18For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
20Inasmuch as he was not made priest without the taking of an oath
21(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, “The Lord swore and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’”
22By so much, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death.
24But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable.
25Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.
Luke 21.37-22.8
(Gospel)
37Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet.
38All the people came early in the morning to him in the temple to hear him.
1Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.
2The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death, for they feared the people.
3Satan entered into Judas, who was also called Iscariot, who was counted with the twelve.
4He went away and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them.
5They were glad, and agreed to give him money.
6He consented and sought an opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the multitude.
7The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed.
8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”
Commemorations
Hieromartyr Clement and Martyr Agathangel
He was from Ancyra in Galatia, son of a pagan father and a Christian mother named Euphrosyne. His mother prophesied on her deathbed that he would suffer great torments for Christ over many years. After her death he was adopted and reared by a pious woman named Sophia. From the age of twelve, he began to fast and pray like the monks, so that he was soon ordained a deacon, and became Bishop of Ancyra at the age of twenty. His piety and zeal for the faith attracted the attention of the Imperial Governor of the region, who had him arrested. Thus began Clement’s twenty-eight years of almost continuous suffering for the Faith. When he stood firm despite many tortures, he was sent to the Emperor Diocletian in Rome. The Emperor showed him a table set with costly vessels on one side, and another decked with instruments of torture on the other, and bade Clement to make his choice. The Saint replied: “These precious vessels remind how much more glorious must be the eternal good things of Paradise; and these instruments of torture remind me of the everlasting punishments of hell that await those who deny the Lord.”
The Saint was viciously tortured, then transported to Nicomedia, where a converted pagan named Agathangelus (‘good angel’) became his companion. For many years they endured unspeakable torments alternating with long imprisonments, but nothing would move them to deny the precious Faith of Christ. After twenty-eight years of suffering, Agathangelus was beheaded; but Clement was briefly paroled and allowed to celebrate the services of Theophany and to give the holy Communion to his fellow-Christians. A few days later, as he was again celebrating the Divine Liturgy, some pagan soldiers burst into the church and beheaded him at the altar.