1 Corinthians 2.6-9 (Epistle)

6We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. 7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, 8which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 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.”

Matthew 22.15-22 (Gospel)

15Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. 16They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t partial to anyone. 17Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?

19Show me the tax money.” They brought to him a denarius.

20He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”

21They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

22When they heard it, they marveled, and left him and went away.

Martyr Agathonicus and Companions

He lived in Nicomedia, where he turned many pagans from their idolatry to faith in Christ. For this he and several companions were seized, beaten, bound, and taken to Byzantium. On the way, several of Agathonicus’ companions died from their harsh treatment. The survivors, including Agathonicus himself, were taken to Selyvria in Thrace, where they were tortured before the Emperor himself, then beheaded.

Holy Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona (303)

She was born of Christian parents in Barcelona, and dedicated herself to a life of holiness, taking Christ as her bridegroom. When the persecutor Dacian came to Barcelona, Eulalia secretly left her parents’ house by night and came before Dacian, denouncing him in front of many witnesses as a murderer of the innocent, and publicly confessing her faith in Christ. The wicked Dacian had her stripped and beaten, then tied to a tree in the form of a cross, and ordered that her flesh be burned with torches. When her torturer mockingly asked ‘Where is your Christ to save you?’ she answered ‘He is here with me; you cannot see Him because of your impurity.’ When the holy Eulalia died at last under torture, the people saw a white dove fly from her mouth. An unseasonable snowstorm then covered her naked body like a white garment.

Holy New Martyr Gorazd, Bishop of Slovakia and the Czech Lands (1942) (August 22 OC)

He was born in 1879 in Moravia and given the name Matthew Pavlik. He became a Roman Catholic priest, active in a movement for reform within the Roman Catholic Church. When Czechoslovakia became an independent state in 1919, about 800,000 Christians, including Fr Matthew, approached Bishop Dositheus of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Serbia, asking to be received into the Orthodox faith. Father Matthew was received into the Church in 1920; a year later was made Bishop of the Orthodox of Moravia and Silesia by Patriarch Demetrius of Serbia, and was named for St Gorazd, a disciple of St Methodius (July 27). Though many of the original ‘reform’ leaders turned back, finding the demands of Orthodoxy too difficult, Bishop Gorazd labored mightily for the restoration of Orthodoxy in Czechoslovakia: he established eleven parishes, translated the divine services into Czech, and published a Czech Prayer Book.

During the Second World War, two priests of the Orthodox Cathedral in Prague were arrested because some of the Czech resistance had taken refuge in the Cathedral. It was clear that the Nazis were planning retaliation against the entire Orthodox Church. Bishop Gorazd presented himself to the Nazis and, to save his priests, took full responsibility for the events in the Cathedral. He was arrested, tortured and finally shot on September 4 1942 (August 22 OC). Despite his selfless sacrifice, the Orthodox Church was severely persecuted by the Nazis: all the churches were closed and the priests sent to concentration camps in Germany.

Saint Gorazd was glorified by the Church of Serbia in 1961 and by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1987.