دوم قرنتیان ۹.۱۲-۱۰.۷ (رساله)

۱۲انجام این خدمت، نه تنها نیازهای مقدسین را برآورده می‌سازد، بلکه به صورت سپاسگزاریهای بسیار حتی به سوی خدا سَرریز می‌شود. ۱۳به‌خاطر مُهر تأیید این خدمت بر زندگی شما، مردم خدا را برای اطاعتی که با اعتراف شما به انجیل مسیح همراه است تمجید خواهند کرد، و نیز برای سخاوتی که در کمک به آنها و به همه نشان می‌دهید. ۱۴آنان به‌خاطر فیض عظیم خدا که بر شماست، با علاقه و اشتیاق بسیار برای شما دعا خواهند کرد. ۱۵سپاس بر خدا برای عطای وصف‌ناپذیرش! ۱من، پولس، که در حضور شما ’زبونم‘ امّا به دور از شما ’جسور‘، با حلم و نرمش مسیح از شما استدعا دارم ۲و التماس می‌کنم که به هنگام آمدنم نزد شما ناگزیر نباشم با کسانی که می‌پندارند ما با میزانهای این دنیا زندگی می‌کنیم، با جسارت بسیار عمل کنم. ۳زیرا هرچند در این دنیا به سر می‌بریم، امّا به روش دنیوی نمی‌جنگیم. ۴چرا که اسلحۀ جنگ ما دنیوی نیست، بلکه به نیروی الهی قادر به انهدام دژهاست. ۵ما استدلالها و هر ادعای تکبّرآمیز را که در برابر شناخت خدا قد علم کند ویران می‌کنیم و هر اندیشه‌ای را به اطاعت از مسیح اسیر می‌سازیم. ۶و در حالِ آماده‌باش هستیم، تا وقتی اطاعت خودِ شما کامل شود، هر نااطاعتی را به مجازات رسانیم. ۷شما تنها به ظواهر می‌نگرید. اگر کسی اطمینان دارد از آنِ مسیح است، باید در نظر داشته باشد که ما نیز به همان اندازه از آنِ مسیحیم.

مرقس ۳.۱۹-۲۷ (انجیل)

۱۹و یهودا اَسخَریوطی که عیسی را تسلیم دشمن کرد. ۲۰روزی دیگر عیسی به خانه رفت و باز جماعتی گرد آمدند، به گونه‌ای که او و شاگردانش را حتی مجال غذا خوردن نبود. ۲۱چون خویشان عیسی این را شنیدند، روانه شدند تا او را برداشته با خود ببرند، زیرا می‌گفتند: «از خود بی‌خود شده است.» ۲۲علمای دین نیز که از اورشلیم آمده بودند می‌گفتند: «‌بِعِلزِبول دارد و دیوها را به یاری رئیس دیوها بیرون می‌راند.» ۲۳پس عیسی آنها را فرا خواند و مَثَلهایی برایشان آورد و گفت: «چگونه ممکن است شیطان، شیطان را بیرون براند؟ ۲۴اگر حکومتی بر ضد خود تجزیه شود، نمی‌تواند پابرجا ماند. ۲۵نیز اگر خانه‌ای بر ضد خود تجزیه شود، آن خانه پابرجا نمی‌ماند. ۲۶شیطان نیز اگر بر ضد خود قیام کند و تجزیه شود، نمی‌تواند دوام آورد، بلکه پایانش فرا رسیده است. ۲۷به‌واقع هیچ‌کس نمی‌تواند به خانۀ مردی نیرومند درآید و اموالش را غارت کند، مگر اینکه نخست آن مرد را ببندد. پس از آن می‌تواند خانۀ او را غارت کند.

شهید ماماس قیصریه در کاپادوکیه (۲۷۵), و او والدین, شهیدان تئودوتوس و روفینا

He began his life in the cruelest of circumstances: both of his parents were imprisoned for their faith in Christ. First his father, Theodotus, died in prison, then his mother, Rufina, died shortly after his birth, so the infant was left alone in prison beside the bodies of his parents. But an angel appeared to the widow Ammia, telling her to go to the prison and rescue the child. Ammia obtained the city governor’s permission to bury the parents and bring the child home. He was called Mamas because he was mute until the age of five and his first word was `Mama’. Despite his late beginning, he showed unusual intelligence and, having been brought up in piety, soon openly proclaimed his Christian faith. When he was only fifteen years old he was arrested and brought before the Emperor Aurelian. The Emperor, perhaps seeking to spare the boy, told him to deny Christ only with his lips, and the State would not concern itself with his heart. Mamas replied `I shall not deny my God and King Jesus Christ either in my heart or with my lips.’ He was sent to be tortured, but miraculously escaped and lived in the mountains near Caesarea. There he lived in solitude and prayer and befriended many wild beasts. In time, he was discovered by the persecutors and stabbed to death with a trident by a pagan priest.

قدیس یوحنا چهارم, پاتریارک قسطنطنیه, شناخته شده به عنوان یوحنا روزه‌دار (۵۹۵)

He was born and raised in Constantinople. When he came of age he worked as a goldsmith and an engraver at the mint; but, renouncing worldly things, he was ordained a deacon and given charge of the distribution of alms in Constantinople. He gave freely to all with no consideration of their worthiness. The Synaxarion says ‘the more he distributed the more God filled his purse, so that it seemed inexhaustible.’

Upon the death of Patriarch Eutyches in 582, John became Patriarch and reigned for thirteen years, reposing in peace in 595. (It was during his reign that the term “Ecumenical Patriarch” began to be used to refer to the Patriarch of Constantinople.) St John was known for his great asceticism and fasting, and as a powerful intercessor and wonderworker. So generous was he to the poor that he used up all his funds in almsgiving and had to ask the Emperor for a loan, which he used to give more alms. After his repose, his only possessions were found to be an old cassock, a linen shirt and a wooden spoon.

مقدس اِلعازار, پسر هارون و دوم عالی کشیش اسرائیل

He was the son of Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel, and he in turn became the second High Priest. He reposed in peace.

آرامش هیرومونک سرافیم (رز) پلاتینا (۱۹۸۲). (۲۰ اوت ت.ق)

This modern-day pioneer of Orthodoxy and monasticism in America has not been glorified as a Saint of the Church, though many individuals ask his prayers and icons of him have been painted.

Eugene Rose was born in 1934 in California, where he spent all his life. Following an intense spiritual search that took him through study of several Eastern Religions (he earned a graduate degree in Chinese Philosophy), he providentially encountered the Russian Orthodox community in San Francisco, and in 1962 was received into the Orthodox Church. The sanctity of Archbishop (now Saint) John Maximovich was especially important to his development in the Faith.

After a few more years living in the world, he and his friend Gleb Podmosensky founded a small monastic brotherhood in the wilderness of far northern California; in time they were tonsured as monks and ordained as priests: Fr Seraphim and Fr Herman. At a time when Orthodoxy was almost invisible in North America, the monastery became a beacon of Orthodoxy for Americans seeking an authentic Christian faith.

Fr Seraphim reposed in 1982 at the age of forty-eight. Many of his writings are still in print. A biography, Father Seraphim Rose: His life and works, by Hieromonk Damascene, is highly recommended.