1 Corinthians 6.20-7.12 (Epistle)

20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband. 4The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7Yet I wish that all men were like me. However, each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. 8But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 9But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn with passion. 10But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband 11(but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.

12But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her.

Matthew 14.1-13 (Gospel)

1At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, 2and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.” 3For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod. 7Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. 8She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”

9The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given, 10and he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 11His head was brought on a platter and given to the young lady; and she brought it to her mother. 12His disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. 13Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.

Hieromartyr Apollinarius, bishop of Ravenna (75)

He was a disciple of St Peter, born in Antioch. St Peter took him to Rome (he was bishop of Antioch before being bishop of Rome, so Antioch is as much the ‘see of Peter’ as is Rome) and made him Bishop of Ravenna. In Ravenna, he healed the wife of the military governor of a grave illness, after which the governor and his household confessed Christ and were baptized. Apollinarius was able to form a house church in the governor’s home, from which he labored for the Gospel for twelve years. Eventually, he was condemned to exile in Illyria for his faith, and began a life of missionary travel in the Balkans, travelling as far as the Danube. After twelve years of this work, he was driven back to Italy by the hostility of some of the pagans. He was received with joy by the people of Ravenna, which aroused the envy of the pagan elders, who denounced him to the Emperor Vespasian. When the elders asked permission to kill Apollinarius, the Emperor only gave them permission to drive him from the city, wisely saying ‘It is not seemly to take revenge on behalf of the gods, for they can themselves be revenged on their enemies if they are angered.’ But, in defiance of the Imperial decree, the pagan leaders attacked and killed Apollinarius with knives. His holy relics are preserved in Ravenna, in a church dedicated to him.

Holy Prophet Ezekiel (6th c. BC)

He is counted as the third-ranked of the Major Prophets. Read the Old Testament book that bears his name, in which the Church recognizes prophecies of the Lord’s Incarnation by the Virgin and of the general resurrection of mankind.

Righteous Anna (Hannah), mother of the prophet Samuel Righteous Anna (Hannah), mother of the prophet Samuel