Wednesday October 16, 2024 / October 3, 2024
17th Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Fast.
Hieromartyr Dionysius (Dennys) the Areopagite, and with him Martyrs Rusticus and Eleutherius (96).
New Hiero-confessor Agathangelus (Preobrazhensky), metropolitan of Yaroslavl (1928).
Finding of the relics (1988) of Venerable Ambrose of Optina (1911).
St. Jerome of Aegina (1966).
Venerable Dionysius, recluse of the Kiev Caves (15th c.).
Venerable John the Chozebite, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (532).
Blessed Hesychius the Silent of Mt. Horeb (6thc.).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Trubchevsk” (1765).
Hieromartyr Dionysius, archbishop of Alexandria and eight martyrs with him (257-8).
St. Leger of Autun (679) (Gaul).
Hieromartyrs Hewald the White and Hewald the Black, at Cologne.
Martyr Theoctistus (Greek).
Martyr Theagenes (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
8
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
10
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
11
according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
13
Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
14
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15
from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-
19
to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21
to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
46
But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
47
Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
48
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
49
But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.
1
Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum.
Acts 17:16-34 Hieromartyr
16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
17
Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
18
Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
19
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
20
For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.
21
For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23
for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25
Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27
so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29
Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
32
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.”
33
So Paul departed from among them.
34
However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Matthew 13:44-54 Hieromartyr
44
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
46
who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
48
which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
49
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
50
and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51
Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
52
Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
53
Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.
54
When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?