Orthodox Calendar

8. јул 2027.
Thursday of the 3rd week after Pentecost

Apostles Fast — Wine and Oil are Allowed

Commemorations

  • Virgin-Martyr Febronia of Nisibis (310)
  • Our Holy Father Dionysios, founder of the Monastery of St John the Forerunner on Mt Athos (1380)

Scripture Readings

Romans 8.22-27 (Epistle)

22Jer znamo da sva tvar uzdiše i tuži s nama dosad. 23A ne samo ona, nego i mi koji novinu duha imamo, i mi sami u sebi uzdišemo èekajuæi posinjenja i izbavljenja tijelu svojemu. 24Jer se nadom spasosmo. A nad koji se vidi nije nad; jer kad ko vidi što, kako æe mu se nadati? 25Ako li se nadamo onome što ne vidimo, èekamo s trpljenjem. 26A tako i Duh pomaže nam u našijem slabostima: jer ne znamo za što æemo se moliti kao što treba, nego sam Duh moli se za nas uzdisanjem neiskazanijem. 27A onaj što ispituje srca zna što je misao Duha, jer po volji Božijoj moli se za svete.

Matthew 10.23-31 (Gospel)

23A kad vas potjeraju u jednom gradu, bježite u drugi. Jer vam kažem zaista: neæete obiæi gradova Izrailjevijeh dok doðe sin èovjeèij. 24Nema uèenika nad uèitelja svojega ni sluge nad gospodara svojega. 25Dosta je uèeniku da bude kao uèitelj njegov i sluzi kao gospodar njegov. Kad su domaæina nazvali Veelzevulom, akamoli domaæe njegove? 26Ne bojte ih se dakle; jer nema ništa sakriveno što se neæe otkriti, ni tajno što se neæe doznati. 27Što vam govorim u tami, kazujte na vidiku; i što vam se šapæe na uši, propovijedajte s krovova. 28I ne bojte se onijeh koji ubijaju tijelo a duše ne mogu ubiti; nego se bojte onoga koji može i dušu i tijelo pogubiti u paklu. 29Ne prodaju li se dva vrapca za jedan dinar? pa ni jedan od njih ne može pasti na zemlju bez oca vašega. 30A vama je i kosa na glavi sva izbrojena. 31Ne bojte se dakle; vi ste bolji od mnogo vrabaca.

Commemorations

Virgin-Martyr Febronia of Nisibis (310)

Though the daughter of a Roman senator and a great beauty, she fled the world and entered a monastery in Mesopotamia. (So great was her beauty that the abbess had her stand behind a screen while reading to her monastic sisters.) At that time the Emperor Diocletian sent a certain Selenus, along with his nephew Lysimachus, on a mission to find and destroy Christians in the East. Though Selenus was a fierce persecutor of the Christians, Lysimachus felt sympathy for them and secretly protected them whenever he could. Selenus and his party came to Nisibis, where Febronia’s virtue and holiness had already become well-known, though she was still only twenty years old. Selenus summoned her and made every effort to convince her to renounce her faith. When she stood firm, she was first viciously dismembered then beheaded. Lysimachus gathered her relics and took them to the monastery for burial. At the monastery he, together with many soldiers, were baptized. The holy Febronia’s relics worked many healings, and she herself appeared to the other nuns on the anniversary of her repose, standing in her usual place among her sisters. Her relics were translated to Constantinople in 363.

Our Holy Father Dionysios, founder of the Monastery of St John the Forerunner on Mt Athos (1380)

He was born in Koritza in Albania. His elder brother Theodosius went to the Holy Mountain and in time became abbot of the monastery of Philotheou. A few years later Dionysios followed his brother and became a monk under him at Philotheou. A heavenly light began to appear to Dionysios every night at the same place, some distance from his monastery. Believing that the light was a divine sign that he was to build a monastery, Dionysios left the Holy Mountain to seek the help of his brother (now Metropolitan of Trebizond) and the Emperor Alexios Comnenis. From the Emperor he received both money and a Royal Charter, which is still kept at the Monastery of St John the Forerunner, which Dionysios founded in 1380, and which is often referred to as the Dionysiou Monastery. Later, pirates plundered the monastery, and Dionysius went to Trebizond, where he reposed at the age of seventy-two.