Commemoration of the Apparition of the Sign of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem in 351 AD; Martyr Acacius the Centurion at Byzantium (303); Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

¹²“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests, ¹³at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. ¹⁴When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will reveal to you; ¹⁷delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, ¹⁸to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

³¹“If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. ³²It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. ³³You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved. ³⁵He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. ³⁷The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. ³⁸You don’t have his word living in you, because you don’t believe him whom he sent.

³⁹“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. ⁴⁰Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. ⁴¹I don’t receive glory from men. ⁴²But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵“Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

¹After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs which he did on those who were sick.