Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week after Pentecost

The Lesson of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Ephesians.
Ephesians §231 (5:25-33a).
Brethren: Love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered Himself up for it: that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular love his wife as himself.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke.
Saint Luke §12 (4:1-15).
At that time: Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him: If Thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him: It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil led Him into a high mountain, and shewed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and he said to Him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If Thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be Thine. And Jesus answering said to him: It is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said to Him: If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself from hence. For it is written, that He hath given His angels charge over thee, that they keep thee. And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering, said to him: It is said: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from Him for a time. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit, into Galilee, and the fame of Him went out through the whole country. And He taught in their synagogues, and was magnified by all.