1 Corinthians 9.13-18 (Epistle)

13Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? 14Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. 15But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. 16For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! 17For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. 18What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

Matthew 16.1-6 (Gospel)

1The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 2He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 3And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? 4A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. 5And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Martyr Hyacinth of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and those with him (108)

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.