Ephesians 5.25-33 (Epistle)

25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect. 28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly, 30because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. 31“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.” 32This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the assembly. 33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Luke 4.1-15 (Gospel)

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

5The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I want. 7If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

8Jesus answered him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

9He led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’

11and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’”

12Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

13When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

14Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. 15He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora, Nymphodora

They were three sisters, raised in the Christian faith in Bithynia. Together they withdrew from the world and lived together in virginity on a lonely mountain, devoting themselves to prayer, fasting and labor. Though they wished only to live unknown to the world, their wonderworking gifts were discovered, and many people began to come to them for healing of ailments. In this way word of them reached the governor Fronton, who had them arrested and brought before him. Struck by their beauty (which had only increased despite their fasting and hard labor), the governor tried to flatter them, promising that he would send them to the Emperor to be given in marriage to noblemen. When he saw that this had no effect, the governor threw the sisters into prison. First he had Menodora tortured to death, then brought her two sisters to view her mutilated body, commanding them to deny Christ or meet the same fate. When they refused, they were subjected to the same fate. Christians recovered and buried the bodies of the three holy martyrs.