1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body.
4While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.
5Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,
7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”
8They remembered his words,
9returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles.
11These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them.
12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.
Romans 6.18-23 (Epistle)
18Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
20For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 8.5-13 (Gospel)
5When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help,
6saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
Commemorations
Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Ancyra
A secret Christian living in Ancyra, he would recover the bodies of the martyrs and give them honorable burial: it was he who buried the holy relics of the Virgin Martyrs Tecusa and her seven companions (May 8). When he was discovered by the pagan authorites, they seized him, tortured him and finally beheaded him.
Hieromartyr Marcellinus, pope of Rome (304)
“When the Emperor Diocletian summoned him and threatened him with torture, he offered sacrifice to idols and was, because of this, rewarded by the Emperor with a costly garment. But Marcellinus repented bitterly and began to weep both day and night for his rejection of Christ, even as the Apostle Peter had before him. A synod of bishops was held at that time in Campania, and the Pope dressed himself in sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on his head, and, going before the Synod, confessed his sin and asked them to judge him. The fathers said: ‘Let him judge himself.’ Then he said: ‘I strip myself of the sacerdotal rank of which I am not worthy; and, further, let my body not be buried after my death, but let it be thrown to the dogs.’ Having said this, he pronounced a curse on any who should dare to bury him. He then went to the Emperor Diocletian and, casting the precious garment in front of him, confessed his faith in Christ and cursed the idols. The enraged Emperor ordered that he be tortured and killed outside the city, together with three other men: Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus. The bodies of these three were buried at once, but the Pope’s body lay there for thirty-six days. Then St Peter appeared to Marcellus, the new Pope, and told him to bury Marcellinus’ body, saying: ‘Whoso humbleth himself shall be exalted.’ ” (Prologue)
St Daniel of Skete in Egypt (5th c.)
He was a disciple of St Arsenios the great and abbot of the Scetis in Egypt (the monastic system known as the “Skete” takes its name from Scetis). He lived the communal monastic life for forty years, then in 420 retired to the desert, where he remained until his repose.
From the Prologue: “A saint has a very sensitive conscience. What ordinary people may consider a small sin, a saint sees as a great crime. It is said of Abba Daniel that highwaymen attacked him on three occasions and took him off to the mountains. Twice he was rescued, but the third time, in attempting to escape, he struck one of them with a stone and killed him, and then made his escape. That murder lay on his conscience like a lead weight. In perplexity as to what he should do, he went to Timothy, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and asked his advice. The Patriarch soothed him, and released him from all penance. But his conscience continued to gnaw at him, and he went to Rome, to the Pope. The Pope gave him the same reply as had the Patriarch. Still dissatisfied, Daniel visited the remaining patriarchs in turn; going to Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem, confessing to each of them and asking for advice. But he could find no peace. So he returned home to Alexandria and declared himself to the authorities as a murderer, and was flung into prison. At his trial before the governor, Daniel told how everything had come about, and pleaded that he might be killed too, that his soul might be saved from eternal fire. The governor was amazed at the whole thing, and said to him: ‘Go your way, Father, and pray to God for me, even if you kill seven more!’ Still dissatisfied with this, Daniel resolved to take a leper into his cell and care for him until he died, and then find another. He did as he had resolved, and in this way brought peace to his conscience.”