1 Corinthians 15.58-16.3 (Epistle)

58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

1Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise. 2On the first day of every week, let each one of you save as he may prosper, that no collections are made when I come. 3When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem.

Luke 5.27-32 (Gospel)

27After these things he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!”

28He left everything, and rose up and followed him. 29Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. 30Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

31Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Ss Peter, Aleksy, Jonah, Philip, Germogen, Metrs. Moscow

This Feast of the Hierarchs of Moscow was established during the reign of Tsar Theodore and Patriarch Job in the year 1596. All of them are commemorated individually as well as on this day. Only Sts Peter, Alexis, Jonas and Philip are specifically mentioned in the Menaion service, but other holy hierarchs of Moscow have been added to the commemoration over the years.

Holy Martyr Charitina of Amissos (304)

She was the handmaid (according to the Great Horologion) or adopted daughter (according to the Prologue) of an eminent Roman citizen named Claudius, during the reign of Diocletian. She was betrayed as a Christian to the governor Dometian, before whom she fearlessly confessed her faith. After she had endured many cruel tortures, the governor sent some dissolute youths to rape her. Having prayed to be spared this dishonor, she was permitted to give up her soul to God.

Our Holy Mother Methodia of Kimolos (1865)

She was born in 1865 on the island of Kimolos. Against her own wishes, her parents married her to a sailor, but he drowned soon after their wedding. Though she grieved for him, she also took his loss as a sign that she was to follow the path that she had always most deeply desired — so she entered monastic life, receiving the name Methodia. She then shut herself in a small cell where she gave herself to prayer without reservation, hardly ever leaving. She prayed virtually around the clock, and kept strict fast every day but Saturday and Sunday, on which days she would leave her cell to partake of the Mysteries. She received no visitors at all during Lent; at other times, she would receive only women. She became known throughout her region as a counselor and healer. She reposed in peace at the age of forty-two, in 1908.