Acts 17.19-28 (Epistle)

19Pa ga uzeše i odvedoše na Areopag govoreæi: možemo li razumjeti kakva je ta nova nauka što ti kazuješ? 20Jer nešto novo meæeš u naše uši; hoæemo dakle da vidimo šta æe to biti. 21A Atinjani svi i putnici iz drugijeh zemalja ne bijahu ni za što drugo nego da što novo kazuju ili slušaju. 22A Pavle stavši nasred Areopaga reèe: ljudi Atinjani! po svemu vas vidim da ste vrlo pobožni; 23Jer prolazeæi i motreæi vaše svetinje naðoh i oltar na kome bješe napisano: Bogu nepoznatome. Kojega dakle ne znajuæi poštujete onoga vam ja propovijedam. 24Bog koji je stvorio svijet i sve što je u njemu, on buduæi gospodar neba i zemlje, ne živi u rukotvorenijem crkvama, 25Niti prima ugaðanja od ruku èovjeèijih, kao da bi onome trebalo što koji sam daje svima život i dihanje i sve. 26I uèinio je da od jedne krvi sav rod èovjeèij živi po svemu licu zemaljskome, i postavio je naprijed odreðena vremena i meðe njihovoga življenja: 27Da traže Gospoda, ne bi li ga barem opipali i našli, premda nije daleko ni od jednoga nas; 28Jer kroz njega živimo, i mièemo se, i jesmo; kao što i neki od vašijeh pjevaèa rekoše: jer smo i rod njegov.

John 12.19-36 (Gospel)

19A fariseji govorahu meðu sobom: vidite da ništa ne pomaže? gle, svijet ide za njim. 20A bijahu neki Grci meðu onima koji bijahu došli na praznik da se mole Bogu. 21Oni dakle pristupiše k Filipu, koji bješe iz Vitsaide Galilejske, i moljahu ga govoreæi: gospodine! mi bismo htjeli da vidimo Isusa. 22Doðe Filip i kaza Andriji, a Andrija i Filip opet kazaše Isusu. 23A Isus odgovori im govoreæi: doðe èas da se proslavi sin èovjeèij. 24Zaista, zaista vam kažem: ako zrno pšenièno padnuvši na zemlju ne umre, onda jedno ostane; ako li umre mnogo roda rodi: 25Koji ljubi dušu svoju izgubiæe je, a ko mrzi na dušu svoju na ovom svijetu, saèuvaæe je za život vjeèni. 26Ko meni služi, za mnom nek ide, i gdje sam ja ondje i sluga moj neka bude; i ko meni služi onoga æe poštovati otac moj. 27Sad je duša moja žalosna; i šta da kažem? Oèe! saèuvaj me od ovoga èasa; ali zato doðoh na èas ovaj. 28Oèe! proslavi ime svoje! Tada glas doðe s neba: i proslavio sam, i opet æu proslaviti. 29A kad èu narod koji stajaše, govorahu: grom zagrmi; a drugi govorahu: anðeo mu govori. 30Isus odgovori i reèe: ovaj glas ne bi mene radi nego naroda radi. 31Sad je sud ovome svijetu; sad æe biti istjeran knez ovoga svijeta napolje. 32I kad ja budem podignut od zemlje, sve æu privuæi k sebi. 33A ovo govoraše da pokaže kakvom æe smrti umrijeti. 34Narod mu odgovori: mi èusmo iz zakona da æe Hristos ostati vavijek; kako ti govoriš da se sinu èovjeèijemu valja podignuti? Ko je taj sin èovjeèij? 35A Isus im reèe: još je malo vremena vidjelo s vama; hodite dok vidjelo imate da vas tama ne obuzme; jer ko hodi po tami ne zna kuda ide. 36Dok vidjelo imate vjerujte vidjelo, da budete sinovi vidjela. Rekavši ovo Isus otide i sakri se od njih.

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.