Acts 10.34-43 (Epistle)

34A Petar otvorivši usta reèe: zaista vidim da Bog ne gleda ko je ko; 35Nego u svakom narodu koji se boji njega i tvori pravdu mio je njemu. 36Rijeè što posla sinovima Izrailjevijem, javljajuæi mir po Isusu Hristu, ona je Gospod svima. 37Vi znate govor koji je bio po svoj Judeji poèevši od Galileje po krštenju koje propovijeda Jovan: 38Isusa iz Nazareta kako ga pomaza Bog Duhom svetijem i silom, koji proðe èineæi dobro i iscjeljujuæi sve koje ðavo bješe nadvladao; jer Bog bijaše s njim. 39I mi smo svjedoci svemu što uèini u zemlji Judejskoj i Jerusalimu; kojega i ubiše objesivši na drvo. 40Ovoga Bog vaskrse treæi dan, i dade mu da se pokaže, 41Ne svemu narodu nego nama svjedocima naprijed izbranima od Boga, koji s njim jedosmo i pismo po vaskrseniju njegovom iz mrtvijeh. 42I zapovjedi nam da propovijedamo narodu i da svjedoèimo da je on nareèeni od Boga sudija živijem i mrtvijem. 43Za ovo svjedoèe svi proroci da æe imenom njegovijem primiti oproštenje grijeha svi koji ga vjeruju.

John 8.12-20 (Gospel)

12Isus im pak opet reèe: ja sam vidjelo svijetu: ko ide za mnom neæe hoditi po tami, nego æe imati vidjelo života. 13Tada mu rekoše fariseji: ti sam za sebe svjedoèiš: svjedoèanstvo tvoje nije istinito. 14Isus odgovori i reèe im: ako ja svjedoèim sam za sebe istinito je svjedoèanstvo moje: jer znam otkuda doðoh i kuda idem; a vi ne znate otkuda dolazim i kuda idem. 15Vi sudite po tijelu, ja ne sudim nikome. 16I ako sudim ja, sud je moj prav: jer nijesam sam, nego ja i otac koji me posla. 17A i u zakonu vašemu stoji napisano da je svjedoèanstvo dvojice ljudi istinito. 18Ja sam koji svjedoèim sam za sebe, i svjedoèi za mene otac koji me posla. 19Tada mu govorahu: gdje je otac tvoj? Isus odgovori: ni mene znate ni oca mojega; kad biste znali mene, znali biste i oca mojega. 20Ove rijeèi reèe Isus kod hazne Božije kad uèaše u crkvi; i niko ga ne uhvati, jer još ne bješe došao èas njegov.

St Pachomius the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism (346)

His name in his native Coptic, Pachom, means “eagle.” He was an Egyptian pagan who entered the Roman army at a young age. While quartered at Thebes, he was amazed at the kindness of the local Christians, who brought food and drink to the soldiers. Learning who they were, he believed in Christ and vowed, once released from the army, to serve him for the rest of his life. At the end of his military service, he was baptised and became the disciple of the hermit Palamon, with whom he lived for ten years.

At a place called Tabennisis an angel appeared to him dressed in the robes of a monk and gave him a tablet on which was written a rule for a cenobitic monastery — one in which the brethren live communally rather than as hermits, something that had not been seen before among Christians. The angel commanded him to found such a monastery. Pachomius set to work, building many cells though there was no one to live there but himself and his brother John. When John questioned the unnecessary building, Pachomius only said that he was following God’s command, without saying who would live there or when.

But soon men began to assemble there, and in time so many came to be his disciples that he eventually founded nine monasteries housing thousands of monks. The rule that he gave (or had been given) for these monasteries became the model for all communal Christian monasticism thereafter. St Pachomius reposed in 346, before his great Egyptian fellow-strugglers St Anthony the Great and St Athanasius the Great.

Entertaining angels unawares: Christian believers’ simple acts of kindness toward their pagan oppressors may have seemed foolish to many, but it was such acts that opened the eyes of Pachomius to the light of Christ, and which bore incalculably great fruit: the founding of the monastic life which is still the backbone of Christ’s Church.

Our Father among the Saints Achillius, Bishop of Larissa (330)

He was born in Cappadocia, and was one of the 318 God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Ecumenical Council. At the council, Achillius took up a stone and said to the Arians, ‘If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.’ When the heretics kept silent, Achilleus went on, ‘And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, let oil flow from this stone,’ at which oil flowed out. Returning to Larissa, the holy bishop cast down many pagan temples, built many churches, cast out many demons, and reposed in peace.