Strict Fast (Xerophagy)
Gospel Reading
Matthew 27:62-66
⁶² Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, ⁶³ saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶ So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Epistle Reading
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Galatians 3:13-14
¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” ¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.