1 Timothy 3.1-13 (Epistle)

1This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. 2The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; 3not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; 5(for how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule his own house take care of God’s assembly?) 6not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, 9holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless. 11Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things. 12Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Luke 20.9-18 (Gospel)

9He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. 10At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty. 11He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him and threw him out. 13The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’

14“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15Then they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?

16He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

17But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone’? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

Martyr Paramon and Companions

“Akylinus, the Governor of Bithynia in the reign of the Emperor Decius (249-51), was leaving for the hot springs at Bisaltia, when he decided to make 370 Christians from Nicomedia, who had been imprisoned on his orders, worship in the temple of Isis. On their refusal to do so, they were all beheaded. Seeing this massacre, the righteous Paramon cried out: ‘What a wicked deed to slaughter so many righteous men, and strangers moreover, as if they were animals.’ The Governor heard these words and had Paramon seized and taken with him under guard. On the road he was mistreated in various ways by the soldiers. Some of them struck him with their spears, others excised his tongue and other members, and he was finally put to death in the presence of the Governor.” (Synaxarion) Note: of the various persecutions launched by the pagan Emperors before St Constantine, the persecution under Decius was probably the fiercest and bloodiest.

Our Holy Father Pitirim of Egypt (4th c.)

“Abba Pitirim directed a group of ascetics who led a very austere life in the arid mountains of the Thebaid. He was himself a disciple and third successor of Saint Anthony the Great (17 Jan.) in his hermitage. He ate no more than a little flour mixed with water twice a week, and so persevered in spiritual labours that he gained abundant graces from the Holy Spirit. Among other things, he taught that to each passion there corresponds a demon who tries to stir up that passion within us through different temptations. In order to get rid of these demons and of evil thoughts, Abba Pitirim said that we must first free our hearts from passions.” (Synaxarion)