Orthodox Calendar

8. јул 2025.
Tuesday of the 5th week after Pentecost

Apostles Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed

Commemorations

  • Virgin-Martyr Febronia of Nisibis (310)
  • Our Holy Father Dionysios, founder of the Monastery of St John the Forerunner on Mt Athos (1380)

Scripture Readings

Romans 14.9-18 (Epistle)

9Jer zato Hristos i umrije i vaskrse i oživlje da oblada i mrtvima i živima. 10A ti zašto osuðuješ brata svojega? Ili ti zašto ukoravaš brata svojega? Jer æemo svi iziæi na sud pred Hrista. 11Jer je pisano: tako mi života, govori Gospod, pokloniæe mi se svako koljeno, i svaki jezik slaviæe Boga. 12Tako æe dakle svaki od nas dati Bogu odgovor za sebe. 13Zato da ne osuðujemo više jedan drugoga, nego mjesto toga ovo gledajte da ne postavljate bratu spoticanja ili sablazni. 14Znam i uvjeren sam u Hristu Isusu da ništa nije pogano po sebi, osim kad ko misli da je što pogano, onome je pogano. 15A ako je brat tvoj jela radi žalostan, veæ se ne vladaš po ljubavi: ne gubi jelom svojijem onoga za kojega Hristos umrije. 16Gledajte dakle da se ne huli na vaše dobro. 17Jer carstvo Božije nije jelo i piæe, nego pravda i mir i radost u Duhu svetome. 18Jer koji ovijem služi Hristu ugodan je Bogu i mio ljudima.

Matthew 12.14-16, 22-30 (Gospel)

14A fariseji izišavši naèiniše vijeæu o njemu kako bi ga pogubili. No Isus doznavši to ukloni se odande. 15I za njim idoše ljudi mnogi, i iscijeli ih sve. 16I zaprijeti im da ga ne razglašuju: 22Tada dovedoše k njemu bijesna koji bješe nijem i slijep; i iscijeli ga da nijemi i slijepi stade govoriti i gledati. 23I divljahu se svi ljudi govoreæi: nije li ovo Hristos, sin Davidov? 24A fariseji èuvši to rekoše: ovaj drukèije ne izgoni ðavola do pomoæu Veelzevula kneza ðavolskoga. 25A Isus znajuæi misli njihove reèe im: svako carstvo koje se razdijeli samo po sebi, opustjeæe; i svaki grad ili dom koji se razdijeli sam po sebi, propašæe. 26I ako sotona sotonu izgoni, sam po sebi razdijelio se; kako æe dakle ostati carstvo njegovo? 27I ako ja pomoæu Veelzevula izgonim ðavole, sinovi vaši èijom pomoæu izgone? Zato æe vam oni biti sudije. 28A ako li ja Duhom Božijim izgonim ðavole, dakle je došlo k vama carstvo nebesko. 29Ili kako može ko uæi u kuæu jakoga i pokuæstvo njegovo oteti, ako najprije ne sveže jakoga? i onda æe kuæu njegovu oplijeniti. 30Koji nije sa mnom, protiv mene je; i koji ne sabira sa mnom, prosipa.

Commemorations

Virgin-Martyr Febronia of Nisibis (310)

Though the daughter of a Roman senator and a great beauty, she fled the world and entered a monastery in Mesopotamia. (So great was her beauty that the abbess had her stand behind a screen while reading to her monastic sisters.) At that time the Emperor Diocletian sent a certain Selenus, along with his nephew Lysimachus, on a mission to find and destroy Christians in the East. Though Selenus was a fierce persecutor of the Christians, Lysimachus felt sympathy for them and secretly protected them whenever he could. Selenus and his party came to Nisibis, where Febronia’s virtue and holiness had already become well-known, though she was still only twenty years old. Selenus summoned her and made every effort to convince her to renounce her faith. When she stood firm, she was first viciously dismembered then beheaded. Lysimachus gathered her relics and took them to the monastery for burial. At the monastery he, together with many soldiers, were baptized. The holy Febronia’s relics worked many healings, and she herself appeared to the other nuns on the anniversary of her repose, standing in her usual place among her sisters. Her relics were translated to Constantinople in 363.

Our Holy Father Dionysios, founder of the Monastery of St John the Forerunner on Mt Athos (1380)

He was born in Koritza in Albania. His elder brother Theodosius went to the Holy Mountain and in time became abbot of the monastery of Philotheou. A few years later Dionysios followed his brother and became a monk under him at Philotheou. A heavenly light began to appear to Dionysios every night at the same place, some distance from his monastery. Believing that the light was a divine sign that he was to build a monastery, Dionysios left the Holy Mountain to seek the help of his brother (now Metropolitan of Trebizond) and the Emperor Alexios Comnenis. From the Emperor he received both money and a Royal Charter, which is still kept at the Monastery of St John the Forerunner, which Dionysios founded in 1380, and which is often referred to as the Dionysiou Monastery. Later, pirates plundered the monastery, and Dionysius went to Trebizond, where he reposed at the age of seventy-two.