9But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this.
10For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.
11We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end,
12that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
1 Corinthians 15.47-57
(Epistle, Departed)
47The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
48As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.
50Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
51Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
53For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark 7.31-37
(Gospel)
31Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee through the middle of the region of Decapolis.
32They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.
33He took him aside from the multitude privately and put his fingers into his ears; and he spat and touched his tongue.
34Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
35Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.
36He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.
37They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
John 5.24-30
(Gospel, Departed)
24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
26For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
27He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.
28Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
30I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
Commemorations
Ven. Theophanes the Confessor
He was born in 760 to an illustrious and very wealthy family — he was a kinsman of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian. In early life he lived in great luxury, married, and became a member of the Emperor’s court. Later, with his wife’s consent, he abandoned his home, his fortune and his rank to live humbly in a monastery. (His wife also entered monastic life; both of them entered monasteries that they had established with their wealth). Theophanes, though accustomed to a life of splendor and ease, joyfully lived as the lowest of monks for many years. He became so well-known for his faith, purity and wisdom that he was invited to the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787. He prayed unceasingly for the sick and distressed, and was granted the gift of wonder working: his prayers healed all kinds of illnesses, but especially mania and madness. When he himself fell seriously ill for a long period, he refused to pray for his own healing, but accepted his infirmity with thanksgiving.
When a second iconoclast period arose under the Emperor Leo the Armenian, Theophanes, who was widely known for his defense of the holy icons, was taken to Constantinople and imprisoned under extremely harsh conditions for two years. The Emperor then sent him into exile on the island of Samothrace. There, his body broken by his cruel imprisonment, he lived for only twenty-three days before giving up his soul to God.
St Gregory the Great (the Dialogist), Pope of Rome (604)
He was born in Rome to a wealthy senatorial family. He received a good education in secular and spiritual learning, and became Prefect of Rome. While still in the world, he used his great wealth mostly for the good of the Church, building six monasteries in Sicily and another in Rome itself. At this monastery, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, Gregory was tonsured a monk. He was appointed Archdeacon of Rome, then, in 579, Papal legate to Constantinople, where he lived for nearly seven years. He returned to Rome in 585 and was elected Pope in 590.
He is famed for his many writings, his generous charity (he gave almost all his income to the poor, and often invited the poor to share his table), and for initiating missionary work among the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated on Wednesday and Friday evenings during Great Lent, was compiled by him. St Gregory introduced elements of the chanting that he had heard in Constantinople into Western Church chant: The Gregorian Chant which beautified the Western churches for many years is named for him. Its system of modes is related to the eight tones of the Eastern church. He is called ‘the Dialogist’ after his book The Dialogues, an account of the lives and miracles of Italian saints.