Acts 21.8-14 (Epistle)

8A sjutradan pošavši Pavle i koji bijasmo s njim doðosmo u Æesariju; i ušavši u kuæu Filipa jevanðelista, koji bješe jedan od sedam ðakona, ostasmo u njega. 9I ovaj imaše èetiri kæeri djevojke koje proricahu. 10Stojeæi mi pak ondje mnogo dana, doðe odozgo iz Judeje jedan prorok, po imenu Agav; 11I došavši k nama uze pojas Pavlov i svezavši svoje ruke i noge reèe: tako veli Duh sveti: èovjeka kojega je ovaj pojas, ovako æe ga svezati u Jerusalimu Jevreji, i predaæe ga u ruke neznabožaca. 12I kad èusmo ovo, molismo i mi i ondašnji da ne ide gore u Jerusalim. 13A Pavle odgovori i reèe: šta èinite te plaèete i cijepate mi srce? Jer ja ne samo svezan biti hoæu, nego i umrijeti u Jerusalimu gotov sam za ime Gospoda Isusa. 14A kad ga ne mogasmo odvratiti, umukosmo rekavši: volja Božija neka bude.

John 14.27-15.7 (Gospel)

27Mir vam ostavljam, mir svoj dajem vam: ne dajem vam ga kao što svijet daje, da se ne plaši srce vaše, i da se ne boji. 28Èuste da vam ja kazah: idem, i doæi æu k vama. Kad biste imali ljubav k meni, onda biste se obradovali što rekoh: idem k ocu; jer je otac moj veæi od mene. 29I sad vam kazah, prije dok se nije zbilo, da vjerujete kad se zbude. 30Veæ neæu mnogo govoriti s vama; jer ide knez ovoga svijeta, i u meni nema ništa. 31Nego da vidi svijet da imam ljubav k ocu, i kao što mi zapovjedi otac onako tvorim. Ustanite, hajdemo odavde.

1Ja sam pravi èokot, i otac je moj vinogradar; 2Svaku lozu na meni koja ne raða roda otsjeæi æe je; i svaku koja raða rod oèistiæe je da više roda rodi. 3Vi ste veæ oèišæeni rijeèju koju vam govorih. 4Budite u meni i ja æu u vama. Kao što loza ne može roda roditi sama od sebe ako ne bude na èokotu, tako i vi ako u meni ne budete. 5Ja sam èokot a vi loze: i koji bude u meni i ja u njemu on æe roditi mnogi rod: jer bez mene ne možete èiniti ništa. 6Ko u meni ne ostane izbaciæe se napolje kao loza, i osušiæe se, i skupiæe je, i u oganj baciti, i spaliti. 7Ako ostanete u meni i rijeèi moje u vama ostanu, šta god hoæete ištite, i biæe vam.

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)