St Hieron and the Holy 33 Martyrs of Melitene; Saint Willibrord, first Bishop of Utrecht and Apostle of Holland (739); Lazarus the Wonderworker

For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe. ¹¹As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, ¹²to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.

¹³For this cause we also thank God without ceasing that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, God’s word, which also works in you who believe. ¹⁴For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews

Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? ³I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

⁶He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down! Why does it waste the soil?’ ⁸He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”