July 29, 2037
Wednesday of the 10th week after Pentecost

Fast

Commemorations

Martyr Callinicus of Gangra
Holy Martyr Seraphima (2nd c.)

Scripture Readings (KJV)

1 Corinthians 16.4-12 (Epistle)

4And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. 5Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. 6And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. 7For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. 8But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. 9For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. 10Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. 11Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren. 12As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.

Matthew 21.28-32 (Gospel)

28But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

Commemorations

Holy Martyr Callinicus of Gangra in Asia Minor (c. 250)

He was born in Cilicia to a pious family. He left all worldly things and devoted his life to preaching the Gospel of Christ, for which he was arrested in Ancyra by the governor Sacerdos. When he was commanded to worship the idols or suffer torture, Callinicus replied, ‘Every torture for my God is as welcome to me as bread to a hungry man.’ After harsh torture, the governor had him shod in shoes in which nails had been set pointing upright, and had him driven on foot to the town of Gangra. (The governor was afraid to keep him in Ancyra, since many of the people were turning to Christ through the Saint’s example.) On the way, when the soldiers became thirsty, Callinicus prayed to God and brought forth water from a rock. At Gangra he was thrown alive into a furnace. When the fire was out, his dead body was found completely unharmed.

Holy Martyr Seraphima (2nd c.)

She was a maiden from Antioch who lived (perhaps as a slave) in the house of Sabina, wife of a Senator. When Seraphima brought the senator’s wife to faith in Christ, the governor summoned Seraphima before him. When she held firm in her faith, he cast her into prison and send several young men to her cell by night to defile her. When they arrived, she was praying to God, and an angel of the Lord appeared before them, clothed in light and bearing a sword; and the young men fell down unconscious. Finally, Seraphima received her martyr’s crown when she was beheaded by the governor’s order. Sabina, the senator’s wife, recovered and buried her body, from which a healing myrrh flowed. This was during the reign of Hadrian.