Martyr Agathonicus and Companions; Holy Martyr Eulalia of Barcelona (303); Athanasios the Hieromartyr & Bishop of Tarsus

Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead? ³⁰Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? ³¹I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. ³²If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ³³Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” ³⁴Wake up righteously and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies. ³⁷That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind. ³⁸But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

²⁷They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.