The holy martyr Archdeacon Euplus suffered in the year 308 under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). He served in the Sicilian city of Catania. Always carrying the Gospel with him, St. Euplus preached constantly to the pagans about Christ. Once, while he read and explained the Gospel to the gathered crowd, they arrested him and took him to the governor of the city. St. Euplus confessed himself a Christian and denounced the impiety of idol-worship. For this, they sentenced him to torture. They threw the injured saint into prison, where he remained in prayer for seven days. The Lord made a spring of water flow into the prison for the martyr to quench his thirst. Brought to trial for a second time, strengthened and rejoicing, St. Euplus again confessed his faith in Christ and denounced the torturer for spilling the blood of innocent Christians. The judge commanded that the saint’s ears be torn off, and that he be beheaded. When they led the saint to execution, they hung the Gospel around his neck. Having asked for time to pray, the archdeacon began to read and explain the Gospel to the people, and many of the pagans listening came to believe in Christ. The soldiers beheaded the saint with a sword.
You martyr Euplus, O Lord our God, in his struggle received an incorruptible crown from You. With Your strength, he brought down the tyrants and broke the cowardly valor of demons. Through his prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Carrying the law of Christ in your hands, O Euplus, you bravely confronted the enemy by crying out: I am ready and willing to be martyred. You bent your neck and they cut off your head. And thus you have completed your course.
1 Corinthians 15: 12-19
Brothers and sisters: Tell me, if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how is it that some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is void of content and your faith is empty too. Indeed, we should then be exposed as false witnesses of God, for we have borne witness before him that he raised up Christ; but he certainly did not raise him up if the dead are not raised. Why? Because if the dead are not raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ are the deadest of the dead. If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men.
Matthew 21: 18-22
At that time, as Jesus was returning to the city, he felt hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the roadside he went over to it, but found nothing there except leaves. He said to it, “Never again shall you produce fruit!”; and it withered up instantly. The disciples were dumbfounded when they saw this. They asked, “Why did the fig tree wither up so quickly?” Jesus said: “Believe me, if you trust and do not falter, not only will you do what I did to the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ even that will happen. You will receive all that you pray for, provided you have faith.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Sunday, August 10 –
