Ven. Cyriacos, Hermit of Palestine; St Mary of Palestine (6th c.); Holy Martyrs Dada and those with them (4th c.)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, ²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. ²⁶Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

¹Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted. ²Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them. ¹⁸Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus. ¹⁹Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus. ²⁰Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

²¹The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

²²But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts? ²³Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? ²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, arise, take up your cot, and go to your house.”

²⁵Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God. ²⁶Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”