2 Corinthians 11.5-21 (Epistle)

5For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles. 6But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.

7Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge? 8I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you. 9When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so. 10As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.

12But what I do, that I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity, that in which they boast, they may be recognized just like us. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. 14And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

16I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little. 17That which I speak, I don’t speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. 18Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast. 19For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise. 20For you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face. 21To my shame, I speak as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.

Mark 4.1-9 (Gospel)

1Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea. 2He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching, 3“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 6When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” 9He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Ven. Theodora of Alexandria

While a young married woman, she committed adultery with another man. Seized by remorse, she fled her husband’s house, dressed herself as a man, renamed herself Theodore, and entered a men’s monastery, pretending to be a eunuch. “Theodore“‘s fasts, prayers, vigils and tears amazed “his” brethren. Her secret was only discovered after her death. She had spent nine full years devoting her life to repentance for one sin. During her life she showed herself to be a wonderworker, taming wild beasts and healing sicknesses. Her husband came to her funeral, then lived until his death in the cell of his former wife.

St Euphrosynos the Cook of Alexandria (9th c.)

His icon is found in countless Orthodox kitchens. A simple and holy man, when he entered monastic life in Alexandria he was judged unfit for any service more demanding than kitchen work. There he labored without complaint, looked down upon by most of the other monks. One night the abbot dreamed that he was in Paradise, and there met Euphrosynos, who gave him a branch that bore three fragrant apples. Awakening, the abbot found the same apples on his pillow. He hurried to find Euphrosynos and asked him, `Where were you last night, brother?’ Euphrosynos only replied, `Where were you, Father?’ The abbot gathered the monks and told them the wonderful story, by which they all realized the cook’s holiness. But Euphrosynos, unwilling to endure the praise of men, fled the monastery for the desert.

St Paphnutius the Confessor (4th c.)

“A bishop of the Egyptian Thebaid, he suffered greatly for the Orthodox faith: heretics put out one of his eyes and broke his left leg. He took part in the First Ecumenical Council, refuting the Arian heresy with great power. The Emperor Constantine valued him greatly and often kissed him on the missing eye, lost for the truth of Orthodoxy. At the council, he stood in opposition to the western representatives, who proposed that secular priests be completely forbidden to marry. He was chaste throughout the whole of his life.” (Prologue)

Canonization of St Xenia of St Petersburg (1978)

She is commemorated on January 24.