Romans 14.9-18 (Epistle)

9For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

12So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

13Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling. 14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16Then don’t let your good be slandered, 17for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Matthew 12.14-16, 22-30 (Gospel)

14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

15Jesus, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all, 16and commanded them that they should not make him known,

22Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

25Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you. 29Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.

30“He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.

Prophet Elisha

The disciple and spiritual heir of the Prophet Elijah (July 20), his story can be found in II Kings. Unlike most of the Old Testament prophets, he was granted the gift of working many miracles. He reposed in peace at a great age. The Fathers tell us that he was anointed by Elijah in the year 908 BC and reposed in peace at a great age in 839 BC. He was buried in Samaria. Even after his death, miracles of wonderworking were performed through his relics.

St Methodios, Patriarch of Constantinople (847)

He was born to wealthy parents in Syracuse of Sicily. He entered monastic life and in time became a priest in the service of Patriarch Nikephoros. Because of his great and well-known zeal for the holy icons, he was cruelly persecuted by a succession of iconoclast emperors. Around 815, he was sent as an ambassador to Rome on behalf of the Patriarch, who had been exiled by the Emperor Leo the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople upon Leo’s death, he was immediately exiled and imprisoned by Leo’s successor, Michael the Stutterer. Upon Michael’s death he was freed for a short time, but soon the Emperor Theophilus had him exiled to an island where, says the Prologue, “he spent seven years in prison with two common robbers, in damp conditions, without light and without sufficient food, as if in a grave.” When the pious Empress Theodora restored the Empire to Orthodoxy, he was freed and elevated to Patriarch of Constantinople. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we commemorate the restoration of the Holy Icons by Theodora and Methodios. Despite many attacks by heretics while he was Patriarch, he served faithfully and reposed in peace.

St John Mavropos, Metropolitan of Euchaïta(1100)

He is commemorated today on the Slavic Calendar; for his life, see October 5, his commemoration on the Greek Calendar.