Prophet Obadiah; Ven. Barlaam and Joasaph; Our Holy Father Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (1867)

For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. ¹¹Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

¹²But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,

¹³and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

²⁴He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

²⁵Brothers, pray for us.

²⁶Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. ²⁷I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.

²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.

¹⁸“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

¹He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come! ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. ⁴If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”