یعقوب ۱.۱۹-۲۷ (رساله)

۱۹برادران عزیز من، توجه کنید: هر کس باید در شنیدنْ تند باشد، در گفتنْ کُند و در خشمْ آهسته! ۲۰زیرا خشمِ آدمی پارسایی مطلوب خدا را به بار نمی‌آورد. ۲۱پس هر گونه پلیدی و هر فزونی بدخواهی را از خود دور کنید و با حلم، کلامی را که در شما نشانده شده و می‌تواند جانهای شما را نجات بخشد، بپذیرید. ۲۲به‌جای‌آورندۀ کلام باشید، نه فقط شنوندۀ آن؛ خود را فریب مدهید! ۲۳زیرا هر کس که کلام را می‌شنود امّا به آن عمل نمی‌کند، به کسی مانَد که در آینه به چهرۀ خود می‌نگرد ۲۴و خود را در آن می‌بیند، امّا تا از برابر آن دور می‌شود، از یاد می‌برد که چگونه سیمایی داشته است. ۲۵امّا آن که به شریعتِ کامل که شریعت آزادی است چشم دوخته، آن را از نظر دور نمی‌دارد، و شنوندۀ فراموشکار نیست بلکه به‌جای‌آورنده است، او در عمل خویش خجسته خواهد بود. ۲۶آن که خود را دیندار بداند، امّا مهارِ زبان خود را نداشته باشد، خویشتن را می‌فریبد و دیانتش باطل است. ۲۷دینداریِ پاک و بی‌لکه در نظر پدرِ ما خدا، آن است که یتیمان و بیوه‌زنان را به وقت مصیبت دستگیری کنیم و خود را از آلایِش این دنیا دور بداریم.

مرقس ۹.۱۰-۱۶ (انجیل)

۱۰آنان این ماجرا را بین خود نگاه داشتند، امّا از یکدیگر می‌پرسیدند که ’برخاستن از مردگان‘ چیست. ۱۱آنگاه از عیسی پرسیدند: «چرا علمای دین می‌گویند نخست باید ایلیا بیاید؟» ۱۲عیسی پاسخ داد: «البته که نخست ایلیا می‌آید تا همه چیز را اصلاح کند. امّا چرا در مورد پسر انسان نوشته شده است که باید رنج بسیار کشد و تحقیر شود؟ ۱۳به‌علاوه، من به شما می‌گویم که ایلیا، همان‌گونه که دربارۀ او نوشته شده است، آمد و آنان هرآنچه خواستند با وی کردند.» ۱۴چون نزد دیگر شاگردان رسیدند، دیدند گروهی بی‌شمار گردشان ایستاده‌اند و علمای دین نیز با ایشان مباحثه می‌کنند. ۱۵جماعت تا عیسی را دیدند، همگی غرق در حیرت شدند و دوان دوان آمده، او را سلام دادند. ۱۶عیسی پرسید: «دربارۀ چه چیز با آنها بحث می‌کنید؟»

مادر قابل احترام ما دومنیکا (دومنینا) (حدود ۴۷۴)

She was born in Rome and reared in the love of Christ. She secretly left her parents’ house and traveled by ship to Alexandria, where she found lodging with four virtuous pagan maidens. By her example and counsel these four were in time led to abandon idolatry and embrace Domnica’s faith. The five then sailed to Constantinople, where it is said that the Patriarch Nectarius (October 11) was notified of their coming by an angel and met them at the dock. The Patriarch baptized the four maidens himself, giving them the names Dorothea, Evanthia, Nonna and Timothea, then settled them and Domnica in a monastery.

Soon the fame of Domnica’s pure life, wise teaching, and wondrous healings spread throughout the city, and even the Emperor Theodosius, with the Empress and his court, came to see her. Soon the crowds made it impossible for her and her sisters to live the heavenly life for which they had entered the monastery; so they relocated the monastery to a remote, demon-haunted location where executions had once commonly been performed, since everyone avoided the area. Here a new monastery was built by order of the Emperor, and the sisters found peace.

Saint Domnica’s fame continued, and she became not only a healer but an oracle for the city of Constantinople, prophesying the death of the Emperor Theodosius and the unrest which followed it. She reposed in peace, having first entrusted the care of the monastery to Dorothea. At the moment of her death, the whole monastery was shaken, and those present saw Saint Domnica dressed as a bride, being borne heavenward escorted by a company of white-clad monks and nuns.

قدیس آتیکوس, پاتریارک قسطنطنیه (۴۲۵)

Born in Sebaste in Armenia, he was reared by monks who held to the heresy of Macedonius, which denied the uncreated divinity of the Holy Spirit; but when he came of age he rejected this error and embraced the Orthodox faith. He settled in Constantinople and became a priest in the Great Church. Though he had little formal education, his amazing memory, his zeal for Christ, and his powerful sermons recommended him to all, and he was elected Patriarch in 406, during the reign of the Emperor Arcadius. He served as shepherd to the Church for twenty years, ruling always with wisdom and moderation. Though he was unbending in upholding the Faith exactly, he took a conciliatory, persuasive approach to heretics and schismatics; in this way he was able to restore many to the Church rather than driving them away. His best-known single act is his restoration of the name of St John Chrysostom to the diptychs. Saint John had been unjustly denied commemoration in the Patriarchate since his exile, which had led to a schism; restoration of his commemoration not only corrected a grave injustice but healed a schism. Saint Atticus also presided over the rededication of the Agia Sophia, which had been burned in 404 in the rioting that followed St John Chrysostom’s exile. He reposed in peace in 425.

قدیس سوِرینوس (۴۸۲)

St. Severinus came to the borderland of present-day Gemany and Austria from the east — possibly the Egyptian desert — to care for the Roman Christians who were endangered by invading barbarians during the collapse of the Roman Empire. He remained there until the end of his life. While he was there he advised both common people and kings to put eternal life first, and taught them to be generous to one another and to lead a true Christian life. He built a monastery and protected from harm those who gathered around him. As he foretold, the monks and other Christians who had followed him escaped to safety in Italy, taking St. Severinus’ incorrupt relics with them. His relics are still honored in Frattamaggiore, Italy (near Naples).

—from the 2006 Saint Herman Calendar