اعمال رسولان ۱۰.۳۴-۴۳ (رساله)

۳۴پطرس چنین سخن آغاز کرد: «اکنون دریافتم که براستی خدا تبعیضی میان مردمان قائل نیست؛ ۳۵بلکه از هر قوم، هر که از او بترسد و پارسایی را به عمل آورد، مقبول او می‌گردد. ۳۶شما آگاهید از پیامی که خدا برای قوم اسرائیل فرستاد و به واسطۀ عیسی مسیح که خداوند همه است، به صلح و سلامت بشارت داد. ۳۷شما می‌دانید که این امر چگونه پس از تعمیدی که یحیی بدان موعظه می‌کرد، در جلیل آغاز شد و در سرتاسر یهودیه رواج گرفت، ۳۸و چگونه خدا عیسای ناصری را با روح‌القدس و قدرت مسح کرد، به گونه‌ای که همه جا می‌گشت و کارهای نیکو می‌کرد و همۀ آنان را که زیر ستم ابلیس بودند، شفا می‌داد، از آن رو که خدا با او بود. ۳۹«ما شاهدان همۀ اعمالی هستیم که او در سرزمین یهود و در اورشلیم انجام داد. آنها او را بر صلیب کشیده، کشتند. ۴۰امّا خدا او را در روز سوّم برخیزانید و ظاهر ساخت، ۴۱امّا نه بر همگان، بلکه تنها بر شاهدانی که خود از پیش برگزیده بود، یعنی بر ما که پس از رستاخیز او از مردگان، با او خوردیم و نوشیدیم. ۴۲او به ما فرمان داد تا این حقیقت را به قوم اعلام کنیم و شهادت دهیم که خدا او را مقرر فرموده تا داور زندگان و مردگان باشد. ۴۳پیامبران جملگی دربارۀ او شهادت می‌دهند که هر که بدو ایمان آورد، به نام او آمرزش گناهان خواهد یافت.»

یوحنا ۸.۱۲-۲۰ (انجیل)

۱۲سپس عیسی دیگر بار با مردم سخن گفته، فرمود: «من نور جهانم. هر که از من پیروی کند، هرگز در تاریکی راه نخواهد پیمود، بلکه از نورِ زندگی برخوردار خواهد بود.» ۱۳پس فَریسیان به او گفتند: «تو خود بر خویشتن شهادت می‌دهی، پس شهادتت معتبر نیست.» ۱۴عیسی در پاسخ ایشان گفت: «هرچند من خود بر خویشتن شهادت می‌دهم، ولی شهادتم معتبر است، زیرا می‌دانم از کجا آمده‌ام و به کجا می‌روم. امّا شما نمی‌دانید من از کجا آمده‌ام و به کجا می‌روم. ۱۵شما با معیارهای انسانی داوری می‌کنید، امّا من بر کسی داوری نمی‌کنم. ۱۶ولی حتی اگر هم بکنم، داوری من درست است، زیرا تنها نیستم، بلکه پدری که مرا فرستاده است نیز با من است. ۱۷در شریعت شما نوشته شده که شهادت دو شاهد معتبر است. ۱۸من خود بر خویشتن شهادت می‌دهم، و پدری نیز که مرا فرستاده است، بر من شهادت می‌دهد.» ۱۹آنگاه بدو گفتند: «پدر تو کجاست؟» عیسی پاسخ داد: «نه مرا می‌شناسید و نه پدر مرا. اگر مرا می‌شناختید پدرم را نیز می‌شناختید.» ۲۰عیسی این سخنان را آنگاه که در خزانۀ معبد تعلیم می‌داد، بیان کرد. امّا هیچ‌کس او را گرفتار نکرد، زیرا ساعت او هنوز فرا نرسیده بود.

کشیش‌شهید تراپون؛ انتقال ذخایر قدیس نیلوس استولبنسک (۲۵۹)

For boldly preaching Christ and bringing many to the Faith, he was seized and tortured by the pagans. After imprisoning and starving him, his persecutors bound him to four posts and flogged him until the flesh was stripped from his bones. But he remained alive, and the four dead posts to which he was tied sprouted into tall, green trees, from which many received healing. At last St Therapon was slain by the sword, during the reign of the Emperor Valerian.

شهیدان مقدس تئودورا و دیدیموس (۳۰۴)

“In the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximilian, there lived in Alexandria a maiden, Theodora, well-educated and of noble lineage. She was brought to trial before the pagans for her Christian faith. After long interrogation and torture for the Faith, the prince, her tormentor, ordered that she be thrown into a brothel and the soldiers given free access to her to indulge their carnal lusts. Theodora prayed fervently to God to save her from defilement, and, when she had prayed, a soldier called Didymus came in to her and told her that he was a servant of Christ. He dressed her in his soldier’s garb and himself in her dress, then let her out and remained in the brothel himself. He was seized and brought before the judge, where he acknowledged that he was a Christian and had saved Theodora, and was now prepared to die for Christ. He was condemned to death and taken out to the place of execution. Theodora ran up to him there and cried out: ‘Although you saved my honour, I did not ask you to save me from death. Yield the martyr’s death to me!’ Didymus replied: ‘My beloved sister, do not hinder my death for Christ, nor the washing of my sins in my blood.’ Hearing this exchange, the pagans condemned them both to death, and they were beheaded and their bodies burned. They suffered with honour and received eternal wreaths of glory in Alexandria in the year 304.” (Prologue)

مقدس جدید معترف یوحنا روسی (۱۷۳۰)

He was captured during a Russian campaign against the Turks in 1711, and sold into slavery in Asia Minor. As a slave he strove to serve God faithfully, while serving his earthly master in everything honorable. Despite many enticements offered by the Muslims to renounce his faith, he remained steadfast, and was permitted to work miracles through his prayers. He reposed in peace in 1730. His relics remained incorrupt.

قدیس داوود گارسجی (سده ۶)

“This David is one of the thirteen Georgian Fathers (May 7). He is thus named for the Garajeli desert near Tiflis, where he lived the ascetic life. In old age, David decided to visit the Holy Land with several of his disciples. He left the direction of the monastery to two elders, Lucian and Dodo, and set out on the way. When they came to a hill from which Jerusalem was visible, David burst into tears and said: ‘How can I dare to walk in the steps of God incarnate with these sinful feet?’, and he told his disciples to go and worship at the holy places, but he himself took up three stones and set off to return. But the Lord did not let such humility remain hidden from the world, and an angel appeared to Elias, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and said to him: ‘Send at once for the elder who is even now returning to Syria; he has taken with him three stones, and is carrying with him all the Holy Land’s grace. One stone is a sufficient blessing for him; let him return the other two to Jerusalem. He is called Abba David of Garesjei.’ The Patriarch quickly sent men off to overtake the elder. They took two stones from him, and let him go on his way. The third stone lies on his grave to this day, and possesses miraculous healing power.” (Prologue)

قابل احترام بید (بِدا) (۷۳۵)

He spent almost his entire life as a monk in England, and is known primarily for his many writings. He entered the monastery at Wearmouth at the age of seven, and later moved (perhaps as one of the founders) to the monastery of Jarrow, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was ordained to the priesthood in his thirtieth year. In addition to many works of biblical exegesis, very popular in the middle ages, he compiled the Ecclesiastical History, still the primary source for the history of Christianity’s establishment in the British isles. He reposed in peace.

A problem: Bede lived during the time of the undivided Church, but was only canonized, in the west, in 1899, centuries after the Great Schism. Presumably, then, he has never been formally glorified by the Orthodox Church. Is he a Saint of the Church? We leave the answer to wiser heads.