Hebrews 3.5-11, 17-19 (Epistle)

5I Mojsije dakle bješe vjeran u svemu domu njegovu, kao sluga, za svjedoèanstvo onoga što je trebalo da se govori. 6Ali je Hristos kao sin u domu svojemu: kojega smo dom mi, ako slobodu i slavu nada do kraja tvrdo održimo. 7Zato, kao što govori Duh sveti: danas ako glas njegov èujete, 8Ne budite drvenastijeh srca, kao kad se prognjeviste u dane napasti u pustinji, 9Gdje me iskušaše ocevi vaši, iskušaše me, i gledaše djela moja èetrdeset godina. 10Toga radi rasrdih se na taj rod, i rekoh: jednako se metu u srcima, ali oni ne poznaše putova mojijeh; 11Zato se zakleh u gnjevu svojemu da neæe uæi u pokoj moj. 17A na koje mrzi èetrdeset godina? Nije li na one koji sagriješiše, koji ostaviše kosti u pustinji? 18A kojima se zakle da neæe uæi u pokoj njegov, nego onima koji ne htješe da vjeruju? 19I vidimo da ne mogoše uæi za nevjerstvo.

Luke 20.27-44 (Gospel)

27A pristupiše neki od sadukeja koji kažu da nema vaskrsenija, i pitahu ga 28Govoreæi: uèitelju! Mojsije nam napisa: ako kome umre brat koji ima ženu, i umre bez djece, da brat njegov uzme ženu, i da podigne sjeme bratu svojemu. 29Bijaše sedam braæe, i prvi uze ženu, i umrije bez djece; 30I uze drugi ženu, i on umrije bez djece; 31I treæi je uze; a tako i svi sedam; i ne ostaviše djece, i pomriješe; 32A poslije sviju umrije i žena. 33O vaskrseniju dakle koga æe od njih biti žena? jer je ona sedmorici bila žena. 34I odgovarajuæi Isus reèe im: djeca ovoga svijeta žene se i udaju; 35A koji se udostoje dobiti onaj svijet i vaskrsenije iz mrtvijeh niti æe se ženiti ni udavati; 36Jer više ne mogu umrijeti; jer su kao anðeli; i sinovi su Božiji kad su sinovi vaskrsenija. 37A da mrtvi ustaju, i Mojsije pokaza kod kupine gdje naziva Gospoda Boga Avraamova i Boga Isakova i Boga Jakovljeva. 38A Bog nije Bog mrtvijeh nego živijeh; jer su njemu svi živi. 39A neki od književnika odgovarajuæi rekoše: uèitelju! dobro si kazao. 40I veæ ne smijahu ništa da ga zapitaju. A on im reèe: 41Kako govore da je Hristos sin Davidov? 42Kad sam David govori u psaltiru: reèe Gospod Gospodu mojemu: sjedi meni s desne strane, 43Dok položim neprijatelje tvoje podnožje nogama tvojima. 44David dakle njega naziva Gospodom; pa kako mu je sin?

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.