1 Peter 4.12-5.5 (Epistle)

12Ljubazni! ne èudite se vruæini koja vam se dogaða za kušanje vaše, kao da vam se što novo dogaða; 13Nego se radujte što stradate s Hristom, da biste, i kad se javi slava njegova, imali radost i veselje. 14Ako bivate ukoreni za ime Hristovo, blago vama! jer Duh slave i Boga poèiva na vama: oni dakle hule na nj, a vi ga proslavljate. 15Samo da ne postrada koji od vas kao krvnik, ili kao lupež, ili kao zloèinac, ili kao onaj koji se miješa u tuðe poslove; 16A ako li kao hrišæanin, neka se ne stidi, veæ neka slavi Boga u ovom dogaðaju. 17Jer je vrijeme da se poène sud od kuæe Božije; ako li se najprije od vas poène, kakav æe biti pošljedak onima što se protive Božijemu jevanðelju? 18I kad se pravednik jedva spase, bezbožnik i grješnik gdje æe se javiti? 19Zato i koji stradaju po volji Božijoj neka mu kao vjernome tvorcu predadu duše svoje u dobrijem djelima.

1Starješine koje su meðu vama molim koji sam i sam starješina i svjedok Hristova stradanja, i imam dijel u slavi koja æe se javiti: 2Pasite stado Božije, koje vam je predato, i nadgledajte ga, ne silom, nego dragovoljno, i po Bogu, niti za nepravedne dobitke, nego iz dobra srca; 3Niti kao da vladate narodom; nego bivajte ugledi stadu; 4I kad se javi poglavar pastirski, primiæete vijenac slave koji neæe uvenuti. 5Tako vi mladi slušajte starješine; a svi se slušajte meðu sobom, i stecite poniznost; jer se Bog ponositima suproti, a poniženima daje blagodat.

Mark 12.38-44 (Gospel)

38I govoraše im u nauci svojoj: èuvajte se književnika koji idu u dugaèkijem haljinama, i traže da im se klanja po ulicama, 39I prvijeh mjesta po zbornicama, i zaèelja na gozbama. 40Ovi što jedu kuæe udovièke, i lažno se mole Bogu dugo, biæe još veæma osuðeni. 41I sjedavši Isus prema Božijoj hazni gledaše kako narod meæe novce u Božiju haznu. I mnogi bogati metahu mnogo. 42I došavši jedna siromašna udovica metnu dvije lepte, koje èini jedan kodrant. 43I dozvavši uèenike svoje reèe im: zaista vam kažem: ova siromašna udovica metnu više od sviju koji meæu u Božiju haznu. 44Jer svi metnuše od suviška svojega; a ona od sirotinje svoje metnu sve što imaše, svu hranu svoju.

St Leo the Great, pope of Rome(461)

Pope Leo was one of the great bastions of Orthodoxy during the time of the monophysite heresy and its offshoots. ‘According to some, this Saint was born in Rome, but according to others in Tyrrenia (Tuscany), and was consecrated to the archiepiscopal throne of Rome in 440. In 448, when St Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople [also commemorated today], summoned Eutyches, an archimandrite in Constantinople, to give account for his teaching that there was only one nature in Christ after the Incarnation, Eutyches appealed to St Leo in Rome. After St Leo had carefully examined Eutyches’ teachings, he wrote an epistle to St Flavian, setting forth the Orthodox teaching of the person of Christ, and His two natures, and also counseling Flavian that, should Eutyches sincerely repent of his error, he should be received back with all good will. At the Council held in Ephesus in 449, which was presided over by Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria (and which Saint Leo, in a letter to the holy Empress Pulcheria in 451, was the first to call “The Robber Council”), Dioscorus, having military might behind him, did not allow Saint Leo’s epistle to Flavian to be read, although repeatedly asked to do so; even before the Robber Council was held, Dioscorus had uncanonically received the unrepentant Eutyches back into communion. Because Saint Leo had many cares in Rome owing to the wars of Attila the Hun and other barbarians, in 451 he sent four delegates to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, where 630 Fathers gathered in Chalcedon during the reign of Marcian, to condemn the teachings of Eutyches and those who supported him. Saint Leo’s epistle to Flavian was read at the Fourth Council, and was confirmed by the Holy Fathers as the Orthodox teaching on the incarnate Person of our Lord; it is also called the “Tome of Leo.” The Saint wrote many works in Latin; he reposed in 461.’(Great Horologion).

St Leo is remembered for saving Rome from conquest by Attila the Hun. When Attila drew near to Rome, preparing to pillage the city, St Leo went out to him in his episcopal vestments and enjoined him to turn back. For reasons unknown to worldly historians, the pitiless Attila with all his troops abandoned their attack and returned the way they had come.