2 Corinthians 13.3-14 (Epistle)

3Jer tražite da iskušate Hrista što u meni govori, koji meðu vama nije slab, nego je silan meðu vama. 4Jer ako i raspet bi po slabosti, ali je živ po sili Božijoj; jer smo i mi slabi u njemu, ali æemo biti živi s njim silom Božijom meðu vama. 5Sami sebe okušajte jeste li u vjeri, sami sebe ogledajte. Ili ne poznajete sebe da je Isus Hristos u vama? veæ ako da u èemu nijeste valjani. 6A nadam se da æete poznati da mi nijesmo nevaljani. 7A molimo se Bogu da vi ne èinite nikakva zla, ne da se mi valjani pokažemo, nego da vi dobro èinite, a mi kao nevaljani da budemo. 8Jer ništa ne možemo na istinu nego za istinu. 9Jer se radujemo kad mi slabimo a vi jaèate. A zato se i molimo Bogu, za vaše savršenstvo. 10Zato, ne buduæi kod vas, pišem ovo da kad doðem ne uèinim bez šteðenja po vlasti koju mi je Gospod dao na popravljanje a ne na raskopavanje. 11A dalje, braæo, radujte se, savršujte se, utješavajte se, jednako mislite, mir imajte: i Bog ljubavi i mira biæe s vama. 12Pozdravite jedan drugoga cjelivom svetijem. Pozdravljaju vas svi sveti. 13Blagodat Gospoda našega Isusa Hrista i ljubav Boga i oca i zajednica svetoga Duha sa svima vama. Amin.

Luke 4.1-15 (Gospel)

1Isus pak pun Duha svetoga vrati se od Jordana, i odvede ga Duh u pustinju, 2I èetrdeset dana kuša ga ðavo, i ne jede ništa za to dana; i kad se oni navršiše, onda ogladnje, 3I reèe mu ðavo: ako si sin Božij, reci ovome kamenu da postane hljeb. 4I odgovori mu Isus govoreæi: u pismu stoji: neæe življeti èovjek o samom hljebu, nego o svakoj rijeèi Božijoj. 5I izvedavši ga ðavo na goru visoku pokaza mu sva carstva ovoga svijeta u trenuæu oka, 6I reèe mu ðavo: tebi æu dati svu vlast ovu i slavu njihovu, jer je meni predana, i kome ja hoæu daæu je; 7Ti dakle ako se pokloniš preda mnom biæe sve tvoje. 8I odgovarajuæi Isus reèe mu: idi od mene, sotono; u pismu stoji: poklanjaj se Gospodu Bogu svojemu, i njemu jedinome služi. 9I odvede ga u Jerusalim, i postavi ga navrh crkve, i reèe mu: ako si sin Božij, skoèi odavde dolje; 10Jer u pismu stoji da æe anðelima svojijem zapovjediti za tebe da te saèuvaju, 11I uzeæe te na ruke da gdje ne zapneš za kamen nogom svojom. 12I odgovarajuæi Isus reèe mu: kazano je: ne kušaj Gospoda Boga svojega. 13I kad svrši ðavo sve kušanje, otide od njega za neko vrijeme. 14I vrati se Isus u sili duhovnoj u Galileju; i otide glas o njemu po svemu onom kraju. 15I on uèaše po zbornicama njihovijem, i svi ga hvaljahu.

Hieromartyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope (102)

He was a zealous, wise and wonder-working bishop in his birthplace, Sinope, which lies on the southern shore of the Black Sea. For bringing many idolators to faith in Christ, he was hated by the pagans. He was arrested by the governor Africanus, subjected to various tortures,and finally scalded to death in a bath-house. He contested for the Faith during the reign of the Emperor Trajan.

Venerable Cosmas, desert-dweller of Zographou, Mt Athos (1323)

“Saint Cosmas came from Bulgaria where his devout parents provided him with a good education in Slavonic and Greek. They wanted him to marry but he was drawn by the love of Christ and, unknown to them, made his way to the Holy Mountain of Athos to become a monk at the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou. On the feast of the Annunciation at the Monastery of Vatopedi, he saw a woman among those serving in the Church and in the refectory, and he was grieved at first to observe this breach of the monastic rule, but overjoyed when he realized that it was the Mother of God who had appeared to him in this way.

“He was clothed in the holy angelic Habit and, after some time, was ordained priest. One day, as he was praying before the icon of the Mother of God, asking her with tears how to achieve his salvation, he heard a voice saying, ‘Let my servant withdraw to the desert outside the monastery.’ He was obedient to the will of God and, with the blessing of his Abbot, lived in silence from then on. Some years later, he was found worthy of the grace of discernment of thoughts and of beholding things happening elsewhere, as well as of other spiritual gifts. In the course of many years, he was the spiritual helper of a great number of monks. At the end of his life, Christ appeared to him saying that he would shortly have a great trial to endure from the Devil. Indeed, the prince of demons made his appearance next day with a host of his servants bewailing and bemoaning their inability to annihilate their great enemy Cosmas, who had held them in check for so long and gained possession, by his virtue, of the throne in Heaven that had once been Lucifer’s. Taking a heavy stick, the demon beat the Saint so violently that he left him half-dead. As God allowed, Saint Cosmas died in peace two days later, on 22 September 1323. When the fathers came from the monastery to bury him, the wild animals gathered round. They kept silent until the end of the service, but howled unusually loud as his body was covered with earth. Then having paid their respects, they made off into the wilderness. Forty days later, the monks came to take up the body of Saint Cosmas and translate it to the monastery, but it was no longer in the grave. Where it now is God alone knows.” (Synaxarion)