The virgin martyr Febronia suffered during the reign of Diocletian (284-305). She was raised at a monastery in the city of Sivapolis in Assyria. The head of the women’s monastery was the abbess Bryaena, the aunt of St. Febronia. Being concerned about her niece’s salvation, Bryaena assigned Febronia a stricter form of life than the other nuns. According to their monastic rule, on Fridays the sisters put aside their other duties and spent the whole day in prayer and the reading of Holy Scripture. The abbess usually assigned the reading to St. Febronia. News of her pious life spread throughout the city. The illustrious young widow Hieria, a pagan, began to visit her, and under the influence of her guidance and prayer Hieria accepted holy Baptism, bringing her parents and kinsfolk to the Christian Faith.
O Jesus, your lamb Febronia cries out to You with great love: O my Bridegroom, I long for You in great pain. I am crucified with You, and in baptism I am buried with You. I suffer for your sake in order to reign with You. I die for you in order to live in You. Accept me as an immaculate victim since I am immolated for your love. Through her intercession, O merciful One, save our souls.
The martyr Febronia spoke these words: It was not hard for me to follow You, my beloved Lord, for the sweetness of your love filled my soul with yearning, and the beauty of your mercy drew me to drink your chalice that You might admit me to the marriage feast in heaven along with the wise virgins, where I might sing to you. Therefore, O martyr, we celebrate your martyrdom and beseech you: Pray that the door to the feast remains open to us.
Romans 8: 2-13
Brothers and sisters: The law of the spirit, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. The law was powerless because of its weakening by the flesh. Then God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, thereby condemning sin in the flesh, so that the just demands of the law might be fulfilled in us who live, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Those who live according to the flesh are intent on the things of the flesh, those who live according to the spirit, on those of the spirit. The tendency of the flesh is toward death but that of the spirit is toward life and peace. The flesh in its tendency is at enmity with God, it is not subject to God’s law. Indeed, it cannot be; those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, while the spirit lives because of justice. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.
We are debtors, then, my brothers – but not to the flesh, so that we should live according to the flesh. If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death evil deeds of the body, you will live.
Matthew 10: 16-22
The Lord said to his disciples: “What I am doing is sending you out like sheep among wolves. You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves. Be on your guard with respect to others. They will haul you into court, they will flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to give witness before them and before Gentiles on my account. When they hand you over, do not worry about what you will say or how you will say it. When the hour comes, you will be given what you are to say. You yourselves will not be the speakers; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.
“Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will turn against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all on account of me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Tuesday, June 24 –
