Apostle Timothy of the Seventy; Holy Martyr Anastasius of Persia (628); Joseph the Sanctified

I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day ⁴longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy; ⁵having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, in you also.

⁶For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. ⁸Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,

Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. ³³But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. ³⁷He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. ³⁸He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me.

²⁷Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰But many will be last who are first, and first who are last.