Epistle Reading: 1 Peter 3:10-22
For "He who would love life and see good days, let him
refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile;
let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace
and pursue it.
For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears
are open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do
evil."
And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of
what is good?
But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you
are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled."
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be
ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that
is in you, with meekness and fear;
having a good conscience, that when they defame you as
evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for
doing good than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but
made alive by the Spirit,
by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in
which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (
not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
Gospel Reading: Mark 12:18-27
Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to
Him; and they asked Him, saying:
"Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and
leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his
wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
"Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and
dying, he left no offspring.
"And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any
offspring. And the third likewise.
"So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the
woman died also.
"Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife
will she be? For all seven had her as wife."
Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore
mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
"For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are
given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
"But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read
in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him,
saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
"He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.
You are therefore greatly mistaken."
Saints and Feasts
Photius the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople; Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna; Barsanuphius the Great and John of Gaza; Afterfeast of the Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple; St. Ilyan of Homs
