اول یوحنا ۱.۸-۲.۶ (رساله)

۸اگر بگوییم بَری از گناهیم، خود را فریب داده‌ایم و راستی در ما نیست. ۹ولی اگر به گناهان خود اعتراف کنیم، او که امین و عادل است، گناهان ما را می‌آمرزد و از هر نادرستی پاکمان می‌سازد. ۱۰اگر بگوییم گناه نکرده‌ایم، او را دروغگو جلوه می‌دهیم و کلام او در ما جایی ندارد. ۱ای فرزندانم، این را به شما می‌نویسم تا گناه نکنید. امّا اگر کسی گناهی کرد، شفیعی نزد پدر داریم، یعنی عیسی مسیح پارسا. ۲او خودْ کفّارۀ گناهان ما است، و نه گناهان ما فقط، بلکه گناهان تمامی جهان نیز. ۳از این جا می‌دانیم او را می‌شناسیم که از احکامش اطاعت می‌کنیم. ۴آن که می‌گوید او را می‌شناسد، امّا از احکامش اطاعت نمی‌کند، دروغگوست و راستی در او جایی ندارد. ۵امّا آن که از کلام او اطاعت می‌کند، محبت به خدا براستی در او به کمال رسیده است. از این جا می‌دانیم که در او هستیم: ۶آن که می‌گوید در او می‌ماند، باید همان‌گونه رفتار کند که عیسی رفتار می‌کرد.

مرقس ۱۳.۳۱-۱۴.۲ (انجیل)

۳۱آسمان و زمین زایل خواهد شد، امّا سخنان من هرگز زوال نخواهد پذیرفت. ۳۲«هیچ‌کس آن روز و ساعت را نمی‌داند جز پدر؛ حتی فرشتگان آسمان و پسر نیز از آن آگاه نیستند. ۳۳پس بیدار و هوشیار باشید، زیرا نمی‌دانید آن زمان کِی فرا می‌رسد. ۳۴همچون کسی است که به سفر رفته و به هنگام عزیمت، خادمانش را به ادارۀ خانۀ خود گماشته باشد، و به هر یک وظیفه‌ای خاص سپرده و به دربان نیز دستور داده باشد که بیدار بماند. ۳۵پس شما نیز بیدار باشید، زیرا نمی‌دانید صاحبخانه کی خواهد آمد، شب یا نیمه‌شب، به هنگام بانگ خروس یا در سپیده‌دم. ۳۶مبادا که او ناگهان بیاید و شما را در خواب بیند. ۳۷آنچه به شما می‌گویم، به همه می‌گویم: بیدار باشید!» ۱دو روز به عید پِسَخ و فَطیر مانده بود. سران کاهنان و علمای دین در جستجوی راهی بودند که عیسی را به نیرنگ گرفتار کنند و به قتل رسانند، ۲زیرا می‌گفتند: «نه در ایام عید، مبادا مردم شورش کنند.»

قدیس مارتینیان قیصریه (۴۲۲)

“The life of this saint is wonderful beyond measure and is worth reading in full. What did he not endure to fulfil the Law of God? At the age of eighteen, he went off into a mountain in Cappadocia called the Ark and spent 25 years in fasting, vigils and prayer, and struggling with manifold temptations. When a woman came to tempt him and he saw that he would fall into sin with her, he leapt barefoot into the fire and stood in it until the pain brought forth tears from his eyes and he had killed all lust within himself. When other temptations arose, he fled to a lonely rock in the sea and lived there. When, though, in a shipwreck, a woman swam to the rock, he leapt into the sea intending to drown himself. But a dolphin took him upon its back and brought him, by God’s providence, to the shore. He then decided to make nowhere his permanent home but to travel incessantly. Thus he passed through 164 towns in two years, exhorting and advising the people. He finally arrived in Athens, where he died in 422.” (Prologue)

رسولان مقدس و شهیدان پریسکیلا و آکیلا

Aquila and his wife Priscilla (or Prisca) were Jews from Pontus who settled in Rome, where they worked as tent-makers. When the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50, they moved to Corinth. (They may already have been Christians; at that time the Empire made no distinction between Christians and Jews.) In Corinth they hosted the Apostle Paul, who lived and worked with them for awhile (Acts 18:1-3). They worked diligently with the Apostle, traveled with him, and were considered worthy to bring Apollos (December 8) to a full knowledge of the Faith (Acts 18:26)

Priscilla and Aquila returned to Rome around 58, and later went to Ephesus; they were living there when St Paul asked his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, to greet them (2 Tim. 4:19). It was probably in Ephesus that they were martyred by the pagans.

قدیس شمعون عطرریز, بنیانگذار خیلاندار صومعه (۱۲۰۰)

He was born in 1114. In the world, he ruled the kingdom of Serbia as Stephen Nemanja; after ruling wisely and mercifully for many years, he renounced all worldly wealth and glory in 1196 to become a monk. Traveling to the Holy Mountain, he took for his spiritual father his own son Sava, who had preceded him in renouncing royal honor for a life of prayer. Together Symeon (as he was named in monastic life) and his son founded Hilandar monastery. His wife Anna became a nun, taking the name Anastasia; she is also commemorated as a saint of the Church. After his repose, St Symeon’s relics exuded a fragrant and healing myrrh. Saint Sava brought his father’s holy relics back to Serbia. The Synaxarion says “From Saint Symeon’s empty tomb at Chilandar, a vine miraculously sprang up whose dried grape seeds are to this day sent all over the world as a blessing for childless married couples.”