Acts 1.1-8 (Epistle)

1The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, 2until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about God’s Kingdom. 4Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

7He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

John 1.1-17 (Gospel)

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.

6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. 9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. 12But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’” 16From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

Ven. Titus the Wonderworker

Very little is known of him. He took up the monastic life while still very young, and gave himself without reserve to the ascetical struggle, so much so that in the virtues of humility and obedience it was said that he exceeded ‘not only the brethren, but all men.’ In time, he became abbot of a monastery. During the iconoclast heresy, he stood unswervingly for the holy icons. Both in his own lifetime and after his death he was endowed with the gift of wonderworking. He reposed in peace sometime in the ninth century.

Holy Martyrs Amphianus and Aedesius (ca. 306)

They were brothers from an eminent pagan family. While studying in Beirut, they embraced the Faith of Christ. Returning home, they found that they could no longer live with their pagan kinsmen, and fled to Caesarea in Palestine, placing themselves under the care of Pamphylus, a holy priest who instructed them in the teachings of the Faith and in the ascetical life.

Amphianus entered a pagan temple while the governor, Urbanus, was offering sacrifice. Seizing the governor’s hand, he begged him to abandon his service to dead idols and to come to knowledge of the one God. For this he was put to torture, then cast into the sea with a stone around his neck.

Aedisius was sent to a copper mine in Palestine, then to Egypt. In Alexandria, Hierocles the governor was persecuting Christians by capturing Christian nuns and pious virgins and selling them into prostitution. Filled with holy zeal, Aedesius confronted the governor, denounced him, and struck him. For this he, like his brother, was tortured, then drowned.