15So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
19Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
20Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”
21Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
22Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
23This saying therefore went out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?”
24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true.
25There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.
Galatians 6.11-18 (Epistle)
11See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
12As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised, just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
13For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh.
14But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
15For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
16As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.
17From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body.
18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Hebrews 13.7-16
(Epistle, St John Kochurov)
7Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
10We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat.
11For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.
12Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.
13Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.
14For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
15Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.
16But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Luke 8.26-39 (Gospel)
26Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.
27When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs.
28When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”
29For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.
30Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him.
31They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.
32Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. Then he allowed them.
33The demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
34When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.
35People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
36Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed.
37All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. Then he entered into the boat and returned.
38But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
39“Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Luke 12.32-40
(Gospel, St John Kochurov)
32“Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
33Sell what you have and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
36Be like men watching for their lord when he returns from the wedding feast, that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.
37Blessed are those servants whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them.
38They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch and finds them so.
39But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
40Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”
Commemorations
Holy Apostles Stachys, Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus and Aristobolus.
They are numbered among the Seventy. All six are mentioned by St Paul in the sixteenth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. Stachys was appointed Bishop of Byzantium by the Apostle Andrew, and reposed in peace in AD 54. Apelles became Bishop of Heraclea in Asia Minor. Amplias and Urban were made Bishops in Macedonia by St Andrew; both died as Martyrs. Narcissus became Bishop of Athens and died a Martyr. Aristobulus became Bishop of Britain, where he reposed in peace.
New Martyr Nicholas of Chios (1754)
Raised in piety, he worked as a stone-mason until an accident deprived him of his reason and of the power of speech. The local Turkish rulers took advantage of his condition to declare him a Muslim. For years thereafter he was employed as a shepherd until he met a monk named Cyril, who prayed fervently that he be restored to his senses. He was miraculously restored, and almost immediately was filled with the desire to repent and to live only for Christ, devoting himself to prayer, fasting and vigil. Some time later he was falsely suspected of a crime by the (Christian) people of his village, and brought before the Turkish authorities. When he was questioned, he declared ‘I was born a Christian, I was brought up as a Christian, I have never denied Christ for Islam, and I never will deny Him, but will die a Christian.’ For this he was brutally tortured. Many local Christians, including the village priest, feared for their own safety and urged him to deny Christ, but Nicholas only rebuked them and stood firm. After many days of torture he was finally slain by the sword. The Synaxarion tells how a thick darkness fell on the whole island of Chios. When the dismayed Turks burned the Martyr’s body to be rid of this miracle, they were further dismayed when a heavenly scent rose from the flames, revealing the Saint’s entry into eternal glory.