Acts 18.22-28 (Epistle)

22I došavši u Æesariju, iziðe i pozdravi se s crkvom, i siðe u Antiohiju. 23I provedavši nekoliko vremena iziðe i proðe redom Galatijsku zemlju i Frigiju utvrðujuæi sve uèenike. 24A doðe u Efes jedan Jevrejin, po imenu Apolos, rodom iz Aleksandrije, èovjek rjeèit i silan u knjigama. 25Ovaj bješe upuæen na put Gospodnji, i goreæi duhom, govoraše i uèaše pravo o Gospodu, a znadijaše samo krštenje Jovanovo. 26I ovaj poèe slobodno propovijedati po zbornicama. A kad ga èuše Akila i Priskila, primiše ga i još mu bolje pokazaše put Gospodnji. 27A kad on šæaše da prijeðe u Ahaju, poslaše braæa naprijed i pisaše uèenicima da ga prime. I on došavši onamo pomože mnogo onima koji vjerovahu blagodaæu; 28Jer zdravo nadvlaðivaše Jevreje jednako pred narodom dokazujuæi iz pisma da je Isus Hristos.

John 12.36-47 (Gospel)

36Dok vidjelo imate vjerujte vidjelo, da budete sinovi vidjela. Rekavši ovo Isus otide i sakri se od njih. 37Ako je i èinio tolika èudesa pred njima, opet ga ne vjerovahu; 38Da se zbude rijeè Isaije proroka koji reèe: Gospode! ko vjerova govorenju našemu? i ruka Gospodnja kome se otkri? 39Zato ne mogahu vjerovati, jer opet reèe Isaija: 40Zaslijepio je oèi njihove i okamenio srca njihova, da ne vide oèima ni srcem razumiju, i ne obrate se da ih iscijelim. 41Ovo reèe Isaija kad vidje slavu njegovu i govori za njega. 42Ali opet i od knezova mnogi ga vjerovaše; nego radi fariseja ne priznavahu, da ne bi bili izgnani iz zbornice; 43Jer im veæma omilje slava ljudska nego slava Božija. 44A Isus povika i reèe: ko mene vjeruje ne vjeruje mene, nego onoga koji me posla; 45I ko vidi mene vidi onoga koji me posla. 46Ja doðoh vidjelo na svijet, da nijedan koji me vjeruje ne ostane u tami. 47I ko èuje moje rijeèi i ne vjeruje, ja mu neæu suditi; jer ja ne doðoh da sudim svijetu, nego da spasem svijet.

St Pachomius the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism (346)

His name in his native Coptic, Pachom, means “eagle.” He was an Egyptian pagan who entered the Roman army at a young age. While quartered at Thebes, he was amazed at the kindness of the local Christians, who brought food and drink to the soldiers. Learning who they were, he believed in Christ and vowed, once released from the army, to serve him for the rest of his life. At the end of his military service, he was baptised and became the disciple of the hermit Palamon, with whom he lived for ten years.

At a place called Tabennisis an angel appeared to him dressed in the robes of a monk and gave him a tablet on which was written a rule for a cenobitic monastery — one in which the brethren live communally rather than as hermits, something that had not been seen before among Christians. The angel commanded him to found such a monastery. Pachomius set to work, building many cells though there was no one to live there but himself and his brother John. When John questioned the unnecessary building, Pachomius only said that he was following God’s command, without saying who would live there or when.

But soon men began to assemble there, and in time so many came to be his disciples that he eventually founded nine monasteries housing thousands of monks. The rule that he gave (or had been given) for these monasteries became the model for all communal Christian monasticism thereafter. St Pachomius reposed in 346, before his great Egyptian fellow-strugglers St Anthony the Great and St Athanasius the Great.

Entertaining angels unawares: Christian believers’ simple acts of kindness toward their pagan oppressors may have seemed foolish to many, but it was such acts that opened the eyes of Pachomius to the light of Christ, and which bore incalculably great fruit: the founding of the monastic life which is still the backbone of Christ’s Church.

Our Father among the Saints Achillius, Bishop of Larissa (330)

He was born in Cappadocia, and was one of the 318 God-bearing Fathers who attended the First Ecumenical Council. At the council, Achillius took up a stone and said to the Arians, ‘If Christ is a creature of God, as you say, tell oil to flow from this stone.’ When the heretics kept silent, Achilleus went on, ‘And if the Son of God is equal to the Father, as we believe, let oil flow from this stone,’ at which oil flowed out. Returning to Larissa, the holy bishop cast down many pagan temples, built many churches, cast out many demons, and reposed in peace.