12Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
13No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say.
16The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ?
17Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread.
18Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
19What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.
21You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Galatians 4.22-31
(Epistle, St Anna)
22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman.
23However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise.
24These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.
25For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.
26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate women have more children than her who has a husband.”
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.
Matthew 16.20-24 (Gospel)
20Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
Luke 8.16-21
(Gospel, St Anna)
16“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light.
17For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
18Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”
19His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd.
20Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”
21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
Commemorations
Dormition Righteous Anna, Mother of Theotokos
According to tradition, both Anna and her husband Joachim had reposed by the time the Most Holy Theotokos was about eleven years old and living in the Temple; thus when she reached maturity she was an orphan, and was given into the care of the noble Joseph. The prayers of St Anna are invoked for conceiving children and for help in difficult childbirth. Her main feast is on September 9th.
Commemoration of the holy 165 Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553)
This council was held in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian the Great. The council condemned the various forms of monophysitism, the heretical writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Theodoret, and the writings of Origen (particularly on universal salvation).
St Olympias the Deaconess (408)
She was born to a noble family in Constantinople: her father Anysius Secundus was a senator. She was betrothed to a nobleman who died before they could be wed; resisting all advice to take another husband, Olympias devoted herself entirely to God, giving her large inheritance to the Church and to the poor. She served as a deaconess, first under the Patriarch Nektarios, then under St John Chrysostom. When St John was sent into exile, he advised her to remain in Constantinople, and to continue to serve the Church whatever patriarch took his place. But as soon as the holy hierarch went into exile, a fire destroyed a large part of the City, and St John’s enemies accused the holy Olympias of setting the fire. She in turn was exiled to Nikomedia, where she reposed in 408. She left instructions that her body be placed in a coffin and thrown into the sea, to be buried wherever it was cast up. The coffin came to shore at Vrochthoi and was buried there at a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas. Her relics have continued to be a source of great miracles of healing.
During his exile, St John Chrysostom wrote a number of letters to St Olympias, seventeen of which have been preserved through the centuries. In one he writes: ‘Now I am deeply joyful, not only because you have been delivered from sickness, but even more because you are bearing adversities with such fortitude, calling them trifles — a characteristic of a soul filled with power and abounding in the rich fruits of courage. You are not only enduring misfortune with fortitude, but are making light of it in a seemingly effortless way, rejoicing and triumphing over it — this is a proof of the greatest wisdom.’