Troparion — Tone 4

The truth of things revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, / a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance. / Therefore, through humility, you attained the heights; / and through poverty, riches. / O Hierarch Amphilókhios our Father, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone 2

O Hierarch Amphilókhios, / divine thunder, spiritual trumpet, / planter of faith, and pruner of heresies, / great favorite of the Trinity, / as you stand before God with the Angels, / pray unceasingly for all of us..

Epistle:  Ephesians 5:8-19

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light  (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,  and Christ will shine on you.” Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,  speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.

Gospel:  Luke 12:19-21

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.

Saint Amphilokhios ,Bishop of Iconium

Saint Amphilokhios (Amphilókhios), Bishop of Iconium, was born in Caesarea of Cappadocia (circa 340) a city which produced some of the greatest Fathers and teachers of the Orthodox Church. He was a lawyer in Constantinople, but later he devoted himself entirely to serving the Church. Not only was he a friend of Saint Basil the Great and a relative of Saint Gregory the Theologian, he was also their disciple. Saint Amphilokhios labored diligently in Christ’s vineyard, living in the wilderness as a strict ascetic for about forty years, until the the Lord chose him to serve as a Hierarch. Saint Amphilokhios was the first Metropolitan of the new province of Lycaonia, and he often relied on Saint Basil for advice and help in his pastoral duties. The holy Archpastor fought against Arianism and other heresies of that time, defending the Divinity of the Holy Spirit against the heresy of Macedonius. Saint Basil dedicated his treatise “On the Holy Spirit” to Bishop Amphilokhios. In addition to demonstrating the divinity of the Holy Spirit and His equality with the Father and the Son, Saint Basil’s treatise defends the Church’s ancient unwritten traditions, such as making the Sign of the Cross, facing East when we pray, not kneeling on Sunday, and so on. For many years Saint Amphilokhios tended the flock of Iconium which the Lord entrusted to him. The righteous one’s prayer was so intense that he could ask the Lord to heal the physical and spiritual infirmities of his flock. He was also a gifted writer and preacher, guiding his flock on the path of salvation . As a strict Orthodox theologian, the Saint fought relentlessly against the Arian and Eunomian heresies. He participated in the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, and led the struggle against the heresy of Macedonius. Few of the Saint’s writings have been preserved, but eight of his homilies exist, including the oldest known homily on the Meeting of the Lord (February 2). The holy Bishop Amphilokhios departed peacefully to the Lord in the year 394. Pieces of the Saint’s Holy Relics are to be found in the Monasteries of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos, Kykkos Monastery on Cyprus, and at the Benaki Museum in Athens.