Galatians 4.28-5.10 (Epistle)

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.

1Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. 3Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. 5For we through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision amounts to anything, but faith working through love.

7You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9A little yeast grows through the whole lump. 10I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

Luke 3.19-22 (Gospel)

19but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, 20added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

21Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

Greatmartyr Eustathius and Martyr Theopistes

Before baptism he was a renowned military commander under Trajan. While hunting in the woods, he met a great stag with a shining Cross between his antlers. Through the stag, the Lord spoke to Placidas (his pagan name) and told him to find a priest and be baptized into Christ. Returning home, he found that his wife Tatiana had also had a vision in which she was told to become a Christian. They were baptized, Placidas receiving the name Eustathius, and Tatiana the name Theopiste; their two sons were baptized with them. Eustathius and his family were almost immediately subjected to a series of grievous trials, in which all were separated from one another. After years of hardship they were re-united, and returned to Rome with honor when the Emperor sought out Eustathius to command his army once again. But when the Emperor Hadrian (who had succeeded Trajan) commanded them to worship the idols, all of them refused. They were put together into a large bronze ox which was heated white-hot in a fire. When their bodies were removed, they were found to be dead but intact. The Prologue concludes, ‘Thus this glorious general gave to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s, and entered into the eternal Kingdom of Christ our God.’

Holy Martyrs Hypatius and Andrew, Confessors of the Holy Icons (8th c.)

They were friends from childhood, fellow-strugglers for holiness. Their godly way of life attracted the attention of the Bishop of Ephesus, who made Hypatius a bishop and Andrew a deacon and itinerant preacher. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian (714-41) they were both imprisoned for confessing the Orthodox faith and defending the veneration of the holy icons. They were subjected to various tortures, including having icons set afire on their heads in mockery of their faithfulness. They were executed near Constantinople and their bodies thrown to the dogs.

Sts Anastasius, Theodore, Euprepius and Anastasius the Younger, confessors and disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (7th c.)

These saints were disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (January 21) and suffered with him for their condemnation of the Monothelite doctrine promoted by the Emperor Constans II. Anastasius the elder (who had been the Papal representative to Constantinople) and Anastasius the younger were present at the Lateran Council called by St Martin, Pope of Rome (April 13), which condemned the Monothelite heresy. For this the Pope himself, and the two confessors named Anastasius, were seized by the Emperor. Along with St Maximos, the two endured many tortures; when St Maximos had his right hand cut off and his tongue cut out, Anastasius the elder suffered the same punishment. They, along with their fellow-disciples Euprepius and Theodore and St Maximos himself, were sent into exile to Lazica in the Caucasus, where all of them died. Euprepius died after one year; Saint Maximos after three years; Anastasius the younger a few days before St Maximos; Anastasius the elder after seven years of exile; and Theodore after twenty years. All remained steadfast until the end, and all are proclaimed as Confessors of the Faith.