Acts 10.1-16 (Epistle)

1Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God. 3At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

4He, fastening his eyes on him and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God. 5Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is also called Peter. 6He is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside.

7When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually. 8Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

9Now on the next day as they were on their journey and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon. 10He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, 12in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. 13A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!”

14But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

15A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” 16This was done three times, and immediately the thing was received up into heaven.

John 6.56-69 (Gospel)

56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live because of me. 58This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

60Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”

61But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. 64But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him. 65He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”

66At this, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. 67Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?”

68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

St Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus

Saint Epiphanios was born a Jew in Palestine, but he and his sister came to faith in Christ and were baptized together. Epiphanios gave all his possessions to the poor and became a monk. He knew St Hilarion the great (October 31), and traveled among the monks of Egypt to learn their ways and wisdom. The fame of his virtue spread so widely that several attempts were made to make him bishop, first in Egypt, then in Cyprus. Whenever Epiphanios heard of these plans, he fled the area. He was finally made bishop by means of a storm: told to go to Cyprus, he took ship instead for Gaza, but a contrary wind blew his ship directly to Cyprus, where “Epiphanios fell into the hands of bishops who had come together to elect a successor to the newly-departed Bishop of Constantia, and the venerable Epiphanios was at last constrained to be consecrated, about the year 367.” (Great Horologion). He guarded his flock faithfully for the remainder of his life, working many miracles, defending the Church against the Arian heresy, and composing several books, of which the best-loved is the Panarion (from the Latin for ‘bread-box’), an exposition of the Faith and an examination of eighty heresies. He was sometimes called the ‘Five-tongued’ because he was fluent in Hebrew, Egyptian, Syriac, Greek, and Latin.

Saint Germanos was the son of a prominent family, in Constantinople. He became Metropolitan of Cyzicus, then was elevated to the throne at Constantinople in 715. It was he who baptized the infant Constantine, who for his whole life was nicknamed “Copronymos” because he defecated in the baptismal font (though he was neither the first nor the last infant to do so). At this incident, Patriarch Germanos is said to have prophesied that the child would one day bring some foul heresy upon the Church, which he did, becoming a notorious iconoclast as emperor. Germanos openly opposed the decree of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian which began the persecution of the holy icons. For this he was deposed and driven into exile in 730. He lived the rest of his life in peace. Saint Germanos is the composer of many of the Church’s hymns, notably those for the Feast of the Meeting in the Temple.

These two Saints are always commemorated together.