1 Thessalonians 1.6-10 (Epistle)

6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we need not say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Luke 19.45-48 (Gospel)

45He entered into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”

47He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. 48They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.

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)