Romans 15.7-16 (Epistle)

7Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. 8Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.”

10Again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

11Again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Let all the peoples praise him.”

12Again, Isaiah says, “There will be the root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope.”

13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.

14I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others. 15But I write the more boldly to you in part as reminding you, because of the grace that was given to me by God, 16that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 12.38-45 (Gospel)

38Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

43“When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. 44Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came;’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”

Ven. David of Thessalonica

For years he lived the ascetic life in a crude tree- house he had fashioned in the branches of an almond tree. Then he moved to Thessaly, where he continued his life of fasting, prayer and vigil, cleansing his soul and being made worthy to perform many miracles. Once, when the Emperor Justinian visited him, he took a live coal in his bare hand and censed the Emperor. The Emperor, seeing this, bowed to the ground before David. He reposed in peace.

Tikhvin Icon

This icon was once kept in the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople. In 1383, it suddenly appeared in the sky over Lake Ladoga, then travelled through the air to the city of Tikhvin, where it alit by the River Tikhvina. A monastery was built there to house it. In the twentieth century it was brought to America. Innumerable miracles have been worked through this wonderworking icon, especially healings of children.

On this day is also commemorated the Hodigritia Icon of the Mother of God. According to many accounts, this icon and the Tikhvin Icon are one and the same, so we list them together. Hodigritia is translated “Directress” or more literally “She who shows the way.” It was painted by Luke the Evangelist himself, who knew the Mother of God in the flesh. Over the years the icon was taken from Antioch to Jerusalem, then to Constantinople where it was enshrined in the Church of Blachernae. When Constantinople was attacked at the same time by the Persians and the Scythians, Patriarch Sergius carried the holy icon around the ramparts, and the city was miraculously delivered from its pagan enemies. During the iconoclast period, the icon was hidden in a wall in the monastery of the Pantocrator.