1 Corinthians 13.4-14.5 (Epistle)

4Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. 13But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.

1Follow after love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2For he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands, but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. 3But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, exhortation, and consolation. 4He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly. 5Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but even more that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up.

Galatians 4.22-31 (Epistle, St Anna)

22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. 23However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate women have more children than her who has a husband.”

28Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30However, what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

Matthew 20.1-16 (Gospel)

1“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 5Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’

7“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’

8“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 9“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Luke 8.16-21 (Gospel, St Anna)

16“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light. 17For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”

19His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd. 20Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”

21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

Dormition Righteous Anna, Mother of Theotokos

According to tradition, both Anna and her husband Joachim had reposed by the time the Most Holy Theotokos was about eleven years old and living in the Temple; thus when she reached maturity she was an orphan, and was given into the care of the noble Joseph. The prayers of St Anna are invoked for conceiving children and for help in difficult childbirth. Her main feast is on September 9th.

Commemoration of the holy 165 Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553)

This council was held in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian the Great. The council condemned the various forms of monophysitism, the heretical writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Theodoret, and the writings of Origen (particularly on universal salvation).

St Olympias the Deaconess (408)

She was born to a noble family in Constantinople: her father Anysius Secundus was a senator. She was betrothed to a nobleman who died before they could be wed; resisting all advice to take another husband, Olympias devoted herself entirely to God, giving her large inheritance to the Church and to the poor. She served as a deaconess, first under the Patriarch Nektarios, then under St John Chrysostom. When St John was sent into exile, he advised her to remain in Constantinople, and to continue to serve the Church whatever patriarch took his place. But as soon as the holy hierarch went into exile, a fire destroyed a large part of the City, and St John’s enemies accused the holy Olympias of setting the fire. She in turn was exiled to Nikomedia, where she reposed in 408. She left instructions that her body be placed in a coffin and thrown into the sea, to be buried wherever it was cast up. The coffin came to shore at Vrochthoi and was buried there at a church dedicated to the Apostle Thomas. Her relics have continued to be a source of great miracles of healing.

During his exile, St John Chrysostom wrote a number of letters to St Olympias, seventeen of which have been preserved through the centuries. In one he writes: ‘Now I am deeply joyful, not only because you have been delivered from sickness, but even more because you are bearing adversities with such fortitude, calling them trifles — a characteristic of a soul filled with power and abounding in the rich fruits of courage. You are not only enduring misfortune with fortitude, but are making light of it in a seemingly effortless way, rejoicing and triumphing over it — this is a proof of the greatest wisdom.’