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 Apostle Carpus of the Seventy

He was one of the Seventy and a companion of St Paul, who mentions him in 2 Timothy 4:13. He became a Bishop in Thrace (the Great Horologion says in Berea, the Prologue in Varna), where he suffered martyrdom. St Dionysius the Areopagite met and wrote about him, stating that Carpus never began the Liturgy without first receiving a heavenly vision.

From the Prologue: “We must not desire the death of a sinner, but his repentance. Nothing so saddens the Lord who suffered on the Cross for sinners as when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner and his removal from our path. It once happened that the Apostle Carpus lost patience and began to pray God to send death upon two sinful men, the one pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. The Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Behold, here I am; ready to be crucified again for the salvation of men.’ St Carpus related this event to St Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson for all in the Church that we must pray for the salvation of sinners and not for their destruction. For the Lord ‘is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (II Peter 3:9).”

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, evangelizer of England (ca. 605)

He is the founder of the Church in southern England, which at that time was almost entirely pagan, though Christianity thrived in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland. Augustine, a monk at the monastery of St Andrew in Rome, was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead a mission to England. He and a party of about forty monks landed in England in 597; they were received warmly by King Aethelbert, who was baptised by Augustine and thus became the first Christian king of the Anglo-Saxon people. In 601 Pope Gregory made Augustine Archbishop of Britain, and he established his cathedral at Canterbury, where he also established a monastery. Saint Augustine worked unsuccessfully to unite his churches with those of the Irish monks and hierarchs, who followed different liturgical practices, kept a different date of Pascha, and disapproved of the less severe Roman monastic practices introduced by the Archbishop. He reposed in peace.

Holy New Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica (1794)

He was born in Thessalonica and, though baptised a Christian, he accepted Islam as a young man, eventually becoming a Sufi (one of a mystical sect among the Muslims). But in time he began to repent, and concluded that martyrdom was the only way for him to cleanse himself from the stain of his denial of Christ. Having repented, he presented himself to the Turks dressed as a Christian. He was thrown into prison and tortured, but in response to every enticement, threat or torment, he would only say ‘I was born a Christian, and as a Christian I shall die.’ Finally he was sentenced to death, which Alexander joyfully accepted as a sign of God’s forgiveness. He was slain by the sword in Smyrna in 1794.