Acts 10.44-11.10 (Epistle)

44A dok još Petar govoraše ove rijeèi, siðe Duh sveti na sve koji slušahu rijeè. 45I udiviše se vjerni iz obrezanja koji bijahu došli s Petrom, videæi da se i na neznabošce izli dar Duha svetoga. 46Jer ih slušahu gdje govorahu jezike, i velièahu Boga. Tada odgovori Petar: 47Eda može ko vodu zabraniti da se ne krste oni koji primiše Duha svetoga kao i mi? 48I zapovjedi im da se krste u ime Isusa Hrista. Tada ga moliše da ostane kod njih nekoliko dana.

1A èuše i apostoli i braæa koji bijahu u Judeji da i neznabošci primiše rijeè Božiju. 2I kad iziðe Petar u Jerusalim, prepirahu se s njim koji bijahu iz obrezanja, 3Govoreæi: ušao si k ljudima koji nijesu obrezani, i jeo si s njima. 4A Petar poèevši kazivaše im redom govoreæi: 5Ja bijah u gradu Jopi na molitvi, i došavši izvan sebe vidjeh utvaru, gdje silazi sud nekakav kao veliko platno na èetiri roglja i spušta se s neba, i doðe do preda me. 6Pogledavši u nj opazih i vidjeh èetvoronožna zemaljska, i zvjerinje i bubine i ptice nebeske. 7A èuh glas koji mi govori: ustani, Petre! pokolji i pojedi. 8A ja rekoh: nipošto, Gospode! jer ništa pogano i neèisto nikad ne uðe u usta moja. 9A glas mi odgovori drugom s neba govoreæi: što je Bog oèistio ti ne pogani. 10A ovo bi triput; i uze se opet sve na nebo.

John 8.21-30 (Gospel)

21A Isus im opet reèe: ja idem, i tražiæete me; i pomrijeæete u svojemu grijehu; kud ja idem vi ne možete doæi. 22Tada rekoše Jevreji: da se neæe sam ubiti, što govori: kud ja idem vi ne možete doæi? 23I reèe im: vi ste od nižijeh, ja sam od višijeh; vi ste od ovoga svijeta, ja nijesam od ovoga svijeta. 24Tako vam kazah da æete pomrijeti u grijesima svojima; jer ako ne uzvjerujete da sam ja, pomrijeæete u grijesima svojima. 25Tada mu govorahu: ko si ti? I reèe im Isus: poèetak, kako vam i kažem. 26Mnogo imam za vas govoriti i suditi; ali onaj koji me posla istinit je, i ja ono govorim svijetu što èuh od njega. 27Ne razumješe dakle da im govoraše za oca. 28A Isus im reèe: kad podignete sina èovjeèijega, onda æete doznati da sam ja, i da ništa sam od sebe ne èinim; nego kako me nauèi otac moj onako govorim. 29I onaj koji me posla sa mnom je. Ne ostavi otac mene sama; jer ja svagda èinim što je njemu ugodno. 30Kad ovo govoraše, mnogi ga vjerovaše.

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.