Acts 23.1-11 (Epistle)

1A Pavle pogledavši na skupštinu reèe: ljudi braæo! ja sa svom dobrom savjesti življeh pred Bogom do samoga ovog dana. 2A poglavar sveštenièki Ananija zapovjedi onima što stajahu kod njega da ga biju po ustima. 3Tada mu reèe Pavle: tebe æe Bog biti, zide okreèeni! I ti sjediš te mi sudiš po zakonu, a prestupajuæi zakon zapovijedaš da me biju. 4A oni što stajahu naokolo rekoše: zar psuješ Božijeg poglavara sveštenièkoga? 5A Pavle reèe: ne znadoh, braæo, da je poglavar sveštenièki, jer stoji napisano: starješini naroda svojega da ne govoriš ružno. 6A znajuæi Pavle da je jedan dio sadukeja a drugi fariseja, povika na skupštini: ljudi braæo! ja sam farisej i sin farisejev: za nad i za vaskrsenije iz mrtvijeh doveden sam na sud. 7A kad on ovo reèe, postade raspra meðu sadukejima i farisejima, i razdijeli se narod. 8Jer sadukeji govore da nema vaskrsenija, ni anðela ni duha; a fariseji priznaju oboje. 9I postade velika vika, i ustavši književnici od strane farisejske prepirahu se meðu sobom govoreæi: nikakvo zlo ne nalazimo na ovome èovjeku; ako li mu govori duh ili anðeo, da se ne suprotimo Bogu. 10A kad posta raspra velika, pobojavši se vojvoda da Pavla ne raskinu, zapovjedi da siðu vojnici i da ga otmu izmeðu njih, i da ga odvedu u oko. 11A onu noæ stade Gospod predanjga i reèe: ne boj se, Pavle, jer kao što si svjedoèio za mene u Jerusalimu, tako ti valja i u Rimu svjedoèiti.

John 16.15-23 (Gospel)

15Sve što ima otac moje je: zato rekoh da æe od mojega uzeti, i javiti vam. 16Još malo, i neæete me vidjeti, i opet malo, pa æete me vidjeti: jer idem k ocu. 17A neki od uèenika njegovijeh rekoše meðu sobom: šta je to što nam kaže: još malo, i neæete me vidjeti; i opet malo pa æete me vidjeti; i: ja idem k ocu? 18Govorahu dakle: šta je to što govori: malo? ne znamo šta govori. 19A Isus razumje da šæadijahu da ga zapitaju, pa im reèe: zato li se zapitujete meðu sobom što rekoh: još malo i neæete me vidjeti, i opet malo pa æete me vidjeti? 20Zaista, zaista vam kažem da æete vi zaplakati i zaridati, a svijet æe se radovati; i vi æete žalosni biti, ali æe se vaša žalost okrenuti na radost. 21Žena kad raða trpi muku; jer doðe èas njezin: ali kad rodi dijete, više se ne opominje žalosti od radosti, jer se rodi èovjek na svijet. 22Tako i vi dakle imate sad žalost; ali æu vas opet vidjeti, i radovaæe se srce vaše, i vaše radosti niko neæe uzeti od vas; 23I u onaj dan neæete me pitati ni za što. Zaista, zaista vam kažem da što god uzištete u oca u ime moje, daæe vam.

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.