Acts 25.13-19 (Epistle)

13A pošto proðe nekoliko dana, Agripa car i Vernikija siðoše u Æesariju da pohode Fista. 14I buduæi da ondje mnogo dana ostaše, kaza Fist caru za Pavla govoreæi: èovjeka jednoga ostavio je Filiks u tamnici, 15Za kojega, kad ja bijah u Jerusalimu, iziðoše preda me glavari sveštenièki i starješine Jevrejske moleæi da ga osudim. 16Ja im odgovorih da nije obièaj u Rimljana da se prije pokloni kakav èovjek na smrt dok se optuženi ne suoèi s onima koji ga tuže, i ne primi mjesto da odgovara za svoju krivicu. 17A kad se oni ovdje sastaše, nikakvoga odlaganja ne uèinih, i sjutradan sjedavši na sudijnsku stolicu zapovjedih da dovedu èovjeka. 18A oko njega stavši suparnici ni jedne krivice koje ja mišljah ne iznesoše. 19Nego imahu protiv njega nekakva pitanja o svojemu sujevjerju, i o nekakvom Isusu, koji je umro pa Pavle govoraše da je živ.

John 16.23-33 (Gospel)

23I u onaj dan neæete me pitati ni za što. Zaista, zaista vam kažem da što god uzištete u oca u ime moje, daæe vam. 24Doslije ne iskaste ništa u ime moje; ištite i primiæete, da radost vaša bude ispunjena. 25Ovo vam govorih u prièama; ali æe doæi vrijeme kad vam više neæu govoriti u prièama, nego æu vam upravo javiti za oca. 26U onaj æete dan u ime moje zaiskati, i ne velim vam da æu ja umoliti oca za vas; 27Jer sam otac ima ljubav k vama kao što vi imaste ljubav k meni, i vjerovaste da ja od Boga iziðoh. 28Iziðoh od oca, i doðoh na svijet; i opet ostavljam svijet, i idem k ocu. 29Rekoše mu uèenici njegovi: eto sad upravo govoriš, a prièe nikakve ne govoriš. 30Sad znamo da sve znaš, i ne treba ti da te ko pita. Po tome vjerujemo da si od Boga izišao. 31Isus im odgovori: zar sad vjerujete? 32Evo ide èas, i veæ je nastao, da se razbjegnete svaki na svoju stranu i mene sama ostavite; ali nijesam sam, jer je otac sa mnom. 33Ovo vam kazah, da u meni mir imate. U svijetu æete imati nevolju; ali ne bojte se, jer ja nadvladah svijet.

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)