عبرانیان ۱۰.۳۵-۱۱.۷ (رساله)

۳۵پس این آزادگی خود را ترک مگویید، زیرا پاداشی عظیم در پی خواهد داشت. ۳۶چون لازم است پایداری کنید تا آنگاه که ارادۀ خدا را به انجام رساندید، وعده را بیابید. ۳۷زیرا پس از اندک زمانی «او که باید بیاید، خواهد آمد و تأخیر نخواهد کرد. ۳۸امّا شخصِ پارسای من به ایمان زیست خواهد کرد. و اگر عقب نشیند، از او خشنود نخواهم شد.» ۳۹لیکن ما از کسانی نیستیم که به عقب برمی‌گردند و هلاک می‌شوند، بلکه از آنانیم که ایمان دارند و حیات می‌یابند. ۱ایمان، ضامن چیزهایی است که بدان امید داریم و برهان آنچه هنوز نمی‌بینیم. ۲به سبب ایمان بود که دربارۀ پیشینیان به نیکویی شهادت داده شد. ۳به ایمان درمی‌یابیم که کائنات به وسیلۀ کلام خدا شکل گرفت، بدان‌گونه که آنچه دیده می‌شود از چیزهای دیدنی پدید نیامد. ۴به ایمان بود که هابیل قربانی‌ای نیکوتر از قربانی قائن به خدا تقدیم کرد، و به سبب همین ایمان دربارۀ او شهادت داده شد که پارساست، زیرا خدا دربارۀ هدایای او به نیکویی شهادت داد. به همین سبب، هرچند چشم از جهان فرو بسته، هنوز سخن می‌گوید. ۵به ایمان بود که خَنوخ از این جهان منتقل شد تا طعم مرگ را نچشد و دیگر یافت نشد، چون خدا او را برگرفت. زیرا پیش از برگرفته شدن، دربارۀ او شهادت داده شد که خدا را خشنود ساخته است. ۶و بدون ایمان ممکن نیست بتوان خدا را خشنود ساخت، زیرا هر که به او نزدیک می‌شود، باید ایمان داشته باشد که او هست و جویندگان خود را پاداش می‌دهد. ۷به ایمان بود که نوح هنگامی که از جانب خدا دربارۀ اموری که تا آن زمان دیده نشده بود هشدار یافت، آن را با خداترسی به‌جدّ گرفت و برای نجات خانوادۀ خویش کشتی ساخت. او به ایمانِ خود دنیا را محکوم کرد و وارث آن پارسایی شد که بر ایمان استوار است.

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؟»

شهیدان هرمیلوس و استراتونیکوس (۳۱۵)

Hermylus was a deacon in Singidunum (modern-day Belgrade) during the reign of Licinius. When he was arrested he joyously welcomed the soldiers who came to seize him. When he confessed Christ before the magistrate, he was beaten, tormented, then thrown in jail. There he prayed to be allowed to partake in Christ’s saving Passion, and heard a voice assuring him that in three days he would receive a Martyr’s crown.

Stratonicus, his jailer, was a kind-hearted man and secretly a Christian, and wept to see the torments to which Hermylus was subjected. Seeing this, the soldiers began to question him; and, seeing that his hour had come, he in turn openly confessed Christ. For this he was seized, flogged and thrown into prison with his brother in Christ. The following day, both were bound, tied in a net and thrown into the Danube, where they received their divinely-promised crowns. Their bodies were washed up a few days later, recovered by Christians and buried with honor.

پدر مقدس ما ماکسیموس کاوسوکالیبیتس (کلبه‌سوز) (۱۳۶۵)

A native of Lampsacus on the Hellespont, he became a monk at the age of seventeen. When his spiritual Father died, he went on pilgrimage to Constantinople, where he took up the ascesis of folly for Christ, pretending madness in order to conceal his virtues and struggles from the world. He then went to the Great Lavra of St Athanasius on Mount Athos, where he lived as a simple monk in complete obedience. One day, he was told in a dream to go to the summit of Athos to receive (like Moses) the tablets of the spiritual law. He prayed continuously atop the Holy Mountain for three days, after which the Mother of God appeared to him surrounded by angels. She gave him a miraculous loaf for his sustenance and told him to live in solitude on the wild slopes of Mount Athos. Henceforth he lived apart, barefoot in all weather. He would build himself crude shelters of branches and brush; after living in one for a short time he would burn it and move to a new place. Thus he received the name Kavsokalybites “the Hut Burner” from the other monks, who dismissed him as a madman.

Saint Gregory the Sinaite (April 6), one of the great Hesychasts, heard of St Maximos, and hurried to meet him. When they met, St Maximos put aside his usual silence at St Gregory’s pleading, and they discoursed together for many hours. Saint Gregory was astonished at the wonders that God had accomplished in St Maximos, at his depth of spiritual understanding and his eloquence. Returning to the nearby monks, he said “He is an angel and not a man!” He begged St Maximos to give up his nomadic life and his pretended madness, and to live among his fellow monks for their edification. This St Maximos did. He settled in one of his crude huts, living on bread miraculously provided from heaven and on sea-water, which was made sweet by his prayer. He received and counseled any monks who sought him out, and over the years was visited by two Emperors and by the Patriarch of Constantinople. In his last years he returned to a small cell in his Lavra, where he reposed in peace at the age of ninety- five. The monks of Mt Athos immediately venerated him as a Saint.

پدر مقدس ما هیلاری, اسقف پواتیه (۳۶۹)

“The holy Hierarch Hilary was born of pagan parents in Gaul, and was trained in philosophy and rhetoric. At a time when paganism was still strong in Gaul, Saint Hilary understood the falsehood of polytheism, and became a Christian, and a great defender of his new Faith. About the year 350 he was ordained Bishop of Poitiers, when Arles and Milan were in the hands of the Arians and the Arian Constantius was sole Emperor. Like his contemporary Saint Athanasius, Saint Hilary’s episcopate was one long struggle against the Arians. As Bishop of Poitiers, Saint Hilary foresaw the future greatness of Martin (see Nov. 12), and attached him to himself. In 355, when required to agree to the condemnation of Saint Athanasius by the Council of Milan, Hilary wrote an epistle to Constantius condemning the wrongs done by the Arians and requesting, among other things, the restoration of the Orthodox bishops, including Athanasius. For this, Hilary was banished to Asia Minor, where he wrote his greatest work, On the Trinity. Saint Hilary returned to his see in 360, where Saint Martin sought him out again. It was at this time that Saint Hilary blessed Martin to found a monastery near Poitiers, where Martin remained until being consecrated Bishop of Tours in 371. In his last years, Saint Hilary strove for the deposition of Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Milan, but by affecting an Orthodox confession Auxentius retained his see. Saint Hilary reposed in peace about the year 368. Auxentius died in 374 and was succeeded by Saint Ambrose, who continued Saint Hilary’s battle against Arianism.” (Great Horologion, adapted)