20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia; Our Holy Father Simon the Outpourer of Myrrh, Founder of Simonopetra Monastery, Mt Athos (1287); Holy Martyr Glycerus

Be diligent to come to me soon, ¹⁰for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. ¹²But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come—and the books, especially the parchments. ¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. ¹⁵Beware of him, for he greatly opposed our words.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. ¹⁸And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. ²⁰Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick. ²¹Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

²²The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.

Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, ²⁶“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace. ³³So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”