Third Sunday of Pascha: Weekly Scripture Reading · 8:36pm May 19th
So after a few weeks of being unable to go to church on Sundays, I came to a thought. While Eucharist is out of the question for a number of reasons, anyone who is Orthodox is allowed to do the Scripture readings in church. So here it is! The daily bible readings for the third Sunday of Pascha. For those who don't know, Pascha (pronounced Pahs-kuh) is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and the origin of Easter (though where the bunny comes from is beyond me). If you follow Byzantine Knight, you'd have seen his post about it, too.
Why am I posting this? Because the scripture readings, according to several Fathers of the Church, are IMPORTANT. St. John Chrysostom declared them vital to our salvation. Missing church on Sunday is one thing, but we still need to worship our Lord at home on those days. So, for the ultimate ease of access, here it is for you, though you can keep track of the readings yourself at the Orthodox Church of Amaerica's website.
The first daily reading was from the Acts of the Apostles, 6 : 1-7
"1. Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
2. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4. but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5. And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,
6. whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.
7. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."
The Gospel of the day was the Gospel of the Holy Apostle Mark, 16: 9-20
"9. when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.
10. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.
11. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
12. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.
13. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
14. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
15. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
17. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
18. they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19. So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen."
As fitting Easter Sunday, the Gospel passage is directly about Jesus's rising from the dead. He got up from the tomb, and directly appeared to numerable people, and five hundred afterwards, all in preserved records from the time period. So, given that his life, death, and resurrection are all documented in four close-hand eyewitness reports, and numerous other documents, let it not be said that he did not exist, for truly, CHRIST IS RISEN.
Thank you all for your time, God bless you!
TRULY HE IS RISEN! ☦
Thanks for the readings and the shout out!
5781883
Thank you for inspiring me to do this! I doubt I'd have done it if I hadn't seen your featured post.
As for the reading, I'll try to keep it up every Sunday, but we only came home today at 3, so ai might have to prepare it the night before.
5781890
I'm glad that I could do my part for you to start doing this, but all Glory is to God ☦