Justin, Martyr, 167

The Collect:

Rite I:
O God, who hast given thy church wisdom and revealed to it deep and secret things: Grant that we, like thy servant Justin and in union with his prayers, may find thy Word an abiding refuge all the days of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Rite II:
O God, who has given your church wisdom and revealed to it deep and secret things: Grant that we, like your servant Justin and in union with his prayers, may find your Word an abiding refuge all the days of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

First Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
   and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Psalm: Psalm 116:1-9

¹ I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of
                            my supplication, *
       because he has inclined his ear to me whenever
                            I called upon him.
² The cords of death entangled me;
  the grip of the grave took hold of me; *
       I came to grief and sorrow.
³ Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *
       “O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”
⁴ Gracious is the Lord and righteous; *
       our God is full of compassion.
⁵ The Lord watches over the innocent; *
       I was brought very low, and he helped me.
⁶ Turn again to your rest, O my soul, *
       for the Lord has treated you well.
⁷ For you have rescued my life from death, *
       my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
⁸ I will walk in the presence of the Lord *
       in the land of the living.
⁹ I believed, even when I said,
 “I have been brought very low.” *
       In my distress I said, “No one can be trusted.”

Gospel: John 12:44-50

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. ⁴⁷I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, ⁴⁹for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.’

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