1 Corinthians 2.9-3.8 (Epistle)

9But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”

10But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. 12But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. 13We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one. 16“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

1Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now, 3for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? 4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?

5Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him? 6I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Matthew 13.31-36 (Gospel)

31He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, 32which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, 35that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

Apostle Aquila of the Seventy

He, along with his wife Priscilla, is mentioned in the book of Acts and in St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. He and his wife were Jews who moved to Corinth when the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Italy. They were working as tentmakers in Corinth when they met and worked with St Paul, also a tentmaker by trade, who brought them to faith in Christ. From that time onward they worked diligently to spread the Gospel of Christ. The Prologue says that they died at the hands of pagans, the Great Horologion that the circumstances of their repose are unknown.

Our Father among the Saints Joseph, Archbishop of Thessalonika (833)

He was the brother of St Theodore the Studite (November 11), and is also sometimes called Studite. He is one of the inspired composers of the canons in the Lenten Triodion, many of which bear the title “by Joseph”. (He should not be confused with St Joseph the Hymnographer, who is commemorated April 3.) As Archbishop of Thessalonika, he suffered greatly for his zealous defense of the holy icons: he was imprisoned, and was exiled three times.

St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, spiritual writer (1809)

He is best known for his collections of Orthodox writings, most importantly the Philokalia, a five-volume compendium of writings on asceticism and prayer, especially the Jesus Prayer, by the holy Fathers of the Church. (The first four volumes have been translated into English). He produced an Orthodox edition of Unseen Warfare, originally by Lorenzo Scupoli, a Roman Catholic. (This was further revised by St Theophan the Recluse). He also edited the Pedalion (Rudder), a collection of the canons of the Orthodox Church with his commentary.

Note: The English edition of the Rudder needs to be read with care, since it includes additional comments by the translator, not clearly distinguished from those of the Saint.