1 John 3.10-20 (Epistle)

10Po tom se poznaju djeca Božija i djeca ðavolja: koji god ne tvori pravde, nije od Boga, i koji ne ljubi brata svojega. 11Jer je ovo zapovijest, koju èuste ispoèetka, da ljubimo jedan drugoga. 12Ne kao što Kain bješe od neèastivoga i zakla brata svojega. I za koji ga uzrok zakla? Jer djela njegova bijahu zla, a brata mu pravedna. 13Ne èudite se, braæo moja, ako svijet mrzi na vas. 14Mi znamo da prijeðosmo iz smrti u život, jer ljubimo braæu; jer ko ne ljubi brata ostaje u smrti. 15Svaki koji mrzi na brata svojega krvnik je ljudski; i znate da nijedan krvnik ljudski nema u sebi vjeènoga života. 16Po tom poznasmo ljubav što on za nas dušu svoju položi: mi smo dužni polagati duše za braæu. 17Koji dakle ima bogatstvo ovoga svijeta, i vidi brata svojega u nevolji i zatvori srce svoje od njega, kako ljubav Božija stoji u njemu? 18Djeèice moja! da se ne ljubimo rijeèju ni jezikom, nego djelom i istinom. 19I po tom doznajemo da smo od istine, i pred njim tješimo srca svoja. 20Jer ako nam zazire srce naše, Bog je veæi od srca našega i zna sve.

Mark 14.10-42 (Gospel)

10I Juda Iskariotski, jedan od dvanaestorice, otide ka glavarima sveštenièkijem da im ga izda. 11A oni èuvši obradovaše se, i obrekoše mu novce dati: i tražaše zgodu da ga izda. 12I u prvi dan prijesnijeh hljebova, kad klahu pashu, rekoše mu uèenici njegovi: gdje æeš da idemo da ti zgotovimo pashu da jedeš? 13I posla dvojicu od uèenika svojijeh i reèe im: idite u grad, i srešæe vas èovjek koji nosi vodu u krèagu; idite za njim, 14I gdje uðe kažite gospodaru od one kuæe: uèitelj veli: gdje je gostionica gdje æu jesti pashu s uèenicima svojijem? 15I on æe vam pokazati veliku sobu prostrtu gotovu: ondje nam zgotovite. 16I iziðoše uèenici njegovi, i doðoše u grad, i naðoše kao što im kaza, i ugotoviše pashu. 17I kad bi uveèe, doðe sa dvanaestoricom. 18I kad sjeðahu za trpezom i jeðahu reèe Isus: zaista vam kažem: jedan od vas, koji jede sa mnom, izdaæe me. 19A oni se zabrinuše, i stadoše govoriti jedan za drugijem: da ne ja? i drugi: da ne ja? 20A on odgovarajuæi reèe im: jedan od dvanaestorice koji umoèi sa mnom u zdjelu. 21Sin èovjeèij dakle ide kao što je pisano za njega; ali teško onome èovjeku koji izda sina èovjeèijega; bolje bi mu bilo da se nije rodio onaj èovjek. 22I kad jeðahu uze Isus hljeb i blagoslovivši prelomi ga, i dade im, i reèe: uzmite, jedite; ovo je tijelo moje. 23I uze èašu i davši hvalu dade im; i piše iz nje svi. 24I reèe im: ovo je krv moja novoga zavjeta koja æe se proliti za mnoge. 25Zaista vam kažem: više neæu piti od roda vinogradskoga do onoga dana kad æu ga piti novoga u carstvu Božijemu. 26I otpojavši hvalu iziðoše na goru Maslinsku. 27I reèe im Isus: svi æete se vi sablazniti o mene ovu noæ; jer je pisano: udariæu pastira i ovce æe se razbjeæi. 28Ali po vaskrseniju svojemu ja idem pred vama u Galileju. 29A Petar mu reèe: ako se i svi sablazne, ali ja neæu. 30I reèe mu Isus: zaista ti kažem: noæas dok dvaput pijetao ne zapjeva tri puta æeš me se odreæi. 31A on još veæma govoraše: da bih znao s tobom i umrijeti neæu te se odreæi. Tako i svi govorahu. 32I doðoše u selo koje se zove Getsimanija, i reèe uèenicima svojijem: sjedite ovdje dok ja idem da se pomolim Bogu. 33I uze sa sobom Petra i Jakova i Jovana, i zabrinu se i poèe tužiti. 34I reèe im: žalosna je duša moja do smrti; poèekajte ovdje, i stražite. 35I otišavši malo pade na zemlju, i moljaše se da bi ga mimoišao èas ako je moguæe. 36I govoraše: Ava oèe! sve je moguæe tebi; pronesi èašu ovu mimo mene; ali opet ne kako ja hoæu nego kako ti. 37I doðe i naðe ih gdje spavaju, i reèe Petru: Simone! Zar spavaš? Ne može li jednoga èasa postražiti? 38Stražite i molite se Bogu da ne padnete u napast; jer je duh srèan ali je tijelo slabo. 39I opet otišavši pomoli se Bogu one iste rijeèi govoreæi. 40I vrativši se naðe ih opet gdje spavaju; jer im bijahu oèi otežale; i ne znadijahu šta bi mu odgovorili. 41I doðe treæi put, i reèe im: jednako spavate i poèivate; dosta je; doðe èas; evo se predaje sin èovjeèij u ruke grješnicima. 42Ustanite da idemo; evo izdajnik se moj približi.

Holy Apostle Onesimos (ca. 109)

He was a Phrygian by birth, a slave of Philemon, to whom the Apostle Paul addressed his epistle. Onesimos escaped from Philemon and fled to Rome, where he was converted to the Faith by St Paul. St Paul sent him back to his master, who at St Paul’s urging gave him his freedom. He served the Church for many years before dying a martyr, beaten to death with clubs.

Saint Onesimos is also commemorated on November 22, with Sts Philemon, Archippus and Aphia; and on January 4 at the Synaxis of the Seventy Disciples.

Our Venerable Father Dalmatius of Siberia (1697)

Saint Dalmatius is venerated as a pioneer of the movement that took many ascetics to dwell in the wilderness of Siberia, establishing a new company of Desert Fathers and causing the Russian Far North to be called the ‘Northern Thebaid.’ He was born in Tobolsk and reared in piety by his family, recently-converted Tatars. When grown, he entered the imperial army as a Cossack and served with such distinction that the Tsar awarded him a noble title. He married and lived in Tobolsk in comfort and prosperity. One day — after the destruction of Tobolsk in a great fire in 1643 — struck by a realization of the vanity of worldly things, he left family, wealth and property and went to a monastery in the Ural Mountains, taking with him only an icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

He was tonsured a monk with the name of Dalmatius, and devoted himself to prayer and ascesis with such fervor that, a short time later, the brethren elected him Abbot. Fearing pride and fleeing honor, Dalmatius fled with his icon of the Theotokos to a remote cave, where he lived a life of silence and continual prayer. His presence did not long remain secret in that sparsely-settled region, and soon Christians were coming from far and wide to ask his prayer and counsel; many pagans came to him for holy Baptism. Soon his habitation became too small for those who had chosen to stay as his disciples, and the Saint received a blessing from the Bishop of Tobolsk to build a wooden chapel and some cells. This was the beginning of the great Monastery of the Dormition (also called the Monastery of St Dalmatius).

Over the years the brethren endured many tribulations. Once the Tatar Prince of the region, provoked by false rumors, planned to destroy the monastery and kill all the monks. The night before the attack, the holy Mother of God appeared to the prince in resplendent clothes, holding a flaming sword in one hand and a scourge in the other. She forbade the Prince to harm the monastery or the brethren, and commanded him to give them a permanent concession over the region. Convinced by this vision, the Prince made peace with the monks and became the Monastery’s protector, though he was a Muslim.

In the succeeding years the Monastery was repeatedly burned down by the fierce pagan tribes which inhabited the area; once all the monks except St Dalmatius himself were butchered, but always the monastery was rebuilt. The Saint reposed in peace in 1697, and was succeeded as abbot by his own son Isaac, who built a stone shrine at the Monastery to house the relics of the Saint and the icon of the Mother of God which he had kept with him throughout his monastic life.

Our Venerable Father Anthimos of Chios (1960)

He was born in 1869 to devout peasants on Chios; he left elementary school early to become a shoemender. At the age of nineteen he visited a monastery (founded by the monk Pachomios, who had been the spiritual counsellor of St Nektarios); he was so moved by the monks’ ‘angelic life’ that on returning home he built himself a small hut and dwelt in it. His only ‘help’ in his spiritual contests was an icon of the Mother of God, which soon began to work miracles, drawing many to his hermitage. After a time he retired to a monastery where he was tonsured under the name Anthimos. He fell ill there, and his abbot sent him home to his parents for the sake of his health. At home, despite the fact that he was caring for his aged parents and practicing his shoemender’s trade, he continued to live as a monk, spending nights on end in prayer and sometimes living only on bread and water for extended periods.

Increasing numbers of visitors came to his hermitage and wonder-working icon of the Theotokos, and in 1910 he received the Great Schema. The people of Chios wanted him to be ordained to the priesthood, but his bishop refused due to the Saint’s lack of education. At the prompting of Anthimos’ godfather, the Bishop of Smyrna ordained him instead. After a pilgrimage to Mt Athos, he returned to Chios, where he became chaplain to a leper hospital. Soon the hospital, which had fallen into corruption, became a spiritual center, as much like a monastery as a hospital. Saint Anthimos tended many of the sickest with his own hands, working many miracles of healing; some of his recovered patients became monks or nuns.

With the notorious ‘Exchange of Populations’ of 1922-1924, refugees poured into Chios, many of them destitute nuns and girls. In response to a vision of the Mother of God, St Anthimos built a monastery, which opened with thirty nuns and grew rapidly, despite the opposition of many who said that setting up such a community was out of date (in 1924!). The monastery soon housed eighty nuns and was known througout Greece as a model of monastic life. Father Anthimos served as priest to the nuns, and continued to receive the many faithful — often sixty or seventy per day — who came to him for prayer or counsel. He carried on this ministry for more than thirty years, working many miracles of healing. When he was too old to work with his hands, he retired to his cell and prayed that he be enabled to serve his neighbor until his last breath. He reposed in peace at the age of ninety-one, mourned and revered by the whole island of Chios.