Prayer Before Reading Holy Scripture
O Master Who loves mankind, illuminate our hearts with the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open the eyes of our mind to understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, that we may overcome all carnal desires, entering upon a spiritual life and understanding and acting in all things according to Your holy will. For You are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies, O Christ God, and to You we give glory together with Your eternal Father and Your all-holy, gracious and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.
Epistle Reading: Philippians 1:12-20
But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which
happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel,
so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard,
and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ;
and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become
confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and
some also from good will:
The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not
sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;
but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed
for the defense of the gospel.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense
or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will
rejoice.
For I know that this will turn out for my salvation
through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
according to my earnest expectation and hope that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now
also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
Gospel Reading: Luke 5:33-39
Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often
and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and
drink?"
And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the
bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?
"But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away
from them; then they will fast in those days."
Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a
new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the
piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.
"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new
wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be
ruined.
"But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are
preserved.
"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new;
for he says, 'The old is better.' "
Saints and Feasts
Callistratus the Martyr & his 49 Companions; Mark, Aristarchos, & Zenon, Apostles of the 70; Akylina the New Martyr of Thessaloniki; Gideon the Righteous
