Acts 4.13-22 (Epistle)

13A kad vidješe slobodu Petrovu i Jovanovu, i znajuæi da su ljudi neknjiževni i prosti, divljahu se, a znadijahu ih da bijahu s Isusom. 14A videæi iscijeljenoga èovjeka gdje s njima stoji ne mogahu ništa protivu reæi. 15Onda im zapovjediše da iziðu napolje iz savjeta, pa pitahu jedan drugoga 16Govoreæi: šta æete èiniti ovijem ljudima? Jer veliki znak što uèiniše oni poznat je svima koji žive u Jerusalimu, i ne možemo odreæi; 17Ali da se dalje ne razilazi po narodu, da im oštro zaprijetimo da više ne govore za ime ovo nikome. 18I dozvavši ih zapovjediše im da ništa ne spominju niti uèe u ime Isusovo. 19Petar i Jovan odgovarajuæi rekoše im: sudite je li pravo pred Bogom da vas veæma slušamo negoli Boga? 20Jer mi ne možemo ne govoriti što vidjesmo i èusmo. 21A oni zaprijetivši im pustiše ih, ne našavši ništa kako bi ih muèili, naroda radi; jer svi hvaljahu Boga za ono što se bješe dogodilo. 22Jer onome èovjeku bješe više od èetrdeset godina na kom se dogodi ovo èudo zdravlja.

John 5.17-24 (Gospel)

17A Isus im odgovaraše: otac moj doslije èini, i ja èinim. 18I zato još više gledahu Jevreji da ga ubiju što ne samo kvaraše subotu nego i ocem svojijem nazivaše Boga i graðaše se jednak Bogu. 19A Isus odgovarajuæi reèe im: zaista, zaista vam kažem: sin ne može ništa èiniti sam od sebe nego što vidi da otac èini; jer što on èini ono i sin èini onako; 20Jer otac sina ljubi, i sve mu pokazuje što sam èini; i pokazaæe mu veæa djela od ovijeh da se vi èudite. 21Jer kako što otac podiže mrtve i oživljuje, tako i sin koje hoæe oživljuje. 22Jer otac ne sudi nikome, nego sav sud dade sinu, 23Da svi poštuju sina kao što oca poštuju. Ko ne poštuje sina ne poštuje oca koji ga je poslao. 24Zaista, zaista vam kažem: ko moju rijeè sluša i vjeruje onome koji je mene poslao, ima život vjeèni, i ne dolazi na sud, nego je prešao iz smrti u život.

Hieromartyr Artemon, presbyter of Laodicea in Syria (303)

At the time of Diocletian’s persecutions, he was a very old man, having served as a reader for sixteen years, then a deacon for twenty-eight years, and finally as a priest for thirty years, for a total of seventy-four years. The pagan judge put him in the Temple of Aesculapius, where large snakes were kept and worshiped as gods. Though the judge meant for Artemon to be attacked by the snakes, the holy priest immobilized them with the sign of the Cross, brought them out of the temple and, in front of the pagan priests, breathed on the snakes, which died instantly. The chief priest, Vitalis, fell to his knees and cried ‘Great is the Christian God!’ Artemon baptised him along with several of his friends.

The unrepentant judge then condemned Artemon to be thrown into burning pitch, but the judge himself was thrown off his horse into the pitch and died. After this, Artemon went free for a time and spent his time teaching the Faith to his people (“accompanied always by two tame deer,” says St Nikolia Velimirovic!). But he was arrested again and beheaded in the year 303.

St Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome (655)

“Martin became Pope on July 5th, 649, at the time of a furious quarrel between the Orthodox and the Monothelite heretics. Constans the Second, Heraclius’ grandson, was on the throne at the time, and Paul was Patriarch of Constantinople. To restore peace in the Church, the Emperor himself wrote a dogmatic decree, the Typos, which leaned heavily towards heresy. Pope Martin summoned a Council of 105 bishops, at which the Emperor’s statement was condemned. At the same time, the Pope wrote a letter to Patriarch Paul, begging him to uphold the purity of the Orthodox faith and to counsel the Emperor to reject the theories of the heretics. This letter infuriated both the Patriarch and the Emperor. The Emperor sent one of his generals, Olympius, to take the Pope to Constantinople in bonds. The general did not dare to bind the Pope with his own hands, but instructed one of his soldiers to kill him with the sword in church. But, when the soldier entered the church with his sword concealed, he was instantly blinded. So, by the providence of God, Martin escaped death. At that time, the Saracens fell upon Sicily, and Olympius went off there, where he died. Then, by the intrigues of the heretic Patriarch Paul, the Emperor sent a second general, Theodore, to bind and take the Pope on the charge that he, the Pope, was in collusion with the Saracens and that he did not reverence the most holy Mother of God. [!!] When the general arrived in Rome and read the accusation against the Pope, he replied that it was a libel; that he had no contact of any sort with the Saracens, the opponents of Christianity, ‘and whoever does not confess the most holy Mother of God and do her reverence, let him be damned in this age and in that which is to come.’ But this did not affect the general’s decision. The Pope was bound and taken to Constantinople, where he lay long in prison in great sickness, tortured by both anxiety and hunger, until he was finally sentenced to exile in Cherson, where he lived for two years before his death. He gave his soul into the hands of the Lord, for whom he had suffered so greatly, in 655. The evil Patriarch, Paul,died two years before him and, when the Emperor visited him on his deathbed, he smote his head against the wall, confessing with tears that he had greatly sinned against Pope Martin and asking the Emperor to set Martin free.’ (Prologue)

In some menaia he is commemorated on April 14.