Feast of St Simon and Jude

Since today is the feast day of Sts. Simon and Jude I thought I would print the entire epistle of St. Jude

Jude, a
slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those
who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
may mercy, peace, and love be yours
in abundance.
Beloved, although I was making
every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel
a need to write to encourage you to contend for the faith that was once for all
handed down to the holy ones.
For there have been some intruders,
who long ago were designated for this condemnation, godless persons, who pervert
the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.
I wish to remind you, although you
know all things, that (the) Lord who once saved a people from the land of Egypt
later destroyed those who did not believe.
The angels too, who did not keep to
their own domain but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal
chains, in gloom, for the judgment of the great day.
Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the
surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual
promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by
undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Similarly, these dreamers
nevertheless also defile the flesh, scorn
lordship, and revile glorious beings.
Yet the archangel Michael, when he
argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to
pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, "May the Lord
rebuke you!"
But these people revile what they
do not understand and are destroyed by what they know by nature like irrational
animals.
Woe to them! They followed the way
of Cain, abandoned themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain, and
perished in the rebellion of Korah.
These are blemishes on your love
feasts, 10 as they carouse fearlessly and look after
themselves. They are waterless clouds blown about by winds, fruitless trees in
late autumn, twice dead and uprooted.
They are like wild waves of the
sea, foaming up their shameless deeds, wandering stars for whom the gloom of
darkness has been reserved forever.
Enoch, of
the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied also about them when he said,
"Behold, the Lord has come with his countless holy ones
to execute judgment on all and to
convict everyone for all the godless deeds that they committed and for all the
harsh words godless sinners have uttered against him."
These people are complainers,
disgruntled ones who live by their desires; their mouths utter bombast as they
fawn over people to gain advantage.
But you, beloved, remember the
words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for they told you, "In (the) last
time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless
desires."
These are the ones who cause
divisions; they live on the natural plane, devoid of the Spirit.
But you, beloved, build yourselves
up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
On those who waver, have mercy;
save others by snatching them out
of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring
even the outer garment stained by the flesh.
To the one
who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and
exultant, in the presence of his glory,
to the only God, our savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages
past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.