Romans 9.18-33 (Epistle)

18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

19You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? 22What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory— 24us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” 26“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; 28for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

29As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.”

30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”

Matthew 11.2-15 (Gospel)

2Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”

4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

7As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 10For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come. 15He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Hieromartyr Timothy, Bishop of Prusa

“For his great spiritual purity, God gave him the gift of wonderworking, and he healed all manner of diseases and pains among the people. During the reign of the evil Emperor Julian, who had renounced Christ, holy Timothy was thrown into prison. The faithful visited him there to listen to the wise teaching of their bishop. When this came to the Emperor’s ears, he commanded that the executioner behead the Saint in the prison. This was in 362, and his soul entered into Paradise while his relics remained, full of miraculous power, to help the people and declare the power of the Lord.” (Prologue [adapted])

Holy Martyrs Alexander and Antonina (313)

In Alexandria, the virgin Antonina was brought before Festus, the Governor, tortured for her faith in Christ, then thrown into prison. A Christian soldier named Alexander, who had never before seen or heard of Antonina, was commanded by an angel of God to go to her. Finding her, he gave her his military cloak, wrapping it about her head and body; and thus, with her head lowered, she was able to walk out of the prison while Alexander remained in her place. Alexander was brought before Festus, where he too confessed his faith in Christ. Antonina, learning of this, voluntarily came before the judge, who put both of them to hideous tortures, mutilating them in many ways before having them cast into a fire and burned alive.

A slightly different account says that Festus placed Antonina under guard in a brothel rather than a prison, so that her virginity might be defiled, and that it was from there that Alexander rescued her.

Festus, the Governor, was struck mute at the time of the holy martyrs’ death, and was tormented by an evil spirit for seven days, at the end of which he died.

Hieromartyr Metrophanes, first Chinese priest, and the Chinese New Martyrs of the Boxer Uprising (1900)

“The Holy Martyrs of China were native Chinese Orthodox Christians brought up in piety at the Russian Orthodox Mission in Peking, which had been founded in 1685. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 against the foreign powers occupying China, native Chinese Christians were commanded by the Boxers to renounce Christianity or be tortured to death. Two hundred and twenty-two members of the Peking Mission, led by their priest Metrophanes Tsi-Chung and his family, refused to deny Christ, and were deemed worthy of a martyric death.” ( Great Horologion)