Hebrews 3.5-11, 17-19 (Epistle)

5Cât despre Moise, el a fost „credincios în toată casa lui Dumnezeu” ca slugă, ca să mărturisească despre lucrurile care aveau să fie vestite mai târziu. 6Dar Hristos este credincios ca Fiu, peste casa lui Dumnezeu. Şi casa Lui suntem noi, dacă păstrăm până la sfârşit încrederea nezguduită şi nădejdea cu care ne lăudăm. 7De aceea, cum zice Duhul Sfânt: „Astăzi, dacă auziţi glasul Lui, 8nu vă împietriţi inimile, ca în ziua răzvrătirii, ca în ziua ispitirii în pustiu, 9unde părinţii voştri M-au ispitit şi M-au pus la încercare şi au văzut lucrările Mele patruzeci de ani! 10De aceea M-am dezgustat de neamul acesta şi am zis: „Ei totdeauna se rătăcesc în inima lor. N-au cunoscut căile Mele! 11Am jurat, dar, în mânia Mea că nu vor intra în odihna Mea!” 17Şi cine au fost aceia de care S-a dezgustat El patruzeci de ani? N-au fost oare cei ce păcătuiseră şi ale căror trupuri moarte au căzut în pustiu? 18Şi cui S-a jurat El că n-au să intre în odihna Lui? Nu S-a jurat oare celor ce nu ascultaseră?

19Vedem, dar, că n-au putut să intre din pricina necredinţei lor.

Luke 20.27-44 (Gospel)

27Unii din saduchei, care zic că nu este înviere, s-au apropiat şi au întrebat pe Isus: 28„Învăţătorule, iată ce ne-a scris Moise: „Dacă moare fratele cuiva, având nevastă, dar fără să aibă copii, fratele lui să ia pe nevasta lui şi să ridice urmaş fratelui său.” 29Au fost, dar, şapte fraţi. Cel dintâi s-a însurat, şi a murit fără copii. 30Pe nevasta lui, a luat-o al doilea; şi a murit şi el fără copii. 31A luat-o şi al treilea şi tot aşa toţi şapte; şi au murit fără să lase copii. 32La urma tuturor, a murit şi femeia. 33Deci, la înviere, nevasta căruia dintre ei va fi femeia? Fiindcă toţi şapte au avut-o de nevastă.” 34Isus le-a răspuns: „Fiii veacului acestuia se însoară şi se mărită; 35dar cei ce vor fi găsiţi vrednici să aibă parte de veacul viitor şi de învierea dintre cei morţi, nici nu se vor însura, nici nu se vor mărita. 36Pentru că nici nu vor putea muri, căci vor fi ca îngerii. Şi vor fi fiii lui Dumnezeu, fiind fii ai învierii. 37Dar că morţii învie, a arătat însuşi Moise, în locul unde este vorba despre „Rug” când numeşte pe Domnul: „Dumnezeul lui Avraam, Dumnezeul lui Isaac şi Dumnezeul lui Iacov.” 38Dar Dumnezeu nu este un Dumnezeu al celor morţi, ci al celor vii, căci pentru El toţi sunt vii.” 39Unii din cărturari au luat cuvântul şi au zis: „Învăţătorule, bine ai zis.” 40Şi nu mai îndrăzneau să-I mai pună nicio întrebare. 41Isus le-a zis: „Cum se zice că Hristosul este fiul lui David? 42Căci însuşi David zice în cartea Psalmilor: „Domnul a zis Domnului meu: „Şezi la dreapta Mea, 43până voi pune pe vrăjmaşii Tăi sub picioarele Tale.” 44Deci David Îl numeşte Domn; atunci cum este El fiul lui?”

Our Holy Fathers Athanasius the Great (373) and Cyril (444), Patriarchs of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius, pillar of Orthodoxy and Father of the Church, was born in Alexandria in 275, to pious Christian parents. Even as a child, his piety and devotion to the Faith were so notable that Alexander, the Patriarch of the city, took Athanasius under his protection. As a student, he acquired a thorough education, but was more interested in the things of God than in secular learning, and withdrew for a time into the desert to sit at the feet of Saint Anthony (January 17), whose disciple he became and whose biography he later wrote. On returning to Alexandria, he was ordained to the diaconate and began his public labors for the Church. He wrote his treatise On the Incarnation, when he was only twenty. (It contains a phrase, still often quoted today, that express in a few words some of the depths of the Mystery of the Incarnation: God became man that man might become god.)

Just at this time Arius, a priest in Alexandria, was promoting his enticing view that the Son and Word of God is not of one essence with the Father, but a divine creation of the Father. This view, which (as Athanasius realized) strikes at the very possibility of mankind’s salvation, gained wide acceptance and seemed for a time to threaten the Christian Faith itself. In 325, the Emperor Constantine the Great convoked a Council of the Church at Nicaea to settle the turmoil that the Arian teaching had spread through the Church. Athanasius attended the Council, and defended the Orthodox view so powerfully that he won the admiration of the Orthodox and the undying enmity of the Arians. From that time forth his life was founded on the defense of the true consubstantiality (homoousia) of the Son with the Father.

In 326, not long before his death, Patriarch Alexander appointed Athanasius to be his successor, and Athanasius was duly elevated to the patriarchal throne. He was active in his pastoral role, traveling throughout Egypt, visiting churches and monasteries, and working tirelessly not only to put down the Arian heresy, but to resolve various schisms and moral declines that affected his territory.

Though the Arian heresy had apparently been condemned once and for all at Nicea, Arius had many powerful allies throughout the Empire, even in the Imperial court, and Athanasius was soon subjected to many kinds of persecution, some local, some coming from the Imperial throne itself. Though he was Patriarch of Alexandria for more than forty years, a large amount of that time was spent in hiding from powerful enemies who threatened him with imprisonment or death. Twice he fled to Rome for protection by the Pope, who in the early centuries of the Church was a consistent champion of Orthodoxy against its various enemies. From his various hiding places, Athanasius issued tracts, treatises and epistles which helped to rally the faithful throughout Christendom to the Orthodox cause.

In 366, the Emperor Valens, fearing a revolt of the Egyptians on behalf of their beloved Archbishop, officially restored Athanasius to favor, and he was able to spend the last seven years of his life in peace. Of his forty-seven years as Patriarch, about seventeen were spent in hiding or exile. He reposed in peace in 373, having given his entire adult life, at great suffering, to the defense of the Faith of Christ.

With St Athanasius, the Church commemorates St Cyril (Kyrillos), also Archbishop of Alexandria (412-44). His lot was to defend the Faith against the heretic Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who denied that Christ in his Incarnation truly united the divine with the human nature. Cyril attempted in private correspondence to restore Nestorius to the Christian faith, and when this failed he, along with Pope Celestine of Rome, led the defense of Orthodoxy against Nestorius’ teaching. Saint Cyril presided at the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, at which the Nestorian error was officially overthrown. After guiding his flock for thirty-two years, he reposed in 444.