Third Monday of Pascha

Third Monday of Pascha

The Lesson of the Acts of the Holy Apostles.
Acts §17 (6:8-7:5a, 47-60).
In those days: Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke. Then they suborned men to say, they had heard him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the ancients, and the scribes; and running together, they took him, and brought him to the council. And they set up false witnesses, who said: “This man ceaseth not to speak words against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the traditions which Moses delivered unto us.” And all that sat in the council, looking on him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel. Then the high priest said: “Are these things so?” Who said: “Ye men, brethren, and fathers, hear. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan. And said to him: ‘Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.’ Then he went out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan. And from thence, after his father was dead, He removed him into this land, wherein you now dwell. And He gave him no inheritance in it; no, not the pace of a foot. But Solomon built Him a house. Yet the Most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith: ‘”Heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool. What house will you build Me?” saith the Lord; “or what is the place of My resting? Hath not My hand made all these things?”‘ You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One; of Whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to Saint John.
Saint John §13 (4:46b-54).
At that time: There was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to Him, and prayed Him to come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.” The ruler saith to him: “Lord, come down before that my son die.” Jesus saith to him: “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: “Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.” The father therefore knew, that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him, “Thy son liveth;” and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judea into Galilee.