19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
26to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
Matthew 7.1-8 (Gospel)
1“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.
2For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
3Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?
4Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?
5You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6“Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
7“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
8For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
Commemorations
Martyr Hyacinth
He was a young courtier to the Emperor Trajan, and a secret Christian. When the Emperor and his court were offering sacrifice to the idols, Hyacinth stood apart; he was noticed and brought before the Emperor where, when interrogated, he proclaimed himself a Christian and refused to make sacrifice to the pagan gods. For this he was brutally whipped, then thrown into prison, where the Emperor ordered that he be given only food that had been sacrificed to idols. This Hyacinth refused to eat and, after eight days, died in prison.
Our Holy Father Isaiah the Solitary (491)
One of the Desert Fathers, he lived in asceticism first at Scetis in Egypt, then in Palestine; he died in Gaza. His instructive writings are often quoted by the Fathers.
Abba Isaiah said: The crown of all good works consists in this: that a man place all his hope in God, that he flee to Him once and for all with all his heart and strength, that he be filled with compassion for all and weep before God, imploring His help and mercy.
Our Holy Father Alexander, founder of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones (430)
“Born in Asia and educated in Constantinople, he went into the army after completing his studies and became an officer. Reading the Holy Scriptures, he came upon the Saviour’s words: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’ (Matt. 19:21). These words made such an impression on him that he sold and gave away all that he had, and went off to the desert. After long asceticism and striving for purification, he founded the community of the ‘Wakeful Ones’ (Acoemetae) with a special rule. According to this rule, the services in the church continued day and night in unbroken sequence. The brethren were divided into six groups, each having its appointed hours of day or night to go to church and take over the reading and singing from the previous group. He travelled a great deal over the East, bringing people to faith in Christ, disputing with heretics, working miracles by God’s grace and growing old in the service of the Lord Jesus. He finished his earthly course in Constantinople in the year 430, where his relics revealed the miraculous power and glory with which God had glorified His holy servant.” (Prologue)
Our Father among the Saints Anatolios, Archbishop of Constantinople (458)
He was a priest from Alexandria. At the ‘Robber Council’ at Ephesus in 449, Dioscoros, the monophysite who occupied the Patriarchal throne in Alexandria, had Anatolios installed as Patriarch of Constantinople, thinking that he would prove an ally. But Anatolios quickly emerged as a fervent champion of Orthodoxy: he convened a council of bishops just before the Council of Chalcedon in 451, at which Pope Leo’s Orthodox “Tome” (see February 18) was approved, though Dioscoros had not allowed it to be read at the Robber Council. At the Council of Chalcedon, Anatolios condemned Nestorius, Eutyches, and his frustrated patron Dioscoros. He reposed in peace in 458.
Anatolios is believed to be the author of the ‘Anatolian Stichera’ found in the weekly Vespers and Matins services; but these may have been composed by another Anatolios, a monk and a disciple of St Theodore the Studite.