No Fast
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.
He was from the town of Dorostolon in Thrace and during the reign of Julian the Apostate became a servant of the governor in that region. Before the time of his martyrdom he was a secret Christian. An imperial legate arrived in the town with orders to seize all Christians, but failed to find any; to show his pleasure he ordered a great feast for the whole town, complete with sacrifices to the pagan gods. On the night before the appointed feast, Emilian went around the town and smashed all the idols with a hammer. The following day there was an uproar, and an innocent villager was seized and charged with the crime. Emilian, seeing this, said to himself ‘If I conceal my action, what sort of use has it been? Shall I not stand before God as the slayer of an innocent man?’ So he presented himself to the legate and confessed what he had done. When the furious official asked Emilian on whose orders he had acted, Emilian replied ‘God and my soul commanded me to destroy those dead pillars that you call gods.’ As punishment, Emilian was subjected to many tortures and finally burned alive.
Abba Pambo was a contemporary of St Anthony the Great and one of the greatest of the Desert Fathers. He would only eat bread which he had earned by his own labors, plaiting baskets and mats out of reeds. In his later years, he became in appearance like an angel of God: his face shone so that the monks could not look on it. Through long ascetic labor, he was enabled to control his tongue so that no unnecessary word ever passed his lips. He never gave an immediate answer to even the simplest question, but always prayed and pondered on the question first. Once, when Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, was visiting the monks, they begged Abba Pambo to give the Patriarch a word. He answered: ‘If my silence is no help to him, neither will my words be.’ He reposed in peace, some say in 374, others in 386.