Apostles Fast — Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed
1Istinu govorim tako mi Hrista, ne lažem, to mi svjedoèi savjest moja Duhom svetijem: 2Da mi je vrlo žao i srce me moje boli bez prestanka; 3Jer bih željeo da ja sam budem odluèen od Hrista za braæu svoju koja su mi rod po tijelu, 4Koja su Izrailjci, kojijeh je posinaštvo i slava, i zavjet i zakon, i bogomoljstvo, i obeæanja; 5Kojijeh su i oci, i od kojijeh je Hristos po tijelu, koji je nad svima Bog blagosloven vavijek. Amin.
18Dok on tako govoraše njima, gle, knez nekakav doðe i klanjaše mu se govoreæi: kæi moja sad umrije; nego doði i metni na nju ruku svoju, i oživljeæe. 19I ustavši Isus za njim poðe i uèenici njegovi. 20I gle, žena koja je dvanaest godina bolovala od teèenja krvi pristupi sastrag i dohvati mu se skuta od haljine njegove. 21Jer govoraše u sebi: samo ako se dotaknem haljine njegove, ozdraviæu. 22A Isus obazrevši se i vidjevši je reèe: ne boj se, kæeri; vjera tvoja pomogla ti je. I ozdravi žena od toga èasa. 23I došavši Isus u dom knežev i vidjevši sviraèe i ljude zabunjene 24Reèe im: otstupite, jer djevojka nije umrla, nego spava. I potsmijevahu mu se. 25A kad istjera ljude, uðe, i uhvati je za ruku, i usta djevojka. 26I otide glas ovaj po svoj zemlji onoj.
After helping to establish Orthodoxy among the Karelian Finns, they founded the famous Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga in northern Russia. Both reposed in the same year.
Saint John of Damascus (December 4), the great defender of Orthodoxy against the iconoclasts, was falsely accused of plotting against the Caliph of Damascus through the intrigues of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian (reigned 717-741). The Caliph ordered St John’s hand to be cut off for his suspected treachery. The saint asked for the severed hand, and passed the night praying fervently for aid before an icon of the most holy Theotokos. Waking in the morning, he found his hand miraculously restored, with only a scar around the wrist where it had been completely severed. In thanksgiving, St John had a silver hand mounted on the icon. When he became a monk in the monastery of St Sabbas in the Holy Land, he took the icon with him. It remained there until it was given to St Sabbas (Sava) of Serbia (January 14), who brought it to Serbia. Later it was miraculously taken to the Hilandar Monastery on the Holy Mountain (carried, according to legend, from Serbia to Mt Athos by an unguided donkey), where it may now be found.
They are counted among the Unmercenary Physicians. For their lives, see January 31.
“A great ascetic and wonderworker of the Egyptian desert, he was a contemporary of Patriarch Theophilus and the Emperor Theodosius the Great. He is called ‘the Standard-Bearer’ because he once helped the Emperor Theodosius to gain a victory over enemy forces by his prayers. When the Emperor summoned him to Constantinople, he replied that he was unable to go, but sent his torn and patched monastic habit and his staff. Going out to battle, the Emperor put on Sennuphius’s habit and carried his staff in his hand, and returned victorious from the battle.” (Prologue)