Romans 12.4-5, 15-21 (رساله)

۴زیرا همان‌گونه که هر یک از ما را بدنی واحد است که از اعضای بسیار تشکیل شده و کار همۀ این اعضا یکسان نیست، ۵ما نیز که بسیاریم، در مسیح یک بدن را تشکیل می‌دهیم و هر یک، اعضای یکدیگریم. ۱۵با کسانی که شادمانند، شادی کنید، و با کسانی که گریانند، بگریید. ۱۶برای یکدیگر ارزش برابر قائل باشید! مغرور نباشید، بلکه با کسانی که از طبقات محرومند، معاشرت کنید. خود را برتر از دیگران مپندارید. ۱۷به هیچ‌کس به سزای بدی، بدی نکنید. دقّت کنید که آنچه را در نظر همگان پسندیده است، به جای آورید. ۱۸اگر امکان دارد، تا آنجا که به شما مربوط می‌شود، با همه در صلح و صفا زندگی کنید. ۱۹ای عزیزان، انتقام مگیرید، بلکه آن را به غضب خدا واگذارید. زیرا نوشته شده که «خداوند می‌گوید: ”انتقام از آن من است؛ من هستم که سزا خواهم داد.“‌» ۲۰برعکس، «اگر دشمنت گرسنه است، به او خوراک بده! و اگر تشنه است، به او آب بنوشان! اگر چنین کنی، اخگرهای سوزان بر سرش خواهی انباشت.» ۲۱مغلوب بدی مشو، بلکه بدی را با نیکویی مغلوب ساز.

متی ۱۲.۹-۱۳ (انجیل)

۹سپس آن مکان را ترک گفت و به کنیسۀ آنان درآمد. ۱۰در کنیسه مردی بود که یک دستش خشک شده بود. از عیسی پرسیدند: «آیا شفا دادن در روز شَبّات جایز است؟» این را گفتند تا بهانه‌ای برای متهم کردن او بیابند. ۱۱او بدیشان گفت: «اگر یکی از شما گوسفندی داشته باشد و آن گوسفند در روز شَبّات در چاهی بیفتد، آیا آن را نمی‌گیرد و از چاه بیرون نمی‌آورد؟ ۱۲حال، انسان چقدر باارزشتر از گوسفند است! پس نیکویی کردن در روز شَبّات جایز است.» ۱۳سپس به آن مرد گفت: «دستت را دراز کن!» او دستش را دراز کرد و آن دست، مانند دست دیگرش سالم شد.

شهید هیاکینتوس

He was a young courtier to the Emperor Trajan, and a secret Christian. When the Emperor and his court were offering sacrifice to the idols, Hyacinth stood apart; he was noticed and brought before the Emperor where, when interrogated, he proclaimed himself a Christian and refused to make sacrifice to the pagan gods. For this he was brutally whipped, then thrown into prison, where the Emperor ordered that he be given only food that had been sacrificed to idols. This Hyacinth refused to eat and, after eight days, died in prison.

پدر مقدس ما اشعیا تنها (۴۹۱)

One of the Desert Fathers, he lived in asceticism first at Scetis in Egypt, then in Palestine; he died in Gaza. His instructive writings are often quoted by the Fathers.

Abba Isaiah said: The crown of all good works consists in this: that a man place all his hope in God, that he flee to Him once and for all with all his heart and strength, that he be filled with compassion for all and weep before God, imploring His help and mercy.

پدر مقدس ما الکساندر, بنیانگذار صومعه نخفتگان کسان (۴۳۰)

“Born in Asia and educated in Constantinople, he went into the army after completing his studies and became an officer. Reading the Holy Scriptures, he came upon the Saviour’s words: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’ (Matt. 19:21). These words made such an impression on him that he sold and gave away all that he had, and went off to the desert. After long asceticism and striving for purification, he founded the community of the ‘Wakeful Ones’ (Acoemetae) with a special rule. According to this rule, the services in the church continued day and night in unbroken sequence. The brethren were divided into six groups, each having its appointed hours of day or night to go to church and take over the reading and singing from the previous group. He travelled a great deal over the East, bringing people to faith in Christ, disputing with heretics, working miracles by God’s grace and growing old in the service of the Lord Jesus. He finished his earthly course in Constantinople in the year 430, where his relics revealed the miraculous power and glory with which God had glorified His holy servant.” (Prologue)

پدر ما در میان قدیسان آناتولیوس, اسقف اعظم قسطنطنیه (۴۵۸)

He was a priest from Alexandria. At the ‘Robber Council’ at Ephesus in 449, Dioscoros, the monophysite who occupied the Patriarchal throne in Alexandria, had Anatolios installed as Patriarch of Constantinople, thinking that he would prove an ally. But Anatolios quickly emerged as a fervent champion of Orthodoxy: he convened a council of bishops just before the Council of Chalcedon in 451, at which Pope Leo’s Orthodox “Tome” (see February 18) was approved, though Dioscoros had not allowed it to be read at the Robber Council. At the Council of Chalcedon, Anatolios condemned Nestorius, Eutyches, and his frustrated patron Dioscoros. He reposed in peace in 458.

Anatolios is believed to be the author of the ‘Anatolian Stichera’ found in the weekly Vespers and Matins services; but these may have been composed by another Anatolios, a monk and a disciple of St Theodore the Studite.