Luke 24.36-53 (6th Matins Gospel)

36As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

37But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

42They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43He took them, and ate in front of them. 44He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.”

45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

1 Corinthians 6.12-20 (Epistle)

12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” 17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Luke 15.11-32 (Gospel)

11He said, “A certain man had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them. 13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. 14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16He wanted to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 17But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’

20“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate; 24for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

25“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the servants to him and asked what was going on. 27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

31“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”

Greatmartyr Theodore Tyro

The Greek Tyron means “conscript.” This holy Martyr of Christ came from Pontus and was a Roman legionary during Maximian’s persecution (ca. 303). Though he had been a Christian since childhood, he kept his faith secret while in the army. While his cohort was stationed near a town called Euchaita, he learned that the people there were being terrorized by a dragon which lived in the neighboring forest. He set off to face the dragon, praying to God that the outcome of the contest would be a sign to him of whether the time had come to offer himself for martyrdom. He found the fire-spitting monster and, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, drove his spear through its head and killed it.

His success convinced him that, having vanquished this fleshly dragon, he was ready to vanquish the spiritual dragon, the Devil. When the commander of his camp next ordered a sacrifice to the Gods, Theodore boldly refused, saying “I am a Christian!” Further, he encouraged the other Christians in his company to do the same. That night he went to a nearby pagan temple of Rhea, mother of the gods, and burned it down. He was seen by the caretaker of the temple and was brought unresisting to the governor Publius. Theodore was thrown into a solitary dungeon cell; there he refused bread and water, saying that Christ had promised him food from heaven. He spent his time there chanting hymns with the angels, so that the guards were convinced that other Christians had somehow joined him in his cell.

When all argument, cajolery, bribery and threat had failed to turn the soldier from Christ, the governor resorted to torture, subjecting the Saint to terrible mutilations; but when Theodore endured them calmly and resolutely, the governor began to fear that his example would encourage other Christians, and ordered that he be burned. Taken to the stake, the Martyr walked freely into the flames, where he gave back his soul to God. When his body was ransomed and taken from the ashes by a pious Christian, it was found to be untouched. A church was built in Euchaita in honor of the Martyr; many pilgrims came there for the healing of soul and body.

In 361, the Emperor Julian the Apostate ordered the Prefect of Constantinople to have all foods in the marketplaces sprinkled with blood of animals sacrificed to the pagan gods during the first week of Lent, so that Christians would be unable to escape contact with idolatry. But St Theodore appeared in a vision to Patriarch Eudoxius (360-364), warned him of the plan and told him to instruct his flock not to buy any food in the marketplace, but to eat kolyva made from boiled wheat grains. So, through the Saint’s intervention, the people were preserved from the stain of idolatry. Ever since, the Church has commemorated the miracle on the first Saturday of Great Lent. Since that time kolyva has come to be offered also in honor of the Saints and in memory of the departed. The whole grain represents the body, sown corruptible, which will be raised incorruptible (2 Cor. 15:37); it is usually sweetened with honey to signify the delights of Paradise.