The holy great martyr George the Victory-bearer was a native of Cappadocia (a district in Asia Minor), and he grew up in a deeply believing Christian family. When he became a man, St. George entered into the service of the Roman army. He was handsome, brave and valiant in battle, and came to be noticed by the emperor Diocletian (284-305) and joined the imperial guard with the rank of comites, or military commander. Following the advice of the Senate at Nicodemedia, Diocletian gave all his governors full freedom in their court proceedings against Christians, and he promised them his full support. St. George, when he heard the decision of the emperor, distributed all his wealth to the poor, freed his servants, and then appeared in the Senate. The brave soldier of Christ spoke out openly against the emperor’s designs. He confessed himself a Christian, and appealed to all to acknowledge Christ: “I am a servant of Christ, my God, and trusting Him, I have come among you voluntarily, to bear witness concerning the Truth.” After many tortures and miraculous reprieves, St. George was finally beheaded after revealing the Truth of Christ to many, including the Empress Alexandra, who was martyred with him in the year 303.
You fought the good fight with faith, O George, a martyr of Christ. You exposed the perversion of the persecutors and offered an acceptable sacrifice to God. Therefore, you also received a crown of victory and through your prayers, O holy one, obtained the forgiveness of sins for all.
Reared by God, you were a noble sower of piety, harvesting sheaves of virtue. You sowed in tears but reaped in joy; and having honorably fought and given your blood, you were received by Christ. Through your prayers, O holy one, obtain the forgiveness of sins for all.
Acts 12: 1-11
In those days King Herod started to harass some of the members of the church. He beheaded James the brother of John, and when he saw that this pleased certain Jews, he took Peter into custody too. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread he had Peter arrested and thrown into prison with four squads of soldiers to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people after the Passover. Peter was thus detained in prison, while the church prayed fervently to God on his behalf. During the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened in double chains, while guards kept watch at the door. Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood nearby and light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. “Hurry, get up!” the angel said. With that, the chains dropped from Peter’s wrists. The angel said, “Put on your belt and your sandals!” This Peter did. Then the angel told him, “Now put on your cloak and follow me.”
Peter followed the angel out, but with no clear realization that this was taking place through the angel’s help. The whole thing seemed to him a mirage. They passed the first guard, then the second, and finally came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them of itself. They emerged and made their way down a narrow alley, when suddenly the angel left him. Peter had recovered his senses by this time, and said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel to rescue me from Herod’s clutches and from all the Jews hoped for.”
John 15: 17-27, 16: 1-2
The Lord said to his disciples: “The command I give you is this, that you love one another. If you find that the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own; the reason it hates you is that you do not belong to the world. But I chose you out of the world. Remember what I told you: no slave is greater than his master. They will harry you as they harried me. They will respect your words as much as they respected mine. All this they will do to you because of my name, for they know nothing of him who sent me. If I had not come to them and spoken to them, they would no be guilty of sin; now, however, their sin cannot be excused.
“To hate me is to hate my Father. Had I not performed such works among them as no one has ever done before, they would not be guilty of sin; but as it is, they have seen, and they go on hating me and my Father. However, this only fulfills the text of their law: ‘They hated me without cause.’ When the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father – and whom I myself will send from the Father– he will bear witness on my behalf. You must bear witness as well, for you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have told all this to keep your faith from being shaken. Not only will they expel you from synagogues; a time will come when anyone who puts you to death will claim to be serving God!”
Acts 2: 22-36
In those days, Peter addressed the people: “Men of Israel, listen to me! Jesus the Nazorean was a man who God sent to you with miracles, wonders, and signs as his credentials. These God worked through him in your midst, as you well know. He was delivered up by the sat purpose and plan of God; you even made use of pagans to crucify and kill him. God freed him from death’s bitter pangs, however, and raised him up again, for it was impossible that death should keep its hold on him. David says of him: ‘I have set the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. My heart has been glad and my tongue has rejoiced, my body will live on in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faith for one to undergo corruption. You have shown me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our father David. He died and was buried, and his grave is in our midst to this day. He was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne. He said that he was not abandoned to the nether world, nor did his body undergo corruption, thus proclaiming beforehand the resurrection of the Messiah. This is the Jesus God has raised up, and we are his witnesses. Exalted at God‘s right hand, he first received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, then poured this Spirit out on us. This is what you now see and hear. David did not go up to heaven, yet David says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Therefore let the whole house of Israel know beyond any doubt that God has made both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified.
John 1: 35-51
At that time John was present with two of his disciples. As he watched Jesus walk by he said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned around and noticed them following, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi (which means Teacher), where do you stay?” “Come and see,“ he answered. So they went to see where he was lodged, and stayed with him that day. (It was about four in the afternoon.).
One of the two who had followed Jesus after hearing John was Simon Peter’s brother Andrew. The first thing he did was seek out his brother Simon and tell him, “we have found the Messiah!” (This term means the Anointed.) Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon, son of John; your name shall be Cephas (which is rendered Peter).”
The next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee, but first he came upon Philip. “Follow me,“ Jesus said to him. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter. Phillip sought out Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses spoke of in the law — the prophets too — Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” Nathanael‘s response to that was, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?“ And Philip replied, “Come, see for yourself.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he remarked: “This man is a true Israelite. There is no guile in him.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked him. “Before Philip called you,” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree.” “Rabbi,” said Nathanael, “you are the son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus responded: “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than that.”
Jesus went on to tell them, “I solemnly assure you, you shall see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Tuesday, April 22 –
