اول تیموتائوس ۵.۲۲-۶.۱۱ (رساله)

۲۲در دست‌گذاشتن بر کسی شتاب مکن و در گناهان دیگران شریک مشو، بلکه خود را پاک نگاه دار. ۲۳دیگر فقط آب منوش، بلکه به جهت معدۀ خود و ناخوشیهایی که اغلب داری، اندکی نیز شراب بنوش. ۲۴گناهان برخی آشکار است و پیشاپیش آنها به کام داوری می‌شتابد، امّا گناهان برخی دیگر از پی آنها می‌آید. ۲۵به همین‌سان، اعمال نیکو آشکار است و حتی آنها را که آشکار نیست، نتوان پوشیده نگاه داشت. ۱آنان که زیر یوغ بندگی به سر می‌برند، باید که اربابان خود را درخور کمال احترام بدانند تا مردم نام خدا و تعلیم را بد نگویند. ۲آنان که اربابانشان ایماندارند، نباید به دلیل رابطۀ برادری، ایشان را کمتر حرمت بگذارند. بلکه برعکس، باید حتی نیکوتر خدمت کنند، زیرا سود خدمتشان به کسانی می‌رسد که ایماندار و عزیزند. این را تعلیم ده و به انجامش ترغیبشان کن. ۳اگر کسی به گونه‌ای دیگر تعلیم دهد و با گفتار صحیح خداوند ما عیسی مسیح و تعلیم دیندارانه موافق نباشد، ۴مستِ غرور شده است و هیچ نمی‌فهمد. چنین کس عطشی بیمارگونه به جرّ و بحث و مجادله بر سر کلمات دارد، که از آن حسد و نزاع و ناسزاگویی و بدگمانی برمی‌خیزد ۵و موجب کشمکش دائمی میان افرادی می‌شود که فکرشان فاسد شده است و از حقیقت منحرف گشته، گمان می‌کنند دینداری وسیله‌ای است برای سودجویی. ۶امّا دینداری با قناعت، سودی عظیم است. ۷چرا که به این جهان هیچ نیاورده‌ایم و از آن نیز هیچ نخواهیم برد. ۸پس اگر خوراک و پوشاک و سرپناهی داریم، قانع خواهیم بود. ۹امّا آنان که سودای ثروتمند شدن دارند، دچار وسوسه می‌شوند و به دام امیال پوچ و زیانباری گرفتار می‌آیند که موجب تباهی و نابودی انسان می‌گردد. ۱۰زیرا پولدوستی ریشه‌ای است که همه گونه بدی از آن به بار می‌آید، و بعضی در آرزوی ثروت، از ایمان منحرف گشته، خود را به دردهای بسیار مجروح ساخته‌اند. ۱۱امّا تو ای مرد خدا، از اینها همه بگریز، و در پی پارسایی و دینداری و ایمان و محبت و پایداری و ملایمت باش.

لوقا ۱۵.۱-۱۰ (انجیل)

۱و امّا خَراجگیران و گناهکاران جملگی نزد عیسی گرد ‌می‌آمدند تا سخنانش را بشنوند. ۲امّا فَریسیان و علمای دین همهمه‌کنان می‌گفتند: «این مردْ گناهکاران را می‌پذیرد و با آنان همسفره می‌شود.» ۳پس عیسی این مَثَل را برایشان آورد: ۴«کیست از شما که صد گوسفند داشته باشد و چون یکی از آنها گم شود، آن نود و نه را در صحرا نگذارد و در پی آن گمشده نرود تا آن را بیابد؟ ۵و چون گوسفند گمشده را یافت، آن را با شادی بر دوش می‌نهد ۶و به خانه آمده، دوستان و همسایگان را فرا می‌خواند و می‌گوید: ”با من شادی کنید، زیرا گوسفند گمشدۀ خود را بازیافتم.“ ۷به شما می‌گویم، به همین‌سان برای یک گناهکار که توبه می‌کند، جشن و سرور عظیمتری در آسمان بر پا می‌شود تا برای نود و نه پارسا که نیاز به توبه ندارند. ۸«و یا کدام زن است که ده سکۀ نقره داشته باشد و چون یکی از آنها گم شود، چراغی برنیفروزد و خانه را نروبد و تا آن را نیافته، از جُستن بازنایستد؟ ۹و چون آن را یافت، دوستان و همسایگان را فرا می‌خواند و می‌گوید: ”با من شادی کنید، زیرا سکۀ گمشدۀ خود را بازیافتم.“ ۱۰به شما می‌گویم، به همین‌سان، برای توبۀ یک گناهکار، در حضور فرشتگان خدا جشن و سرور بر پا می‌شود.»

نبی عوبدیا

Obadiah’s is the shortest prophetic book in the Old Testament. The scriptures tell us little of where or when he lived. Some believe that he is the Obadiah who served as steward of King Ahab’s household and, when Jezebel was killing the prophets, hid a hundred of them in a cave and fed them. It is said that this Obadiah later became a disciple of the Prophet Elijah (Elias). His name means “servant of God.”

پدر مقدس ما فیلارت, متروپولیت مسکو (۱۸۶۷)

Born of a priestly family near Moscow in 1782, he entered seminary at a young age and soon distinguished himself for his piety and his scholarship of ancient languages. He was tonsured a monk, but was made a professor at the seminary in Moscow, where his expositions of the Faith, spoken and written, caused him to be regarded as a Father of the Church in his own time; many called him “the new Chrysostom.”

In 1817, at the age of thirty-five, he was consecrated bishop, and in only a few years rose to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow, the highest office in the Russian Church since Peter the Great abolished the Patriarchate. He remained Metropolitan for the rest of his life. Saint Philaret seemed literally tireless in his labors for the Church: no-one knew when he slept, and his servant, no matter when he came to the Metropolitan’s quarters, would always find him working at his desk. He worked to restore moral standards among the clergy, which had fallen into laxity. Whenever he was forced to depose a cleric, he would secretly contribute to the family’s needs out of his own resources. Similarly, he used up all of his financial resources in charitable works, always taking care that his donations were kept secret. He funded the building of a large hospice for orphans and children of poor clergy families.

St Philaret gave his full support to the fifty-year project of translating the Bible into Russian, and translated several Old Testament books himself, though the project was opposed by the Tsar and by some powerful groups in the Church. He supported the work of the fathers of Optina Monastery to publish translations of the Fathers of the Church; these translations, when they appeared, contributed to a great spiritual awakening in Russia.

He reposed in peace in 1867 at the age of eighty-five.

The well-loved “Morning Prayer of Philaret of Moscow” which begins “Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace…” was brought into Orthodox piety by St Philaret but seems originally to have been written by Francois Fenelon, the French Quietist writer. The prayer also came to be used by the Optina Elders and is sometimes referred to as the “Morning Prayer of the Optina Elders.” The prayer appears in several similar versions.

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforseen events let me not forget that all are sent by You. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering or embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of this coming day with all that it will bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray You Yourself in me. Amen.

شهید مقدس بارلعام انطاکیه (۳۰۴)

Saint Barlaam was an old man, living in Antioch during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. When he confessed Christ before the Governor and refused to sacrifice to the idols, he was tortured for days: his flesh was torn by iron claws and he was stretched on the rack. When these conventional tortures failed, the Governor invented a new torment: Barlaam’s hand was stretched over an altar to the idols, and a burning coal with incense was put in his palm. The torturers reasoned that when pain forced him to drop the coal, they would be able to say that he had offered sacrifice to the gods. But the holy Barlaam held his hand steady and watched calmly as his hand was burnt up by the coal. At last his hand fell to the ground and the Martyr gave up his soul to God.

In some accounts, St Barlaam survived his torments and reposed in peace. Some have held that he came from Cappadocia rather than Antioch, but this is probably incorrect. Saint John Chrysostom once delivered a homily at St Barlaam’s tomb in Antioch on his feast day.

ما مقدس پدران بارلعام و یوآساف هند (سده ۴)

“They were Indian ascetics. Joasaph was son and heir to King Abenner. By God’s providence, he was visited by the elder Barlaam, who taught him the Christian faith and baptised him. After that, the elder went off into the mountains to live in asceticism, and Joasaph remained to wrestle with many temptations in the world and to overcome them by the grace of God. Joasaph finally succeeded in bringing his father to Christ. When he had been baptised, King Abenner lived a further four years in deep repentance (for he had committed grave sins in his persecution of Christians) and then finished his earthly course and went to the better life. The young Joasaph entrusted the kingdom to his friend Barachias, and himself went off into the desert to live in asceticism for the sake of Christ. His one desire on earth was to see his spiritual father, Barlaam, once more. God, in his mercy, fulfilled his desire, and, one day, Joasaph stood before Barlaam’s cave, and called: ‘Bless me, Father!’ The elder Barlaam lived in asceticism in the desert for seventy years, living a hundred years in all. St Joasaph handed over his kingdom at the age of twenty-five and went into the desert, where he lived a further thirty-five years. They both had great love for the Lord Jesus, brought many to the true Faith and entered into the eternal joy of their Lord.” (Prologue)

They are commemorated on August 26 on the Greek calendar.