The synaxis of the glorious and all-praiseworthy Twelve Apostles of Christ appears to be an ancient Feast. The church honors each of the Twelve Apostles on separate dates throughout the year, and has established general commemoration for all of them on the day after the commemoration of the glorious and and first-ranked among the apostles Peter and Paul. The holy God-crowned Emperor Constantine the Great built a church in Constantinople in honor of the Twelve Apostles. There are instructions for this Feast which date from the fourth century.
Your preaching has spread over the whole earth, because you have received the Spirit in flaming tongues. You burned down the lies of idolatry, and you have caught the straying people with the net of faith. The heavens declare your glory for this, and the firmament proclaims your works. We join them in a song to your memory: Through the prayers of your twelve apostles, save us, O God.
Christ our Rock has exalted the foundation stone of faith, the chosen twelve from the disciples and Paul. As we observe their memory with faith, let us praise the One who glorifies them.
1st Corinthians 4: 9-16
Brothers and sisters: As I see it, God has put us apostles at the end of the line, like men doomed to die in the arena. We have become like a spectacle to the universe, to angels and men alike. We are fools on Christ’s account. Ah, but in Christ you are wise! We are the weak ones, you the strong! They honor you, while they sneer at us! Up to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, wandering about homeless. We work hard at manual labor. When we are insulted we respond with a blessing. Persecution comes our way; we bear it patiently. We are slandered, and we try conciliation. We have become the world’s refuse, the scum of all; that is the present state of affairs.
I am writing you this way not to shame you but to admonish you as my beloved children. Granted you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you have only one father. It was I who begot you in Christ Jesus through my preachings of the gospel. I beg you, be imitators of me.
Mark 3: 13-19
At that time Jesus went up the mountain and summoned the men he himself had decided on, who came to join him. He named twelve as his companions whom he would send to preach the good news; they were likewise to have authority to expel demons. He appointed the Twelve as follows: Simon to whom he gave the name Peter; James and John the sons of Zebedee (he gave these two names Boanerges, or “sons of thunder”); Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus, Simon of the Zealot party, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Romans 9: 18 – 33
Brothers and sisters: God has mercy on whom he wishes, and whom he wishes he makes hard-hearted. You will say to me, “Why, then, does he find fault? For who can oppose his will?” Friend, who are you to answer God back? Does something molded say to its molder, “Why did you make me like this?” Does a potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for a lofty purpose and another for a humble one? What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels fit for wrath, ready to be destroyed, and did so in order to make known the riches of his glory towards the vessels for mercy – which he prepared for glory – I am speaking about us whom he called, not only from among the Jews, but from among the Gentiles.
As it says in the Book of Hosea: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and those who were not loved I will call ‘Beloved’; in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ but they shall be called sons of the living God.” Isaiah cries out, referring to Israel, “Though the number of Israelites should be as the sands of the sea, only the remnants will be saved, for quickly and decisively will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.” It is just as Isaiah predicted: “Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant, we should have become as Sodom, we should be like Gemorrah.”
How, then, shall we put it? That the Gentiles, who were not seeking justice, attained it – the justice which comes from faith – while Israel, seeking a law from which justice would come, did not arrive at that law? And why did it not? Because justice comes from faith, not from works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, as Scripture says: “Behold, I am placing in Zion a stone to make men stumble and a rock to make them fall; but he who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Matthew 11: 2-15
At that time when John, in prison, heard about the works Christ was performing, he sent a message by his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you ‘He who is to come’ or do we look for another?” In reply, Jesus said to them: “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind will recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life, and the poor have the good news preached to them. Blest is the man who finds no stumbling block in me.”
As the messengers set off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out to the wasteland to see–a reed swaying in the wind? Tell me, what did you go out to see–someone luxuriously dressed? Remember, those who dress luxuriously are to be found in royal palaces. Why then did you go out–to see a prophet? A prophet indeed, and something more! It is about this man that Scripture says, “I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way before you.’
“I solemnly assure you, history has known a man born of woman greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he. From John the Baptizer’s time until now the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. All the prophets as well as the law spoke prophetically until John. If you are prepared to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who was certain to come. Heed carefully what you hear!”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Sunday, June 29 –
