Acts 3.11-16 (Epistle)

11As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

12When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 14But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 16By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

John 3.22-33 (Gospel)

22After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them and baptized. 23John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came and were baptized; 24for John was not yet thrown into prison. 25Therefore a dispute arose on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification. 26They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”

27John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 29He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore my joy is made full. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.

31“He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. 33He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.

Ven. John, Disciple of Gregory Decapolites

He entered monastic life when young and became a disciple of St Gregory of Decapolis (Nov. 20). In the days of the iconoclast heresy, he was privileged to be tortured along with his teacher St Gregory and St Joseph the Hymnographer (April 3) for their defense of the holy icons. When Gregory died, John became Abbot of the Decapolite monastery in Constantinople. He reposed in peace around 820; St Joseph buried him near St Gregory’s grave.

The Holy Martyr John the New of Ioannina (1526)

He moved as a young man to Constantinople to work as a craftsman. After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, many Christians had denied Christ and embraced Islam. John spoke with many of these about the Faith and challenged them for their betrayal of Christ. Shamed and angered, some of them had him arrested, falsely stating that he had earlier accepted Islam and then returned to Christianity, which is punishable by death in Islamic law. He was tortured and cast into prison. When he was brought out for more torture on the day of Pascha, John came forward full of joy and singing ‘Christ is risen from the dead!’ To his torturers he cried, ‘Do what you will to me, and send me as quickly as possible from this transient life into life eternal. I am Christ’s servant; I follow Christ, and I die for Christ that I may live with Him.’ He has bound in chains and taken to be burned, but when he ran joyfully into the fire, his tormentors pulled him from the flames and beheaded him instead, then threw his head and body into the fire. Christians were able to gather a few of his wonderworking relics and bury them in the Great Church in Constantinople.