Martyr Paramon and Companions; Our Holy Father Pitirim of Egypt (4th c.); Our Righteous Father Nicholas, Archbishop of Thessolonica

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds, ⁴so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure. ⁵This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer. ⁶For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, ⁷and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, ⁹who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”

⁴¹When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, ⁴²saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³For the days will come on you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, ⁴⁴and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”