Acts 25.13-19 (Epistle)

13A pošto proðe nekoliko dana, Agripa car i Vernikija siðoše u Æesariju da pohode Fista. 14I buduæi da ondje mnogo dana ostaše, kaza Fist caru za Pavla govoreæi: èovjeka jednoga ostavio je Filiks u tamnici, 15Za kojega, kad ja bijah u Jerusalimu, iziðoše preda me glavari sveštenièki i starješine Jevrejske moleæi da ga osudim. 16Ja im odgovorih da nije obièaj u Rimljana da se prije pokloni kakav èovjek na smrt dok se optuženi ne suoèi s onima koji ga tuže, i ne primi mjesto da odgovara za svoju krivicu. 17A kad se oni ovdje sastaše, nikakvoga odlaganja ne uèinih, i sjutradan sjedavši na sudijnsku stolicu zapovjedih da dovedu èovjeka. 18A oko njega stavši suparnici ni jedne krivice koje ja mišljah ne iznesoše. 19Nego imahu protiv njega nekakva pitanja o svojemu sujevjerju, i o nekakvom Isusu, koji je umro pa Pavle govoraše da je živ.

John 16.23-33 (Gospel)

23I u onaj dan neæete me pitati ni za što. Zaista, zaista vam kažem da što god uzištete u oca u ime moje, daæe vam. 24Doslije ne iskaste ništa u ime moje; ištite i primiæete, da radost vaša bude ispunjena. 25Ovo vam govorih u prièama; ali æe doæi vrijeme kad vam više neæu govoriti u prièama, nego æu vam upravo javiti za oca. 26U onaj æete dan u ime moje zaiskati, i ne velim vam da æu ja umoliti oca za vas; 27Jer sam otac ima ljubav k vama kao što vi imaste ljubav k meni, i vjerovaste da ja od Boga iziðoh. 28Iziðoh od oca, i doðoh na svijet; i opet ostavljam svijet, i idem k ocu. 29Rekoše mu uèenici njegovi: eto sad upravo govoriš, a prièe nikakve ne govoriš. 30Sad znamo da sve znaš, i ne treba ti da te ko pita. Po tome vjerujemo da si od Boga izišao. 31Isus im odgovori: zar sad vjerujete? 32Evo ide èas, i veæ je nastao, da se razbjegnete svaki na svoju stranu i mene sama ostavite; ali nijesam sam, jer je otac sa mnom. 33Ovo vam kazah, da u meni mir imate. U svijetu æete imati nevolju; ali ne bojte se, jer ja nadvladah 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.