Acts 2.38-43 (Epistle)

38A Petar im reèe: pokajte se, i da se krstite svaki od vas u ime Isusa Hrista za oproštenje grijeha; i primiæete dar svetoga Duha; 39Jer je za vas obeæanje i za djecu vašu, i za sve daljne koje æe god dozvati Gospod Bog naš. 40I drugijem mnogijem rijeèima svjedoèaše, i moljaše ih govoreæi: spasite se od ovoga pokvarenoga roda. 41Koji dakle rado primiše rijeè njegovu krstiše se; i pristade u taj dan oko tri hiljade duša. 42I ostaše jednako u nauci apostolskoj, i u zajednici, i u lomljenju hljeba, i u molitvama. 43I uðe strah u svaku dušu; jer apostoli èiniše mnoga èudesa i znake u Jerusalimu.

John 3.1-15 (Gospel)

1Bijaše pak èovjek meðu farisejima, po imenu Nikodim, knez Jevrejski. 2Ovaj doðe k Isusu noæu i reèe mu: Ravi! znamo da si ti uèitelj od Boga došao; jer niko ne može èudesa ovijeh èiniti koja ti èiniš ako nije Bog s njim. 3Odgovori Isus i reèe mu: zaista, zaista ti kažem: ako se ko nanovo ne rodi, ne može vidjeti carstva Božijega. 4Reèe Nikodim njemu: kako se može èovjek roditi kad je star? eda li može po drugi put uæi u utrobu matere svoje i roditi se? 5Odgovori Isus: zaista, zaista ti kažem: ako se ko ne rodi vodom i Duhom, ne može uæi u carstvo Božije. 6Što je roðeno od tijela, tijelo je; a što je roðeno od Duha, duh je. 7Ne èudi se što ti rekoh: valja vam se nanovo roditi. 8Duh diše gdje hoæe, i glas njegov èuješ, a ne znaš otkuda dolazi i kuda ide; tako je svaki èovjek koji je roðen od Duha. 9Odgovori Nikodim i reèe mu: kako može to biti? 10Isus odgovori i reèe mu: ti si uèitelj Izrailjev, i to li ne znaš? 11Zaista, zaista ti kažem da mi govorimo što znamo, i svjedoèimo što vidjesmo, i svjedoèanstva našega ne primate. 12Kad vam kazah zemaljsko pa ne vjerujete, kako æete vjerovati ako vam kažem nebesko? 13I niko se ne pope na nebo osim koji siðe s neba, sin èovjeèij koji je na nebu. 14I kao što Mojsije podiže zmiju u pustinji, tako treba sin èovjeèij da se podigne, 15Da nijedan koji ga vjeruje ne pogine, nego da ima život vjeèni:

Our Holy Father Nicetas the Confessor (824)

He was born in Caesarea of Bithynia. His widowed father became a monk, leaving Nicetas to the care of his grandmother. Nicetas himself, when he was grown, entered a monastery in Midikion, on the Sea of Marmara. After seven years of monastic life he was ordained hieromonk by Patriarch Tarasios. When Nikephoros, the abbot of the monastery, died, the brethren chose Nicetas as their new abbot.

When Leo the Armenian became Emperor, he revived the iconoclast heresy, even though it had been put down under the Empress Irene and condemned by an Ecumenical Council. The Emperor deposed and exiled the holy Patriarch Nicephoros, putting a heretic in his place. Nicetas, because he was known for his holiness and steadfast reverence for the holy icons, was imprisoned and tortured, but did not waver in his defense of Orthodoxy. Nicetas was taken from prison to prison, torture to torture, and exiled twice, until at last Leo the Armenian died and the Orthodox Emperor Michael came to the throne and freed all those imprisoned for Orthodoxy.

Once freed, Nicetas retired to a secluded hermitage near Constantinople, where he passed the remainder of his life in prayer and thanksgiving. When he died, his body was taken back to his monastery; during the journey, many of the sick who touched his holy body were healed.

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (886)

“Saint Joseph was from Sicily, the son of Plotinus and Agatha. Because Sicily had been subjugated by the Moslems, he departed thence and, passing from place to place, came with Saint Gregory of Decapolis (see Nov. 20) to Constantinople, where he endured bitter afflictions because of his pious zeal. Travelling to Rome, he was captured by Arab pirates and taken to Crete, whence he later returned to Constantinople. He became an excellent hymnographer and reposed in holiness shortly after 886 (according to some, it was in 883). The melismatic canons of the Menaion are primarily the work of this Joseph; they bear his name in the acrostic of the Ninth Ode. He also composed most of the sacred book known as the Paracletike, which complements the Octoechos. For this reason, Joseph is called par excellence the Hymnographer.” (Great Horologion)

The “bitter afflictions” which St Joseph suffered were probably due (judging from his dates) to his veneration of the holy icons.

Note: In the Slavic calendar he is commemorated on April 4.

Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa (1949) (March 21 OC)

Born in 1866, he married and had three children. In 1920, at the age of 54, he and his wife quietly separated and each entered monastic life. Eventually he became the spiritual father of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where, as a clairvoyant staretz, he also confessed thousands of laity. He said, “I am the storage room where people’s afflictions gather.” In imitation of his patron saint, he prayed for a thousand nights on a rock before an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He reposed in the Lord in 1949 and the Church of Russia glorified him in August of 2000. Thus his whole life as a monk was spent under Communist persecution.