6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion and not after the tradition which they received from us.
7For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you,
8neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you.
9This was not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.
10For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is not willing to work, don’t let him eat.”
11For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies.
12Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with quietness and eat their own bread.
13But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing what is right.
14If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man and have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.
15Don’t count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
16Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.
17I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter. This is how I write.
18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 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 11.23-26 (Gospel)
23“He who is not with me is against me. He who doesn’t gather with me scatters.
24The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will turn back to my house from which I came out.’
25When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.
26Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
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.