Acts 3.1-8 (Epistle)

1Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple. 3Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy. 4Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.” 5He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength. 8Leaping up, he stood and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

Philippians 2.5-11 (Epistle, Theotokos)

5Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

John 2.12-22 (Gospel)

12After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. 15He made a whip of cords and drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money and overthrew their tables. 16To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”

18The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”

19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

20The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Luke 10.38-42, 11.27-28 (Gospel, Theotokos)

38As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word. 40But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”

41Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

27It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

28But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

Prophet Isaiah

He is counted as the greatest of the Old Testament Prophets. His incomparably beautiful verses foretell Christ in many places. He chastised, comforted, and counseled the pious king Hezekiah; but when he denounced the impiety and lawlessness of Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, he was sawn in two outside Jerusalem, receiving a martyr’s crown. His name means “The Lord is helper.”

The Fifth Biblical Ode, “Out of the night my spirit waketh at dawn unto Thee, O God…” is taken from Isaiah.

Trans. Rel. St Nicholas the Wonderworker

In 1087 the Saint’s relics were taken from Myra in Lycia (on the southern coast of present-day Turkey) to the town of Bari in Italy. This was done due to a Muslim attack on Lycia. At that time Bari was Orthodox and under the administration of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Saint’s relics now lie in a Roman Catholic church in Bari; each year the casket containing the relics is opened by a Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishop together, and quantities of fragrant myrrh are removed, for the healing and encouragement of the faithful.

Holy Martyr Christopher (3rd c.)

He was originally named Reprobus. In the time of the persecutions under the Emperor Decius, Reprobus, seeing the sufferings of the Christians, rebuked the rulers for their cruelty. The governor sent soldiers to arrest him, but he converted them and was baptised along with them, receiving the name Christopher. After he was brought before the governor, he was imprisoned with two harlots sent to seduce him, but he converted them also. He, the soldiers, and the former harlots were subjected to torture and finally beheaded.

It is this Saint Christopher who is portrayed on the medals often worn for protection in the Latin West. The image of him carrying the child Jesus comes from his name, which means ‘Christ-bearer,’ not from any incident in his life.