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.
2 Corinthians 4.6-15 (Epistle)
6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
8We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
9pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
10always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.
12So then death works in us, but life in you.
13But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak,
14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you.
15For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Matthew 22.35-46 (Gospel)
35One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38This is the first and great commandment.
39A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
42saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “Of David.”
43He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
44‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?
45“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
46No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.
Commemorations
Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia
“After the death of the 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia (see Dec. 28), their Bishop Anthimos fled to a certain village to care for his remaining flock. The Emperor Maximian sent men in search of him. When they found him, he promised to show Anthimos to them, but first took them in as guests, fed them, and only then made himself known to them. Amazed at his kindness, the soldiers promised him to tell Maximian that they had not found him. But Anthimos went willingly with them, and converting them by his admonitions, baptized them on the way. He boldly confessed his Faith before Maximian, and after frightful tortures was beheaded in the year 303 or 304.” (Great Horologion)
Our Holy Father Theoctistus, Fellow Ascetic of St Euthymius (451), is also commemorated today. A faithful disciple of St Euthymius, he was abbot of St Euthymius’ monastery in Palestine until his repose in peace at the age of ninety.
Holy Martyr Basilissa (309)
She lived near Nicomedia during the great persecution by the Emperor Diocletian. Though she was only nine years old, she was arrested and brought before Alexander, the Governor of Bithynia. When she fearlessly proclaimed her faith in Christ, the Governor had her stripped and beaten, but she only gave thanks to God. Enraged at the steadfastness of a mere child, the Governor ordered her chained and plunged head-first into boiling pitch, then cast into a blazing furnace, then thrown to the lions. Through all these torments she was miraculously preserved. Astonished at the wonders that he beheld, Alexander fell at Basilissa’s feet and confessed that he too believed that Christ is the Savior. He was baptized by the Bishop of Nicomedia and died not long afterward. Basilissa went into the wilderness outside the city to give thanks to God for her endurance under torture and to ask Him to receive her soul in peace. While praying in this way, she entered into her rest.
Our Holy Father Joannicius, Archbishop and first Patriarch of Serbia (1354)
“Born in Prizrem, he served as first secretary to King Dušan. He became Archbishop in 1339, and in 1346 was raised to the rank of Patriarch. He was a zealous pastor, and brought order to the Serbian Church, being ‘a great upholder of the Church’s laws’. He entered into rest on September 3rd, 1349, and his relics are preserved at Pec´.” (Prologue)