Philippians 3.1-8 (Epistle)

1A dalje, braæo moja, radujte se u Gospodu. Jer sve jedno da vam pišem meni nije dosadno, a vama je potrebno. 2Èuvajte se od pasa, èuvajte se od zlijeh poslenika, èuvajte se od sijeèenja. 3Jer mi smo obrezanje koji duhom Bogu služimo i hvalimo se Hristom Isusom, a ne uzdamo se u tijelo. 4Premda bih se i ja mogao uzdati u tijelo. Ako ko drugi misli da se može uzdati u tijelo, ja još veæma, 5Koji sam obrezan osmi dan, od roda Izrailjeva, koljena Venijaminova, Jevrejin od Jevreja, po zakonu farisej. 6Po revnosti gonih crkvu Božiju, po pravdi zakonskoj bih bez mane. 7No što mi bješe dobitak ono primih za štetu Hrista radi. 8Jer sve držim za štetu prema prevažnome poznanju Hrista Isusa Gospoda svojega, kojega radi sve ostavih, i držim sve da su trice, samo da Hrista dobijem,

Luke 11.47-12.1 (Gospel)

47Teško vama što zidate grobove prorocima, a vaši su ih ocevi pobili. 48Vi dakle svjedoèite i odobravate djela otaca svojijeh; jer ih oni pobiše, a vi im grobove zidate. 49Zato i premudrost Božija reèe: poslaæu im proroke i apostole, i od njih æe jedne pobiti, a druge protjerati; 50Da se ište od roda ovoga krv sviju proroka koja je prolivena od postanja svijeta, 51Od krvi Aveljeve tja do krvi Zarijne, koji pogibe meðu oltarom i crkvom. Da, kažem vam, iskaæe se od roda ovoga. 52Teško vama zakonici što uzeste kljuè od znanja: sami ne uðoste, a koji šæadijahu da uðu, zabraniste im. 53A kad im on ovo govoraše, poèeše književnici i fariseji vrlo navaljivati k njemu i mnogijem pitanjem zabunjivati ga, 54Vrebajuæi i pazeæi na njega ne bi li što ulovili iz usta njegovijeh da ga okrive.

1Kad se na njih skupiše hiljade naroda da stadoše gaziti jedan drugoga, onda poèe najprije govoriti uèenicima svojijem: èuvajte se kvasca farisejskoga, koji je licemjerje.

Our Holy Father Joannicius the Great, hermit on Mt Olympus (846)

He was born in Bithynia of peasant stock. He worked as a swineherd, then became an officer in the Imperial army, where he served with such distinction in the war against the Bulgars that the Emperor Constantine VI wanted to take him into his personal service. “But the sight of massacres and horrors of war had brought home to him the vanity of this life. He asked leave of the Emperor to retire from the service, in order to wage unseen warfare in the ranks of the angelic army” (Synaxarion). In the coming years he traveled widely, sometimes living as a hermit, sometimes living in monasteries, more than once founding a monastic community. Wherever he went he lived in stillness, solitude and strict asceticism. He was famed for his spiritual counsel, his prophecies, his many miracles of healing ailments bodily and spiritual, and for his friendship with animals. Once a monk who doubted the Saint’s miracles was eating at table with him when a large bear burst in upon them. Joannicius called the bear and it came and lay at his feet; he then told it to lie at the feet of his frightened guest and said “At their creation, the animals looked with veneration on man, who is made in the image of God, and he had no fear of them. We are afraid of them now because we have transgressed God’s commandments. If we love the Lord Jesus and keep his commandments, no animal will be able to do us any harm.” The monk departed greatly edified.

In the last years of Joannicius’ life, when he was about ninety years old, the Emperor Theophilus sought his counsel on the veneration of icons. The Saint’s answer was pointed: “Whoever refuses due honor to the images of Christ, of the Mother of God and of the Saints, will not be received into the Kingdom of Heaven, even if he has lived an otherwise blameless life.”

Once Joannicius traveled to Constantinople to aid the Patriarch in some matters concerning the order of the Church. When he returned to his hermitage, he found that some jealous monks had set it on fire. Knowing who they were, he nevertheless addressed them kindly and invited them to share with him some food that he had managed to salvage from the fire. He did not attempt to rebuild his hermitage, but, taking the fire as a sign of his impending departure from this life, he traveled to the monastery of Antidion, where he had first entered into the monastic life and there, having predicted the day of his death, he reposed in peace. At the moment of his death, the monks of Mt Olympus saw a pillar of fire ascending from the earth to the sky.

The Saint’s relics have been the source of many miracles. His skull is kept and venerated at the Monastery of the Pantocrator on Mt Athos. The widely-used prayer “My hope is the Father; my refuge is the Son; my shelter is the Holy Spirit; O Holy Trinity, glory be to Thee!” is attributed to St Joannicius.