1 Thessalonians 5.1-8 (Epistle)

1A za èase i vremena, braæo, nije vam trijebe pisati; 2Jer sami znate jamaèno da æe dan Gospodnji doæi kao lupež po noæi. 3Jer kad reku: mir je, i nema se šta bojati, onda æe iznenada napasti na njih pogibao kao bol na trudnu ženu, i neæe uteæi. 4Ali vi, braæo, nijeste u tami da vas dan kao lupež zastane. 5Jer ste vi svi sinovi vidjela i sinovi dana: nijesmo noæi niti tame. 6Tako dakle da ne spavamo kao i ostali, nego da pazimo i da budemo trijezni. 7Jer koji spavaju, u noæi spavaju, i koji se opijaju, u noæi se opijaju. 8Ali mi koji smo sinovi dana da budemo trijezni i obuèeni u oklop vjere i ljubavi, i s kacigom nada spasenija;

Luke 11.14-23 (Gospel)

14I jednom izgna ðavola koji bješe nijem; kad ðavo iziðe progovori nijemi; i diviše se ljudi. 15A neki od njih rekoše: pomoæu Veelzevula kneza ðavolskoga izgoni ðavole. 16A drugi kušajuæi ga iskahu od njega znak s neba. 17A on znajuæi pomisli njihove reèe im: svako carstvo koje se razdijeli samo po sebi, opustjeæe, i dom koji se razdijeli sam po sebi, propašæe. 18Tako i sotona ako se razdijeli sam po sebi, kako æe ostati njegovo carstvo? kao što kažete da pomoæu Veelzevula izgonim ðavole. 19Ako li ja pomoæu Veelzevula izgonim ðavole, sinovi vaši èijom pomoæu izgone? Zato æe vam oni biti sudije. 20A ako li ja prstom Božijim izgonim ðavole, dakle je došlo k vama carstvo Božije. 21Kad se jaki naoruža i èuva svoj dvor, imanje je njegovo na miru; 22A kad doðe jaèi od njega i nadvlada ga, uzme sve oružje njegovo u koje se uzdao, i razdijeli što otme od njega. 23Koji nije sa mnom, protiv mene je; i koji sa mnom ne sabira, prosipa.

Holy Martyrs Zenobius and his sister Zenobia (ca. 290)

These two holy ones were brother and sister, living the city of Aegea in Cilicia. When their parents died, they gave all their possessions to the poor. Zenobius, a physician, gave his healing services for free to all who came to him, often relying more upon the holy Name of Jesus than upon medicines. In time, he became Bishop of Aegea. During the persecutions under the Emperor Diocletian, Zenobius was arrested and brought before the governor Lysias, who demanded that he deny Christ and worship the idols. When Zenobius refused, he was subjected to torture. Zenobia, hearing of this, rushed to be with him and openly rebuked the governor. The two were then tortured together and finally beheaded, faithful to their Lord to the end.

Holy Apostle Cleopas

He is numbered among the Seventy. On the day of the Resurrection, Cleopas and St Luke were walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus when the Risen Christ appeared to them, as recounted in the twenty-fourth chapter of St Luke’s Gospel.

The Gospel account does not name St Cleopas’ companion, but the holy tradition of the Church tells us that it was St Luke himself, and thus that the story is a first-hand account.

St Joseph I, Patriarch of Constantinople (1283)

Once a married priest, he entered monastic life when his wife died, and became the spiritual father of the Emperor Michael VIII Paleologus, during whose reign he was elevated to the Patriarchate. Despite this patronage, St Joseph’s integrity was inviolable: At his first Divine Liturgy as Patriarch, he required the Emperor publicly to confess and repent of several sins before admitting him to Communion. He fiercely opposed the Emperor’s expedient policy of union with Rome, and was therefore deposed, retiring once more to monastic life. In old age, he was restored to the Patriarchal throne upon the death of Emperor Michael, but died a few months later.

Holy Martyr Hermengild, Prince of the Visigoths (486)

He was the son and appointed heir of Leuvgild, King of the Visigoths, who had embraced the Christianity of the Arian heretics. But through the teaching of Bishop Leander of Seville (February 27), Hermengild was converted to the fullness of the Orthodox faith, for which his father the King had him thrown in prison. On the day of Pascha 486, the King sent one of his priests to give his son communion. But Hermengild refused, proclaiming that to commune with heretics is to assent to their belief and to sink into their error; going further, he told the priest that the heretics’ communion was nothing but bread and wine, for the Body and Blood of Christ are found only in the Offering made by the Church. The enraged King sent soldiers, who at his orders put his own son to death. Later, the King repented of this inhuman deed and asked Bishop Leander to instruct his youngest son Recared in the Orthodox faith. Thus the Visigoth people was brought into the Faith.

Holy Hieromartyr John Kochurov, First Hieromartyr of the Russian Revolution (1917)

He was born in Russia in 1871, and as a young priest was sent to America as a missionary. There he worked zealously (he was instrumental in the building of the Orthodox cathedral in Chicago) until he was called back to Russia just before the October Revolution in 1917. Only six days after the Bolsheviks seized power, he was beaten to death in the street by a gang of Bolshevik sailors in Tsarskoye Selo near St Petersburg. Thus he became the first of countless Priest-Martyrs of Russia’s atheist yoke.