Epistle Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren,
you have no need that I should write to you.
For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the
Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden
destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they
shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this
Day should overtake you as a thief.
You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are
not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us
watch and be sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who
get drunk are drunk at night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on
the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
Gospel Reading: Luke 11:47-12:1
"Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and
your fathers killed them.
"In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your
fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.
"Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them
prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,'
"that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the
foundation of the world may be required of this generation,
"from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who
perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be
required of this generation.
"Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of
knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in
you hindered."
And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the
Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about
many things,
lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something
He might say, that they might accuse Him.
In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had
gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to
His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which
is hypocrisy.
Saints and Feasts
The Holy Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus, and Anempodistus; Domnina, Domna, & Kyriaki, the Martyrs
