دوم پطرس ۱.۱-۱۰ (رساله)

۱از شَمعون پطرس، خادم و رسول عیسی مسیح، به آنان که به برکتِ عدالت خدا و نجات‌دهندۀ ما عیسی مسیح، ایمانی همتراز با ایمان ما نصیبشان شده است: ۲فیض و سلامتی به واسطۀ شناخت خدا و خداوند ما عیسی، به‌فزونی بر شما باد. ۳قدرت الهیِ او هرآنچه را برای حیات و دینداری نیاز داریم بر ما ارزانی داشته است. این از طریق شناختِ او میسّر شده که ما را به واسطۀ جلال و نیکویی خویش فرا خوانده است. ۴او به واسطۀ اینها وعده‌های عظیم و گرانبهای خود را به ما بخشیده، تا از طریق آنها شریک طبیعت الهی شوید و از فسادی که در نتیجۀ امیال نفسانی در دنیا وجود دارد، بِرَهید. ۵از همین رو، به سعی تمام بکوشید تا به واسطۀ ایمان خود نیکویی بار آورید و به واسطۀ نیکویی، شناخت، ۶و به واسطۀ شناخت، خویشتنداری، و به واسطۀ خویشتنداری، پایداری، و به واسطۀ پایداری، دینداری، ۷و به واسطۀ دینداری، مهرِ برادرانه و به واسطۀ مهرِ برادرانه، محبت. ۸زیرا چون اینها در شما باشد و فزونی یابد، نخواهد گذاشت در شناخت خداوند ما عیسی مسیح، بی‌فایده و بی‌ثمر باشید. ۹امّا آن که عاری از اینهاست، کور است و کوته‌بین، و از یاد برده که از گناهان گذشتۀ خویش پاک شده است. ۱۰پس ای برادران، هر چه بیشتر بکوشید تا فراخواندگی و برگزیدگی خویش را تثبیت نمایید، چرا که اگر چنین کنید هرگز سقوط نخواهید کرد.

مرقس ۱۳.۱-۸ (انجیل)

۱هنگامی که عیسی معبد را ترک می‌کرد، یکی از شاگردانش به او گفت: «استاد، بنگر! چه سنگها و چه بناهای باشکوهی!» ۲امّا عیسی به او فرمود: «همۀ این بناهای بزرگ را می‌بینی؟ بدان که سنگی بر سنگ دیگر باقی نخواهد ماند، بلکه همه فرو خواهد ریخت.» ۳و چون عیسی بر کوه زیتون روبه‌روی معبد نشسته بود، پطرس و یعقوب و یوحنا و آندریاس در خلوت از او پرسیدند: ۴«به ما بگو این وقایع کِی روی خواهد داد و نشانۀ نزدیک شدن زمان تحقق آنها چیست؟» ۵عیسی بدیشان فرمود: «به‌هوش باشید تا کسی گمراهتان نکند. ۶بسیاری به نام من آمده، خواهند گفت، ”من همانم“ و بسیاری را گمراه خواهند کرد. ۷چون دربارۀ جنگها می‌شنوید و خبر جنگها به گوشتان می‌رسد، مشوش مشوید. چنین وقایعی می‌باید رخ دهد، ولی هنوز پایان فرا نرسیده است. ۸قومی بر قوم دیگر و حکومتی بر حکومت دیگر بر خواهند خاست. زلزله‌ها در جایهای گوناگون خواهد آمد و قحطیها خواهد شد. امّا این تنها به منزلۀ آغاز درد زایمان است.

قدیس ایزیدور پلوسیوم

He was born to a noble family in Alexandria. For a short time he taught rhetoric in Pelusium in Egypt; but soon his love for the things of God led him to flee to the Desert as a solitary. After a year of ascetical life, he returned to Pelusium, where he was ordained to the priesthood. After a few years he retired to a monastery where he spent the rest of his life, eventually becoming Abbot. From the monastery he wrote thousands of epistles full of divine grace and wisdom; of these more than two thousand still survive.

Saint Isidore was a student and devout disciple of St John Chrysostom, as he knew him through his writings. When St Cyril became Patriarch of Alexandria, he refused to commemorate St John in the diptychs during the Divine Liturgy. Saint Isidore wrote him a strong letter reminding him not to heed the rumors, prejudices or threats of men, and St Cyril was persuaded to restore commemoration of the Archbishop of Constantinople, and later became a strong advocate of the veneration of St John. Isidore, though a monk, was treated as a spiritual father by Patriarch Cyril: around 433, when St Cyril was inclined to deal harshly with some who had been swept up in the Nestorian heresy, St Isidore wrote to him: ‘As your father, since you are pleased to give me this name, or rather as your son, I adjure you to put an end to this dissension lest a permanent breach be made under the pretext of piety.’

With reputation came persecution, and St Isidore suffered much from Imperial and church authorities unhappy with his holy influence. He bore all these troubles impassibly, and in 440 (according to one source) or about 449 (according to another) he joyfully gave up his soul to God.

قابل احترام کیریل جدید دریاچه (نووزرسک) (۱۵۳۲)

When he was only fifteen, St Cyril left home in secret to join the Monastery of St Cornelius of Komel (May 19). Seven years later his father visited the monastery and recognized his son. Instead of persuading Cyril to return to the world, the father was persuaded by his son to enter monastic life; his mother soon joined them, entering a convent nearby. Within the next few years, St Cyril’s mother and father both died, prompting him to exclaim ‘I too am mortal!’ He redoubled his ascetical labors and before long was granted the gift of tears in prayer. Ten years after entering the monastery, St Cyril obtained his abbot’s blessing to live the life of a hermit. He lived in complete reclusion, subsisting on wild greens and mushrooms. After seven years of solitude, he built a hermitage at New Lake and established two churches there. Soon he was ordained to the priesthood. His sanctity attracted a large company of disciples, and he founded a large monastery. There he continued to live in the strictest asceticism and shared in all the common labor of the monks. Once some thieves tried to steal the church bells, but by divine intervention became disoriented and circled the monastery in the dark until morning. When they were apprehended and brought to the Saint, he told them, ‘My children, no one has ever been enriched by stealing, but many have lost even what belonged to them.’ He then ordered that they be given food and released.

During his lifetime the Saint wrought many healings, and was especially known for restoring the sight of the blind. Once his disciple Athanasius saw an unknown deacon serving with St Cyril at the Liturgy. The mysterious deacon disappeared at the end of the service, and St Cyril forbade his disciple to speak of the incident until after his death. In 1532 the Saint reposed in peace: his last words were ‘Glory to God for all things!’