Ven. Joannicus the Great; The Holy Hieromartyrs Nicander, Bishop of Myra, and Hermias the Presbyter; Porphyrios the Mime

Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving, ³praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, ⁴that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

⁷All my affairs will be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bondservant in the Lord. ⁸I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, ⁹together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you everything that is going on here.

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute, ⁵⁰that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. ⁵²Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”

⁵³As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him, ⁵⁴lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.

¹Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.