senate. They were so moved by this document that the Emperor ordered that persecution of Christians should cease.

For the remainder of his life, Justin devoted all his skills to the proclamation of the Gospel and the defense of Christians. To the end of his life, wherever he preached Christ, he always wore his philosopher’s garb. In addition to his Apologia, he wrote a number of other learned defenses of the faith.

Eventually he was imprisoned following the false accusations of Crescens, a jealous Cynic philosopher. He died (one source says by beheading, another by poison) in Rome in 167 under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, successor to Antoninus.

Our Holy Father Agapitus of the Kiev Caves (1095)

“A natural doctor, he was a disciple of St Antony of Kiev. He healed people by prayer and the prescribing of cabbage, which they made into a sort of bread. Prince Vladimir Monomachus was healed in this way, and this made Agapitus famed on all sides. The Prince’s doctor, an Armenian, hearing of this, began to spread slander about him. When Agapitus became ill, the Armenian came and, looking at him, said that he would die in three days and that, if he did not do so, then he, the Armenian, would become a monk. Agapitus told him that it had been revealed to him by God that he would die, not in three days but in three months. And so it came to pass. After Agapitus’s death, the Armenian went to the abbot of the Monastery of the Caves and asked him to make him a monk. He explained that Agapitus had appeared to him from the other world and reminded him of his promise. And so the one-time envier became a humble monk, by the providence of God whose care it is that all men be saved. St Agapitus entered into rest in about 1095.” (Prologue)