1Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”
3Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
4They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
5Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he didn’t enter in.
6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
7and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
Colossians 3.4-11
(Epistle, Forefathers)
4When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6For these things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
7You also once walked in those, when you lived in them,
8but now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
9Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
10and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
11where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, or free person; but Christ is all, and in all.
Luke 14.16-24
(Gospel, Forefathers)
16But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people.
17He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’
18They all as one began to make excuses. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’
19“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’
20“Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’
21“That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22“The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’
23“The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper. For many are called, but few are chosen.’”
Commemorations
Holy Prophet Daniel and Three Holy Youths
Their wonderful story is told in the Book of Daniel, in which the coming of Christ is prophesied and prefigured in several places. Large portions of the book are missing from the protestant Bible: make every effort to obtain and read the full version. The Prayer and Song of the Three Youths in the Furnace have become the Seventh and Eighth of the Old Testament Odes of the Matins Canon; the Odes are sung in full only in monasteries during Lent. The Three Youths’ sojourn in the fiery furnace is prominent in Orthodox hymns and devotions, for their passage through the flames unharmed is a type of the holy Virgin’s incorrupt birth-giving: receiving the divine Fire within her womb, she was not consumed but remained ever-virgin.
According to the Synaxarion, Daniel reposed in peace at the age of eighty, two years after the return of the Hebrew people from their captivity in Babylon. The Three Youths also reposed in peace. But St Cyril of Alexandria writes that all of them met a martyr’s end, by beheading.
According to tradition these four were among the righteous dead who rose at Christ’s Crucifixion and were seen by many (Matthew ch. 27).
The Three Holy Youths were named, in Hebrew, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael; the names given above are Greek renderings of the Hebrew names. Their captors also gave them Babylonian names, by which they are also called: Shadrach, Abed-nego, and Meshak, respectively. Daniel was given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar.
Our Holy Father Dionysius the New of Zakinthos (1624)
He was born to pious and wealthy parents on the island of Zakinthos. Early in life he renounced his wealth and worldly honors to enter monastic life. His virtue became so well known that he was appointed Archbishop of Aegina, where he served for many years. In time, in order to retire to a life of solitude and struggle, he resigned and returned to his homeland where he entered a monastery in the mountains. Here he received the grace of performing miracles, and worked many healing and saving wonders among the people of Zakinthos.
A story from the Synaxarion reveals his character as one truly united to Christ: “He excelled above all in love of neighbour and in meekness. One day the murderer of the Saint’s own brother, fleeing the law and the members of his victim’s family, arrived at the monastery and begged Dionysius for asylum, little knowing to whom he was speaking. On gathering the reason for his flight and that his own brother was the victim, the man of God resisted with all his strength his natural grief and the temptation to avenge the crime. Imitating Christ, who pardoned his enemies and prayed for his persecutors, he received the fugitive with compassion, comforted him, exhorted him to repent and hid him in an out-of-the-way cell. When his pursuing kinsmen reached the monastery with the dreadful news, the Saint did not reveal that he knew it already, but did his best with words of peace to allay the wrath of his relatives and their desire for vengeance. As soon as they moved off, he let out the murderer (who was amazed and terror-struck before such superhuman goodness) and having provided him with victuals and money for his journey, he sent him away to work freely at the salvation of his soul.”
The holy bishop reposed in 1622 after a long and painful illness. He has continued to work signs and miracles and to appear from time to time to the people of Zakinthos, who venerate him as their protector and patron.