Acts 4.13-22 (Epistle)

13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it. 17But so that this spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.” 18They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, 20for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

21When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done. 22For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

John 5.17-24 (Gospel)

17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

18For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. 20For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. 22For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Virgin Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus

She was born in Tarsus (home of the Apostle Paul). Though her parents were prominent pagans, she heard of Christ from Christians in that city, and her heart was filled with love for the Savior. The Emperor Diocletian visited Tarsus, and during his stay the Emperor’s son and heir fell in love with Pelagia and wished to marry her. To her parents’ complete amazement, Pelagia replied that she was already promised to her betrothed, Christ the Lord. She then fled her parents’ house and went to the holy Bishop Linus, who instructed her in the Faith and baptized her. Pelagia then gave away all her many possessions, returned home, and told her parents that she was baptised. The Emperor’s son, despairing of marryng her, killed himself. Pelagia’s mother then denounced her daughter to the Emperor, who summoned her for trial. When Pelagia freely confessed her unwavering faith in Christ, the Emperor condemned her to be burned in a metal ox heated by fire. An account of her martyrdom says that, entering the ox with prayers of thanksgiving on her lips, she instantly melted like wax. Bishop Linus, who had baptised her, found a few of her bones and buried them on a hill near Tarsus. During the reign of the Emperor Constantine Copronymus (741-775), a church was built there in her honor.

Our Holy Father Nikephoros the Hesychast (14th c.)

He was originally a Roman Catholic, but became Orthodox and lived in asceticism on the Holy Mountain as a monk. He was the spiritual father of St Gregory Palamas. His life was outwardly uneventful, and he reposed in peace in the 14th century. He left this very concise description of the hesychast’s path:

“Gather your mind and compel it to enter into your heart and remain there. When your mind is firmly in your heart, it must not remain empty, but must incessantly make the prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!’ And it must never fall silent. Through this the whole string of the virtues: love, joy, peace and the others, will make their abode in you, by which, then, every request of yours to God will be fulfilled.”

St Monica, mother of Blessed Augustine (388)