Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9 (Vespers)

Wisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3 (Vespers)

Wisdom of Solomon 4.7-15 (Vespers)

Matthew 28.16-20 (1st Matins Gospel)

16A jedanaest uèenika otidoše u Galileju u goru kuda im je kazao Isus. 17I kad ga vidješe, pokloniše mu se; a jedni posumnjaše. 18I pristupivši Isus reèe im govoreæi: dade mi se svaka vlast na nebu i na zemlji. 19Idite dakle i nauèite sve narode krsteæi ih va ime oca i sina i svetoga Duha, 20Uèeæi ih da sve drže što sam vam zapovijedao; i evo ja sam s vama u sve dane do svršetka vijeka. Amin.

Ephesians 4.7-13 (Epistle, Sunday after Theophany)

7A svakome se od nas dade blagodat po mjeri dara Hristova. 8Zato govori: izišavši na visinu zaplijenio si plijen, i dade dare ljudima. 9A što iziðe, šta je, osim da i siðe u najdonja mjesta zemlje? 10Koji siðe to je onaj koji i iziðe više sviju nebesa da ispuni sve. 11I on je dao jedne apostole, a jedne proroke, a jedne jevanðeliste, a jedne pastire i uèitelje, 12Da se sveti priprave za djelo službe, na sazidanje tijela Hristova; 13Dokle dostignemo svi u jedinstvo vjere i poznanje sina Božijega, u èovjeka savršena, u mjeru rasta visine Hristove;

2 Corinthians 4.6-15 (Epistle, St Theodosius)

6Jer Bog koji reèe da iz tame zasvijetli vidjelo, zasvijetli u srcima našima na svjetlost poznanja slave Božije u licu Isusa Hrista. 7Ali ovo blago imamo u zemljanijem sudovima, da premnoštvo sile bude od Boga a ne od nas. 8U svemu imamo nevolje, ali nam se ne dosaðuje; zbunjeni smo, ali ne gubimo nada; 9Progone nas, ali nijesmo ostavljeni; obaljuju nas, ali ne ginemo. 10I jednako nosimo na tijelu smrt Gospoda Isusa, da se i život Isusov na tijelu našemu pokaže. 11Jer mi živi jednako se predajemo na smrt za Isusa, da se i život Isusov javi na smrtnome tijelu našemu. 12Zato dakle smrt vlada u nama, a život u vama. 13Imajuæi pak onaj isti duh vjere kao što je napisano: vjerovah, zato govorih; mi vjerujemo, zato i govorimo. 14Znajuæi da æe onaj koji podiže Isusa, i nas podignuti s Isusom, i postaviti s vama. 15Jer je sve vas radi, da blagodat umnožena izobiluje hvalama na slavu Božiju.

Matthew 4.12-17 (Gospel, Sunday after Theophany)

12A kad èu Isus da je Jovan predan, otide u Galileju. 13I ostavivši Nazaret doðe i namjesti se u Kapernaumu primorskome na meði Zavulonovoj i Neftalimovoj, 14Da se zbude što je rekao Isaija prorok govoreæi: 15Zemlja Zavulonova i zemlja Neftalimova, na putu k moru s one strane Jordana, Galileja neznabožaèka. 16Ljudi koji sjede u tami, vidješe vidjelo veliko, i onima što sjede na strani i u sjenu smrtnome, zasvijetli vidjelo. 17Od tada poèe Isus uèiti i govoriti: pokajte se, jer se približi carstvo nebesko.

Matthew 11.27-30 (Gospel, St Theodosius)

27Sve je meni predao otac moj, i niko ne zna sina do otac; niti oca ko zna do sin i ako kome sin hoæe kazati. 28Hodite k meni svi koji ste umorni i natovareni, i ja æu vas odmoriti. 29Uzmite jaram moj na sebe, i nauèite se od mene; jer sam ja krotak i smjeran u srcu, i naæi æete pokoj dušama svojijem. 30Jer je jaram moj blag, i breme je moje lako.

Our Holy Father Theodosius the Cenobiarch (519)

“This Saint had Cappadocia as his homeland. He lived during the years of Leo of Thrace, who reigned from 457 to 474. The Saint established in the Holy Land a great communal monastery wherein he was the shepherd of many monks. While Saint Sabbas was the head of the hermits of Palestine, Saint Theodosius was governor of those living the cenobitic life, for which reason he is called the Cenobiarch. Together with Saint Sabbas, towards whom he cherished a deep brotherly love in Christ, he defended the whole land of Palestine from the heresy of the Monophysites, which was championed by the Emperor Anastasius and might very well have triumphed in the Holy Land without the opposition of these two great monastic fathers and their zealous defence of the holy Council of Chalcedon. Having lived for 103 years, he reposed in peace.” (Great Horologion)

The Venerable Vitalis (5th c.)

He lived for many years as a monk in Palestine, then went to Alexandria to labor for the salvation of women living as prostitutes. He worked with his hands by day, keeping only a tenth of his earnings for himself. By night, he would take the rest of his earnings to the prostitutes’ quarter and offer his money to one of them, on condition that she would not give herself up to sin that night, but instead stay with him, praying all night for his salvation. When he left her, he would make her promise to tell no one of this arrangement. Not surprisingly, complaints soon reached the Patriarch, St John the Merciful (November 12) about this monk who was causing scandal by his immoral life; but the Patriarch, discerning Vitalis’ heart, did nothing. When St Vitalis died, a writing tablet was found near his body, on which was written: “Inhabitants of Alexandria, judge not before the time, until the coming of the Day of the Lord.” Then many women who had been converted from an immoral life by the Saint came forward and told of his good deeds. The people of Alexandria honored him with a lavish funeral.

Saint Vitalis shows us in at least two ways that the wisdom of the holy is foolishness to the world: He never sought to justify himself in the eyes of the world, but on the contrary did everything he could to hide his virtues; and, for all his holiness, he counted himself more sinful than the “fallen,” asking them to pray for his salvation.

Venerable Michael of Klops, Fool for Christ (1456)

In 1412, the monks of the Monastery of Klops (near Novgorod) found an unknown man, dressed as a monk, in the church, reading from the Epistles by candle-light. After the service they found him writing in one of the cells. He would not identify himself, but only repeated the questions that they asked him. They were about to eject him from the monastery, but the abbot, who was gifted with spiritual discernment, ordered that he be given a cell and allowed to remain. From that day on he lived in strict obedience and ascesis — he would eat only bread and water on Sundays, keeping a complete fast the rest of the week — but would never reveal his name or background.

In 1419 Prince Constantine Dimitrievitch, brother of Basil I, Grand Prince of Moscow, visited the monastery. During the meal, the still-unknown monk was assigned to read from the Lives of the Saints, and Prince Constantine immediately recognized him as Michael, son of his cousin Maxim, who had disappeared without a trace many years earlier. Constantine revealed his identity to the abbot; this same Constantine later became a monk himself.

Monk Michael lived for many more years at the monastery. In later years he was granted gifts of prophecy: once, meeting a young boy in the street, he accurately predicted that the boy would become Archbishop Jonas; he foretold the deaths of princes and archbishops, and predicted, years before the fact, that Novgorod would lose its independence. He reposed in peace in 1456.