اعمال رسولان ۱۸.۲۲-۲۸ (رساله)

۲۲در قیصریه از کشتی فرود آمده، به اورشلیم رفت و پس از دیدار با کلیسا، راهی اَنطاکیه شد. ۲۳چندی در آنجا ماند و باز عازم سفر شده، در سرتاسر دیار غَلاطیه و فْریجیه جا به جا می‌گشت و همۀ شاگردان را استوار می‌کرد. ۲۴در آن ایام، فردی یهودی، آپولس نام، از مردمان اسکندریه، به اَفِسُس آمد. او سخنوری ماهر بود و دانشی وسیع از کتب مقدّس داشت؛ ۲۵در طریق خداوند آموزش یافته بود و با حرارت روح سخن می‌گفت و به‌دقّت دربارۀ عیسی تعلیم می‌داد، هرچند فقط از تعمید یحیی آگاهی داشت. ۲۶او دلیرانه در کنیسه به سخن گفتن آغاز کرد. چون پْریسکیلا و آکیلا سخنانش را شنیدند، او را به خانۀ خود بردند و طریق خدا را دقیقتر به وی آموختند. ۲۷چون آپولس قصد سفر به اَخائیه کرد، برادران تشویقش کردند و به شاگردان نوشتند که او را به‌گرمی پذیرا شوند. چون آپولس بدان‌جا رسید، کسانی را که به واسطۀ فیض ایمان آورده بودند، یاری فراوان داد. ۲۸زیرا پیش روی همگان با یهودیان مباحثه کرده، عقاید آنان را با دلایل قوی رد می‌کرد، و با استناد به کتب مقدّس ثابت می‌نمود که عیسی همان مسیح است.

یوحنا ۱۲.۳۶-۴۷ (انجیل)

۳۶تا زمانی که نور را دارید، به نور ایمان آورید تا فرزندان نور گردید.» چون این سخنان را گفت، از آنجا رفت و خود را از ایشان پنهان کرد. ۳۷با اینکه عیسی آیاتی چنین بسیار در برابر چشمان آنان به ظهور رسانیده بود، به او ایمان نیاوردند. ۳۸بدین‌سان سخنان اِشعیای نبی به حقیقت پیوست که گفته بود: «چه کسی، ای خداوند، پیام ما را باور کرده، و بازوی خداوند بر کِه مکشوف گشته است؟» ۳۹همان‌گونه که اِشعیای نبی خود در جایی دیگر بیان کرده است، آنان نتوانستند ایمان آورند، زیرا: ۴۰«او چشمان ایشان را کور، و دلهایشان را سخت کرده است، تا با چشمان خود نبینند، و با دلهای خود درنیابند، و بازگشت نکنند تا شفایشان بخشم.» ۴۱اِشعیا از آن رو این را بیان کرد که جلال او را دید و دربارۀ او سخن گفت. ۴۲با این همه، حتی بسیاری از بزرگان قوم نیز به عیسی ایمان آوردند، امّا از ترس فَریسیان، ایمان خود را اقرار نمی‌کردند، مبادا از کنیسه اخراجشان کنند. ۴۳زیرا تحسین مردم را بیش از تحسین خدا دوست می‌داشتند. ۴۴آنگاه عیسی ندا در داد و گفت: «هر که به من ایمان آوَرَد، نه به من، بلکه به فرستندۀ من ایمان آورده است. ۴۵هر که مرا دید، فرستندۀ مرا دیده است. ۴۶من چون نوری به جهان آمده‌ام تا هر که به من ایمان آوَرَد، در تاریکی نماند. ۴۷اگر کسی سخنان مرا بشنود، امّا از آن اطاعت نکند، من بر او داوری نمی‌کنم؛ زیرا نیامده‌ام تا بر جهانیان داوری کنم، بلکه آمده‌ام تا آنها را نجات بخشم.

کشیش‌شهید تراپون؛ انتقال ذخایر قدیس نیلوس استولبنسک (۲۵۹)

For boldly preaching Christ and bringing many to the Faith, he was seized and tortured by the pagans. After imprisoning and starving him, his persecutors bound him to four posts and flogged him until the flesh was stripped from his bones. But he remained alive, and the four dead posts to which he was tied sprouted into tall, green trees, from which many received healing. At last St Therapon was slain by the sword, during the reign of the Emperor Valerian.

شهیدان مقدس تئودورا و دیدیموس (۳۰۴)

“In the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximilian, there lived in Alexandria a maiden, Theodora, well-educated and of noble lineage. She was brought to trial before the pagans for her Christian faith. After long interrogation and torture for the Faith, the prince, her tormentor, ordered that she be thrown into a brothel and the soldiers given free access to her to indulge their carnal lusts. Theodora prayed fervently to God to save her from defilement, and, when she had prayed, a soldier called Didymus came in to her and told her that he was a servant of Christ. He dressed her in his soldier’s garb and himself in her dress, then let her out and remained in the brothel himself. He was seized and brought before the judge, where he acknowledged that he was a Christian and had saved Theodora, and was now prepared to die for Christ. He was condemned to death and taken out to the place of execution. Theodora ran up to him there and cried out: ‘Although you saved my honour, I did not ask you to save me from death. Yield the martyr’s death to me!’ Didymus replied: ‘My beloved sister, do not hinder my death for Christ, nor the washing of my sins in my blood.’ Hearing this exchange, the pagans condemned them both to death, and they were beheaded and their bodies burned. They suffered with honour and received eternal wreaths of glory in Alexandria in the year 304.” (Prologue)

مقدس جدید معترف یوحنا روسی (۱۷۳۰)

He was captured during a Russian campaign against the Turks in 1711, and sold into slavery in Asia Minor. As a slave he strove to serve God faithfully, while serving his earthly master in everything honorable. Despite many enticements offered by the Muslims to renounce his faith, he remained steadfast, and was permitted to work miracles through his prayers. He reposed in peace in 1730. His relics remained incorrupt.

قدیس داوود گارسجی (سده ۶)

“This David is one of the thirteen Georgian Fathers (May 7). He is thus named for the Garajeli desert near Tiflis, where he lived the ascetic life. In old age, David decided to visit the Holy Land with several of his disciples. He left the direction of the monastery to two elders, Lucian and Dodo, and set out on the way. When they came to a hill from which Jerusalem was visible, David burst into tears and said: ‘How can I dare to walk in the steps of God incarnate with these sinful feet?’, and he told his disciples to go and worship at the holy places, but he himself took up three stones and set off to return. But the Lord did not let such humility remain hidden from the world, and an angel appeared to Elias, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and said to him: ‘Send at once for the elder who is even now returning to Syria; he has taken with him three stones, and is carrying with him all the Holy Land’s grace. One stone is a sufficient blessing for him; let him return the other two to Jerusalem. He is called Abba David of Garesjei.’ The Patriarch quickly sent men off to overtake the elder. They took two stones from him, and let him go on his way. The third stone lies on his grave to this day, and possesses miraculous healing power.” (Prologue)

قابل احترام بید (بِدا) (۷۳۵)

He spent almost his entire life as a monk in England, and is known primarily for his many writings. He entered the monastery at Wearmouth at the age of seven, and later moved (perhaps as one of the founders) to the monastery of Jarrow, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was ordained to the priesthood in his thirtieth year. In addition to many works of biblical exegesis, very popular in the middle ages, he compiled the Ecclesiastical History, still the primary source for the history of Christianity’s establishment in the British isles. He reposed in peace.

A problem: Bede lived during the time of the undivided Church, but was only canonized, in the west, in 1899, centuries after the Great Schism. Presumably, then, he has never been formally glorified by the Orthodox Church. Is he a Saint of the Church? We leave the answer to wiser heads.