Galatians 4.28-5.10 (Epistle)

28Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30However, what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

1Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. 3Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. 5For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love.

7You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9A little yeast grows through the whole lump. 10I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

Mark 6.54-7.8 (Gospel)

54When they had come out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him, 55and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick on their mats to where they heard he was. 56Wherever he entered—into villages, or into cities, or into the country—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well.

1Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. 2Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault. 3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.) 5The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?”

6He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8“For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”

Righteous Joachim and Anna

St Joachim was of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. St Anna was of the tribe of Levi, the daughter of a priest named Matthan. Matthan’s three daughters were Mary, Zoia and Anna. Mary became the mother of Salome the Myrrhbearer; Zoia bore Elizabeth, mother of St John the Baptist; and Anna married Joachim in Nazareth. Joachim and Anna, to their great sorrow, were barren for fifty years. They lived prayerfully and kept only a third of their income for themselves, giving a third to the poor and a third to the Temple. Once when they had come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice at the Temple, Joachim was publicly scorned by the High Priest Issachar for his childlessness. Joachim and Anna, greatly grieved, prayed fervently that God would grant them the miracle that he had wrought for Abraham and Sarah, and give them a child in their old age. Once, as each was praying separately in a secluded place, angels appeared to each of them and revealed to them that they would be given a blessed daughter, `by whom all nations will be blessed, and through whom will come the salvation of the world.’ They both rushed home to tell one another the joyous news, and embraced when they met. (This is the moment depicted in their icon.) Anna conceived and gave birth to the Most Holy Theotokos. Both reposed in peace, not long after they had sent her to live in the Temple.

Commemoration of the Third Ecumenical Council (431)

The Council, called by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, met in Ephesus. The two hundred fathers gathered there condemned the teaching of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who would not call the holy Virgin Mary Theotokos (God-bearer) but only Christotokos (Christ-bearer). The holy fathers of the Council clearly affirmed that the Virgin Mary is, and is to be called, Mother of God. They also confirmed the teaching of the first two Councils and decreed that the Nicene Creed may not be altered (as it later was by the Western church).

Holy Martyr Severian of Sebaste (320)

He was a prominent citizen of Sebaste during the reign of Licinius. When the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (March 9) were in prison, he encouraged and comforted them. For this, and for his Christian example which had converted many pagans in the region, the Provincial Governor Lysias ordered his arrest. But before the soldiers could find him, he presented himself before the Governor and openly proclaimed his faith. For this he was subjected to many days of horrible tortures, during which he constantly exhorted the believers who followed him to stand firm in their confession of Christ. After astonishing endurance of his torments, he gave up his spirit to God.

At the Saint’s burial, the husband of one of his servants was miraculously raised from the dead, living for another fifteen years. The Christians could not decide where to bury Severian, so they wove a crown of flowers and laid it on his body to await a sign from heaven. An eagle took up the crown and dropped it in a nearby forest. The Christians buried the Martyr where the crown fell; his tomb became a fount of miracles, and the man who had been raised from the dead tended it for the rest of his life.

Our Holy Father Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (549)

Born to the family of a cartwright in Ireland, he entered monastic life when he was very young at the Monastery of Clonard, where he became a disciple of St Finnian (December 12). He became one of the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland’, all of them disciples of St Finnian. Ciaran founded the great monastery of Clonmacnoise (pronounced clon-mac-neesh) on the Shannon River, which became one of Ireland’s great monasteries. Once, during a great famine, He distributed all of the monastery’s food to the people, entrusting his monks’ survival, and his own, to providence. Saint Ciaran reposed in peace, aged only thirty-three, in 549.