Ephesians 4.17-25 (Epistle)

17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20But ye have not so learned Christ; 21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Luke 4.22-30 (Gospel)

22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? 23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Holy Prophet Jonas (Jonah) (9th c. BC)

His story is told in the Old Testament book that bears his name. He is counted as one of the twelve ‘minor prophets.’ According to one tradition recorded in the Synaxaria, he was the son of the widow of Zarephath, resurrected by the holy Elias (July 20).

The song of Jonah, I called to the Lord out of my distress (Jonah 2:2-9) is the Sixth Biblical Ode of the Matins canon, and forms the basis of countless troparia, many of which meditate upon the Jonah’s time in the belly of the sea-monster as a type of Christ’s sojourn in the tomb. The Book of Jonah is read in its entirety on Holy Saturday.

The Prophet Jonah is commemorated tomorrow, September 22, on the Slavic calendar.

Apostle Quadratus (Codratus) of the Seventy (130)

He was one of the Seventy appointed by Christ Himself. After Christ’s Ascension, Quadratus preached the Gospel in Athens, then served as a bishop in Athens, then in Magnesia. He was stoned by the pagans, then imprisoned and starved to death in prison. It is said that he wrote a defense of the Christian faith which caused the Emperor Hadrian to decree that Christians were not to be persecuted without special cause. He was buried in Magnesia.

Our Venerable Father Joseph of Zaonikiev Monastery(1612)

He was a peasant named Hilarion in the district of Vologda, and lived a simple, laboring life until he began to lose his sight. Not despairing, Hilarion went to all the churches nearby and asked that services of intercession be offered for him. One day, during the Divine Liturgy, Hilarion beheld a man in white clothing who told him that his name was Cosmas, blessed him, and told him that he would soon be healed. The next day Hilarion was going to church again and the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian appeared to him along with an icon of the Mother of God. A voice from the icon said that the people must cleanse the place where he stood and erect a cross there. Upon venerating the icon, Hilarion was instantly and completely healed. Returning to his village, he joyfully told what had happened. The villagers cleansed the place, as commanded in Hilarion’s vision, set up a cross, and built a chapel to house the icon, which began to work many miracles. When the bishop learned of these events, he determined to found a monastery on that spot, and made Hilarion the first monk, giving him the name of Joseph. Saint Joseph spent the next thirty years there in prayer and great asceticism: he would spend the winter nights without sleep, standing in prayer before the miraculous icon of the Theotokos. He reposed in peace and was buried in the chapel that he and his fellow-villagers had built years before.

Finding of the Relics of St Dimitri of Rostov (1752)

St Dimitri is commemorated October 28.