Memorial of Mar Qiryaqos and His Mother, Juliet – July 15

All readings from the Memorial of All Martyrs & Confessors

Daniel 3:2-22 (3:25-45 in the Pshitta)

² Then Azariah stood and offered this prayer; in the midst of the fire he opened his mouth and said:

³ “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers, and worthy of praise;

and your name is glorified for ever.

⁴ For you are just in all that you have done to us,

and all your works are true and your ways right,

and all your judgments are truth.

⁵ You have executed true judgments in all that you have brought upon us

and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers,

for in truth and justice you have brought all this upon us because of our sins.

⁶ For we have sinfully and lawlessly departed from you,

and have sinned in all things and have not obeyed your commandments;

⁷ we have not observed them or done them,

as you have commanded us that it might go well with us.

⁸ So all that you have brought upon us,

and all that you have done to us,

you have done in true judgment.

⁹ You have given us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful rebels,

and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.

¹⁰ And now we cannot open our mouths;

shame and disgrace have befallen your servants and worshipers.

¹¹ For your name’s sake do not give us up utterly,

and do not break your covenant,

¹² and do not withdraw your mercy from us,

for the sake of Abraham your beloved

and for the sake of Isaac your servant

and Israel your holy one,

¹³ to whom you promised

to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven

and as the sand on the shore of the sea.

¹⁴ For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any nation,

and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.

¹⁵ And at this time there is no prince, or prophet, or leader,

no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,

no place to make an offering before you or to find mercy.

¹⁶ Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,

as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,

and with tens of thousands of fat lambs;

¹⁷ such may our sacrifice be in your sight this day,

and may we wholly follow you,

for there will be no shame for those who trust in you.

¹⁸ And now with all our heart we follow you,

we fear you and seek your face.

¹⁹ Do not put us to shame,

but deal with us in your forbearance

and in your abundant mercy.

²⁰ Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works,

and give glory to your name, O Lord!

Let all who do harm to your servants be put to shame;

²¹ let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and dominion,

and let their strength be broken.

²² Let them know that you are the Lord, the only God,

glorious over the whole world.”

 

Acts of the Apostles 6:8-7:10

The Arrest of Stephen

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men, who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵ And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech to the Council

7 And the high priest said, “Is this so?” ² And Stephen said:

“Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living; ⁵ yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. ⁶ And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years. ⁷ ‘But I will judge the nation which they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.

 

or

 

Acts of the Apostles 17:22-31

22 So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷ that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your poets have said,

‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

²⁹ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. ³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.”

 

Hebrews 11:3-10, 32-12:2

³ By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.

The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. ⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

The Faith of Abraham

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. ⁹ By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, illtreated—³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

The Example of Jesus

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Matthew 10:16-33

Coming Persecutions

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ When they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; ²⁰for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹ Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²² and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; ²⁵ it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Whom to Fear

26 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³² So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; ³³ but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.