Mark 16.1-8 (2nd Matins Gospel)

1When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3They were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.

5Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 6He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him! 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’”

8They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.

1 Corinthians 8.8-9.2 (Epistle)

8But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better. 9But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.

1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Matthew 25.31-46 (Gospel)

31“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. 36I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’

40“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

45“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

St Leo the Great, Pope of Rome

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. ‘According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches’ teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call “The Robber Council”), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo’s epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo’s epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the “Tome of Leo.” The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.’(Great Horologion).

St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.