Ephesians 5.25-33 (Epistle)

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Luke 4.1-15 (Gospel)

1And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Great Martyr Eustathius (Eustace) Placidas, with his family (118)

Before baptism he was a renowned military commander under Trajan. While hunting in the woods, he met a great stag with a shining Cross between his antlers. Through the stag, the Lord spoke to Placidas (his pagan name) and told him to find a priest and be baptized into Christ. Returning home, he found that his wife Tatiana had also had a vision in which she was told to become a Christian. They were baptized, Placidas receiving the name Eustathius, and Tatiana the name Theopiste; their two sons were baptized with them. Eustathius and his family were almost immediately subjected to a series of grievous trials, in which all were separated from one another. After years of hardship they were re-united, and returned to Rome with honor when the Emperor sought out Eustathius to command his army once again. But when the Emperor Hadrian (who had succeeded Trajan) commanded them to worship the idols, all of them refused. They were put together into a large bronze ox which was heated white-hot in a fire. When their bodies were removed, they were found to be dead but intact. The Prologue concludes, ‘Thus this glorious general gave to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s, and entered into the eternal Kingdom of Christ our God.’

Holy Martyrs Hypatius and Andrew, Confessors of the Holy Icons (8th c.)

They were friends from childhood, fellow-strugglers for holiness. Their godly way of life attracted the attention of the Bishop of Ephesus, who made Hypatius a bishop and Andrew a deacon and itinerant preacher. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian (714-41) they were both imprisoned for confessing the Orthodox faith and defending the veneration of the holy icons. They were subjected to various tortures, including having icons set afire on their heads in mockery of their faithfulness. They were executed near Constantinople and their bodies thrown to the dogs.

Sts Anastasius, Theodore, Euprepius and Anastasius the Younger, confessors and disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (7th c.)

These saints were disciples of St Maximos the Confessor (January 21) and suffered with him for their condemnation of the Monothelite doctrine promoted by the Emperor Constans II. Anastasius the elder (who had been the Papal representative to Constantinople) and Anastasius the younger were present at the Lateran Council called by St Martin, Pope of Rome (April 13), which condemned the Monothelite heresy. For this the Pope himself, and the two confessors named Anastasius, were seized by the Emperor. Along with St Maximos, the two endured many tortures; when St Maximos had his right hand cut off and his tongue cut out, Anastasius the elder suffered the same punishment. They, along with their fellow-disciples Euprepius and Theodore and St Maximos himself, were sent into exile to Lazica in the Caucasus, where all of them died. Euprepius died after one year; Saint Maximos after three years; Anastasius the younger a few days before St Maximos; Anastasius the elder after seven years of exile; and Theodore after twenty years. All remained steadfast until the end, and all are proclaimed as Confessors of the Faith.