First reading
It happened that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by King Antiochus, under torture with whips and thongs, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of the brothers, speaking for all, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”
After the first brother had died, they brought forward the second for their sport. And when he was at his last breath, he said to the King, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.”
After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of God’s laws I disdain them, and from God I hope to get them back again.”
As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After the third brother too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. When he was near death, he said to his torturers, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of humans and to cherish the hope God gives of being raised by him. But for you, there will be no resurrection to life!”