Epistle Reading: Hebrews 5:11-6:8
of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you
have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and
you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the
word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is,
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil.
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary
principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permits.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the
age to come,
if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since
they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open
shame.
For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon
it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives
blessing from God;
but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to
being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Gospel Reading: Luke 20:1-8
Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people
in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the
scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him
and spoke to Him, saying, "Tell us, by what authority are You
doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?"
But He answered and said to them, "I will also ask you one
thing, and answer Me:
"The baptism of John; was it from heaven or from men?"
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From
heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
"But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for
they are persuaded that John was a prophet."
So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what
authority I do these things."
Saints and Feasts
Paramonus, Philumenus, and their 370 Companion Martyrs in Bithynia; Our Righteous Father Nicholas, Archbishop of Thessolonica; Dionysios, Bishop of Corinth; Phaedrus the Martyr
