|
2025 |
|
On Sunday | August 24 |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
|
|
The Readings from the Regular Cycle |
|
The Epistle |
|
Eleventh Sunday |
The reading is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. |
|
1 Cor. 9:2 – 12 |
Brethren, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife as sister, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material things? If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. [RSV] |
|
The Gospel |
|
Eleventh Sunday of Matthew |
The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. |
|
Mt. 18:23 – 35 |
The Lord said this parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord delivered him to the torturers, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” [RSV] |
|
__________ |
|
|
|
The Readings for the Commemoration |
|
2025 |
|
August 24 |
|
Memory of St. Kosmas Aetolos |
|
The Readings from Vespers the Previous Evening |
Menaion Supplement - - - |
|
Is 43:9 – 14 |
Thus says the Lord: All the nations are gathered together, and the rulers shall be assembled from among them. Who will declare these things or tell us things from the beginning? Let them bring forth their witnesses, and be proven right; and let them speak the truth. “You are My witnesses, and I am a witness,” says the Lord God, “and My Servant whom I chose, that you may know and believe, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no other God, nor shall there be after Me. I am God, and besides Me there is no one who saves. I proclaimed, and I saved. I denounced foreign gods so there were none among you. You are My witnesses, and I am a witness,” says the Lord God. “Even from the beginning, there is no one who can deliver out of My hands; I will work, and who will reverse it?” Thus says the Lord God who redeems you, the Holy One of Israel. [SAAS] |
|
WSol 3:1 – 9 |
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torture will ever touch them. In the eyes of the undiscerning they seemed to have died, and their departure was considered to be misfortune, and their passage from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in man’s view they were punished, their hope is full of immortality. Though chastened in a few things, great kindness will be shown them, for God tested them and found them worthy of Himself. He tested them like gold in a furnace and accepted them as a whole burnt offering. In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and they will run about like sparks through straw. They will judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall reign over them unto the ages. Those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful shall continue with Him in love, because grace and mercy are upon His elect [and He watches over His holy ones]. [SAAS] |
|
WSol 5:15 – 6:3 |
The righteous live forever, and their reward is with the Lord; and their care is by the Most High. Therefore they shall receive a kingly dwelling of dignity and a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, because He will shelter them with His right hand and protect them with His arm. He will take His zeal as His full armor and will turn His creation into weapons against His enemies. He will wear righteousness as a breastplate and put on impartial judgment as a helmet. He will take holiness as an unconquerable shield and sharpen His relentless wrath for a sword; and creation will fight with Him against the senseless. Well-aimed flashes of lightning will strike and leap to their object as from a well-drawn bow of clouds; and hailstones full of anger will be hurled as from an engine of war. The water of the sea will be vexed with them, and the rivers will wash over them severely. A powerful wind will oppose them, and like a storm it will winnow them away. Lawlessness will lay waste all the earth, and wrongdoing will overturn the thrones of rulers. Listen therefore, O kings, and understand; learn, O judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule over multitudes, and take pride in yourself over a multitude of nations. For power was given to you from the Lord, and your lordship from the Most High. [SAAS] |
|
The Epistle |
|
For the Hieromartyr. |
The reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. |
|
Eph. 4:7 – 13 |
Brethren, grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. [RSV] |
|
The Gospel |
|
For the Hieromartyr. |
The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. |
|
Mt. 10:1, 5 – 8 |
At that time, Jesus called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay.” [RSV] |
|
__________ |
|
|
Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion. |
|
Synaxarion |
|
From the Menaion. |
On August 24 we commemorate the holy Martyr Eftyches, disciple of St. John the Theologian and of the holy Apostle Paul. |
On this day we also commemorate the holy Martyr Tatian. |
On this day we also commemorate our devout Father and Confessor George Limniotis. |
On this day we also commemorate the translation of the holy Relic of our Father among the saints Dionysius Archbishop of Aegina, and its return from Strofades to Zakynthos. |
On this day we also commemorate the holy new hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Cosmas Aitolos, who contested in the year 1779 and died by hanging. |
By their holy intercessions, O God, have mercy on us. Amen |
|
__________ |
|
|
Fasting Rule |
Fast Free: All foods allowed. |