Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy; Our Venerable Father Dalmatius of Siberia (1697); Our Venerable Father Anthimos of Chios (1960)

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, ²to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house: ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, ⁵hearing of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, ⁶that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus. ⁷For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

⁸Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate, ⁹yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. ¹⁰I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have become the father of in my chains, ¹¹who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me. ¹²I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, ¹³whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News. ¹⁴But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will. ¹⁵For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while that you would have him forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. ¹⁸But if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put that to my account. ¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides). ²⁰Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.

²¹Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say.

²²Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, ²⁴as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and said to them, “Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him and bring him. ³If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”

⁴They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him. ⁵Some of those who stood there asked them, “What are you doing, untying the young donkey?” ⁶They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.

⁷They brought the young donkey to Jesus and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. ⁸Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹Those who went in front and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

¹¹Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.