Romans 1.7-12 (Epistle)

7Svima koji su u Rimu, ljubaznima Bogu, i pozvanima svetima: blagodat vam i mir od Boga oca našega i Gospoda Isusa Hrista. 8Prvo dakle zahvaljujem Bogu svojemu kroz Isusa Hrista za sve vas što se vjera vaša glasi po svemu svijetu. 9Jer mi je svjedok Bog, kojemu služim duhom svojijem u jevanðelju sina njegova, da vas se opominjem bez prestanka, 10Moleæi se svagda Bogu u molitvama svojijem da bi mi kad Božija volja pomogla da doðem k vama; 11Jer želim vidjeti vas, da vam dam kakav duhovni dar za vaše utvrðenje, 12To jest, da se s vama utješim vjerom opštom, i vašom i mojom.

Matthew 5.42-48 (Gospel)

42Koji ište u tebe, podaj mu; i koji hoæe da mu uzajmiš, ne odreci mu. 43Èuli ste da je kazano: ljubi bližnjega svojega, i mrzi na neprijatelja svojega. 44A ja vam kažem: ljubite neprijatelje svoje, blagosiljajte one koji vas kunu, èinite dobro onima koji na vas mrze i molite se Bogu za one koji vas gone; 45Da budete sinovi oca svojega koji je na nebesima; jer on zapovijeda svome suncu, te obasjava i zle i dobre, i daje dažd pravednima i nepravednima. 46Jer ako ljubite one koji vas ljube, kakovu platu imate? Ne èine li to i carinici? 47I ako Boga nazivate samo svojoj braæi, šta odviše èinite? Ne èine li tako i neznabošci? 48Budite vi dakle savršeni, kao što je savršen otac vaš nebeski.

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)