2 Peter 2.9-22
(Epistle)
9then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.
12But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
13receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
14having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children!
15Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
16but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
18For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;
19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
20For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
Philippians 3.20-4.3
(Epistle, St. Clement)
20For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
1Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
2I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same way in the Lord.
3Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Mark 13.14-23
(Gospel)
14“But when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,
15and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house.
16Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.
17But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days!
18Pray that your flight won’t be in the winter.
19For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.
20Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.
21Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ don’t believe it.
22For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
23But you watch. “Behold, I have told you all things beforehand.
Mark 2.23-3.5
(Gospel, St. Clement)
23He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain.
24The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”
25He said to them, “Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry—he, and those who were with him?
26How he entered into God’s house at the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?”
27He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
1He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there whose hand was withered.
2They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.
3He said to the man whose hand was withered, “Stand up.”
4He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm? To save a life or to kill?” But they were silent.
5When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.