Romans 4.13-25 (Epistle)

13Jer obeæanje Avraamu ili sjemenu njegovu da bude našljednik svijetu ne bi zakonom nego pravdom vjere. 14Jer ako su našljednici oni koji su od zakona, propade vjera, i pokvari se obeæanje. 15Jer zakon gradi gnjev; jer gdje nema zakona nema ni prijestupa. 16Zato od vjere da bude po milosti da obeæanje tvrdo ostane svemu sjemenu, ne samo koje je od zakona nego i koje je od vjere Avraama, koji je otac svima nama, 17Kao što stoji napisano: postavih te oca mnogijem narodima) pred Bogom kome vjerova, koji oživljuje mrtve, i zove ono što nije kao ono što jest: 18On vjerova na nad kad se nije bilo nièemu nadati da æe on biti otac mnogijem narodima, kao što mu bješe reèeno: tako æe biti sjeme tvoje. 19I ne oslabivši vjerom ne pogleda ni na svoje veæ umoreno tijelo, jer mu bješe negdje oko sto godina, ni na mrtvost Sarine materice. 20I za obeæanje Božije ne posumnja se nevjerovanjem, nego ojaèa u vjeri, i dade slavu Bogu. 21I znadijaše jamaèno da što obeæa kadar je i uèiniti. 22Zato se i primi njemu u pravdu. 23Ali nije pisano za njega jednoga samo da mu se primi, 24Nego i za nas, kojima æe se primiti ako vjerujemo onoga koji vaskrse Isusa Hrista Gospoda našega iz mrtvijeh, 25Koji se predade za grijehe naše, i ustade za opravdanje naše.

Matthew 7.21-23 (Gospel)

21Neæe svaki koji mi govori: Gospode! Gospode! uæi u carstvo nebesko; no koji èini po volji oca mojega koji je na nebesima. 22Mnogi æe reæi meni u onaj dan: Gospode! Gospode! nijesmo li u ime tvoje prorokovali, i tvojijem imenom ðavole izgonili, i tvojijem imenom èudesa mnoga tvorili? 23I tada æu im ja kazati: nikad vas nijesam znao; idite od mene koji èinite bezakonje.

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)