اول تیموتائوس ۶.۱۷-۲۱ (رساله)

۱۷ثروتمندانِ این دنیا را حکم نما که متکبّر نباشند و بر مال ناپایدار دنیا امید مبندند. بلکه امیدشان بر خدا باشد که همه چیز را به‌فراوانی برای ما فراهم می‌سازد تا از آنها لذت ببریم. ۱۸آنان را امر کن که نیکویی کنند و در کارهای خیر دولتمند بوده، سخاوتمند و گشاده‌دست باشند. ۱۹بدین‌سان، گنجی برای خود خواهند اندوخت که پی استوار زندگی آیندۀ ایشان خواهد بود و آن حیات را که حیات واقعی است، به دست خواهند آورد. ۲۰ای تیموتائوس، امانتی را که به تو سپرده شده است، حفظ کن. از یاوه‌گویی‌های دنیوی و عقاید مخالفی که به غلط، معرفت نامیده می‌شود، دوری گزین؛ ۲۱برخی که ادعای برخورداری از آن داشته‌اند، از ایمان منحرف شده‌اند. فیض با تو باد.

لوقا ۲۱.۲۸-۳۳ (انجیل)

۲۸چون این امور آغاز شود، راست بایستید و سرهای خود را بالا بگیرید، زیرا رهایی شما نزدیک است!» ۲۹و این مَثَل را برای آنها آورد: «درخت انجیر و درختان دیگر را در نظر آورید. ۳۰به محض اینکه برگ می‌دهند، می‌توانید ببینید و دریابید که تابستان نزدیک است. ۳۱به همین‌سان، هرگاه ببینید این چیزها رخ می‌دهد، درمی‌یابید که پادشاهی خدا نزدیک شده است. ۳۲آمین، به شما می‌گویم، تا همۀ این امور واقع نشود، این نسل نخواهد گذشت. ۳۳آسمان و زمین زایل خواهد شد، امّا سخنان من هرگز زوال نخواهد پذیرفت.

قدیس دانیال ستونی (۴۹۰)

He was from Samosata in Mesopotamia, and became a monk at the age of twelve. As a young monk he visited St Symeon the Stylite (September 1) to receive his blessing. Years later he moved to the neighborhood of Constantinople at the request of the holy Patriarch Anatolius (July 3), whom he had healed of a deadly ailment through his prayers. For a time Daniel lived in the church of the Archangel Michael at Anaplus, but nine years later St Symeon the Stylite appeared to him in a vision and told him to imitate Symeon’s ascesis of living on a pillar. For the remaining thirty-three years of his life the Saint did just that. He stood immovably in prayer regardless of the weather: once after a storm his disciples found him standing covered with ice. He was much loved by several Emperors (including Leo the Great), who sought him out for counsel. He reposed at the age of eighty-four, having lived through the reigns of three Emperors.

قدیس نیکون خشک غارهای کیف (۱۱۰۱)

He was a monk in Kiev, taken into slavery by a band of Polovtsi (Turkic raiders who were troubling the country at that time) along with the holy Martyr Eustratius (March 28). He humbly refused to be ransomed by his family and therefore suffered a harsh captivity for three years. Despite this, he prayed constantly for his captors, worked miracles for their sake, and once healed their leader from a deadly illness. One day St Eustratius appeared to him in a vision and told him that he would be set free in three days. When he told his captors, they severed the tendons of his knees and ankles and kept him under guard. But at the appointed time he was miraculously transported to Kiev, where he suddenly appeared in church among his astonished brethren. The Saint did not want his chains removed until his Abbot said “Brother, if the Lord wanted to see you in these chains, he would not have delivered you from captivity!” He was so withered from his hardships that he became known as Nikon the Dry. Later, the captor whom he had healed came to the Monastery of the Caves and became a disciple of his former slave.

پدر قابل احترام ما لوقا جدید ستونی (۹۷۹)

He was an Anatolian, and in his youth served in the Byzantine army in the war against the Bulgar Tsar Symeon. After the war, he left the army to become a monk, and was in time ordained to the priesthood. For a time he served as an army chaplain, living even more austerely than he had as a monk and distributing all his possessions to soldiers in need.

He entered the Monastery of St Zacharias on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, where he was appointed steward. Here his ascetical labors reached new levels. He kept a large stone in his mouth so that he would be unable to speak, and spent each night in a tree. When his exploits threatened to attract admiration, Luke fled to his homeland and lived for a few years in an isolated cave. Then, following in the footsteps of Symeon the Elder (September 1), Symeon the Younger (May 24), Daniel (today) and Alypius (November 26), he began to live as a stylite, dwelling on a tall pillar near Constantinople. Here he became a powerful intercessor for those who flocked to him for healing or counsel, and countless miracles were worked through his prayers.

Saint Luke lived on his pillar for more than forty years without interruption, and fell asleep in peace, aged more than one hundred. He was buried in the Monastery of St Bassian.