Romans 2.28-3.18 (Epistle)

28Jer ono nije Jevrejin koji je spolja Jevrejin, niti je ono obrezanje koje je spolja na tijelu; 29Nego je ono Jevrejin koji je iznutra, i obrezanje srca duhom a ne slovima, to je obrezanje; kome je hvala ne od ljudi nego od Boga.

1Šta je dakle bolji Jevrejin od drugijeh ljudi? Ili šta pomaže obrezanje? 2Mnogo svakojako; prvo što su im povjerene rijeèi Božije. 3A što neki ne vjerovaše, šta je za to? Eda æe njihovo nevjerstvo vjeru Božiju ukinuti? 4Bože saèuvaj! nego Bog neka bude istinit, a èovjek svaki laža, kao što stoji napisano: da se opravdaš u svojijem rijeèima, i da pobijediš kad ti stanu suditi. 5Ako li nepravda naša Božiju pravdu podiže, šta æemo reæi? Eda li je Bog nepravedan kad se srdi? Po èovjeku govorim: 6Bože saèuvaj! Jer kako bi mogao Bog suditi svijetu? 7Jer ako istina Božija u mojoj laži veæa postane na slavu njegovu, zašto još i ja kao grješnik da budem osuðen? 8Zašto dakle kao što vièu na nas, i kao što kažu neki da mi govorimo) da ne èinimo zla da doðe dobro? Njima æe sud biti pravedan. 9Šta dakle? Jesmo li bolji od njih? Nipošto! Jer gore dokazasmo da su i Jevreji i Grci svi pod grijehom, 10Kao što stoji napisano: ni jednoga nema pravedna; 11Ni jednoga nema razumna, i ni jednoga koji traži Boga; 12Svi se ukloniše i zajedno nevaljali postaše: nema ga koji èini dobro, nema ni jednoga ciglog. 13Njihovo je grlo grob otvoren, jezicima svojima varaju, i jed je aspidin pod usnama njihovima. 14Njihova su usta puna kletve i grèine. 15Njihove su noge brze da proljevaju krv. 16Na putovima je njihovima raskopavanje i nevolja; 17I puta mirnoga ne poznaše. 18Nema straha Božijega pred oèima njihovima.

Matthew 6.31-34, 7.9-11 (Gospel)

31Ne brinite se dakle govoreæi: šta æemo jesti, ili, šta æemo piti, ili, èim æemo se odjenuti? 32Jer sve ovo neznabošci ištu; a zna i otac vaš nebeski da vama treba sve ovo. 33Nego ištite najprije carstva Božijega, i pravde njegove, i ovo æe vam se sve dodati. 34Ne brinite se dakle za sjutra; jer sjutra brinuæe se za se. Dosta je svakom danu zla svoga. 9Ili koji je meðu vama èovjek u koga ako zaište sin njegov hljeba kamen da mu da? 10Ili ako ribe zaište da mu da zmiju? 11Kad dakle vi, zli buduæi, umijete dare dobre davati djeci svojoj, koliko æe više otac vaš nebeski dati dobra onima koji ga mole?

Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him (270)

Lucilian spent most of his life as a pagan priest. In advanced old age, he learned the truth of the Christian faith and was baptized. The conversion of so public a figure quickly attracted attention, and Lucilian was brought to trial in Nicomedia. After enduring many tortures he was imprisoned with four young Christians, scarcely older than children: Claudius, Hypatius, Paul and Dionysius. When they were brouht before Silvanos the governor, all five confessed their faith and were sentenced to death and cast into a fiery furnace. When they miraculously emerged unharmed, they were taken to Byzantium, where the four young men were beheaded and Lucillian was crucified. A maiden named Paula openly carried away the martyrs’ bodies and buried them. For this she in turn was tortured and, refusing to renounce her faith in Christ, beheaded. This was in the reign of the Emperor Aurelian. A church was built in their honor in Constantinople.

Hieromartyr Lucian (2nd c.)

He was a Roman nobleman, a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Pope Clement sent him, along with St Dionysius the Areopagite, to preach the Gospel in Gaul, ordaining them both as bishops before they left. The Emperor Domitian later sent soldiers to Rome to seize Christian evangelists. They killed St Dionysius in Rome, then, hearing of the work of St Lucian, tracked him until found him in what is now Belgium. There he was beheaded along with his two fellow-missionaries, Maxianus the priest and Julian the deacon. A church was built over his relics.

Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevich of Russia (1591)

He was murdered at the age of eight by the evil designs of Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich. After his death he appeared to a monk and accurately foretold Boris Godunov’s death. Countless miracles were worked at the grave of the Tsarevich. When his tomb was opened fifteen years after his death, his relics were found whole and incorrupt, and were solemnly buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael in Moscow.

The circumstances of Boris Godunov’s death are worth telling. He first tried to kill the Tsarevich using the strongest poison, but it had no effect. He then had the child publicly beheaded. Not long afterwards a ‘false Dimitri’ arose, claiming to be the Tsarevich, and rallied a great army against Godunov. Godunov was driven to such a desperate position that he took his own life by poison, the ‘remedy’ he had intended for the true Dimitri.