1 John 3.21-4.6 (Epistle)

21Ljubazni! ako nam srce naše ne zazre, slobodu imamo pred Bogom; 22I što god zaištemo, primiæemo od njega, jer zapovijesti njegove držimo i èinimo što je njemu ugodno. 23I ovo je zapovijest njegova da vjerujemo u ime sina njegova Isusa Hrista, i da ljubimo jedan drugoga kao što nam je dao zapovijest. 24I koji drži zapovijesti njegove u njemu stoji, i on u njemu. I po tom poznajemo da stoji u nama, po Duhu koga nam je dao.

1Ljubazni! ne vjerujte svakome duhu, nego kušajte duhove jesu li od Boga; jer mnogi lažni proroci iziðoše na svijet. 2Po ovome poznajte Duha Božijega, i duha lažnoga; svaki duh koji priznaje da je Isus Hristos u tijelu došao, od Boga je; 3A svaki duh koji ne priznaje da je Isus Hristos u tijelu došao, nije od Boga: i ovaj je antihristov, za kojega èuste da æe doæi, i sad je veæ na svijetu. 4Vi ste od Boga, djeèice, i nadvladaste ih, jer je veæi koji je u vama negoli koji je na svijetu. 5Oni su od svijeta, zato govore od svijeta, i svijet ih sluša. 6Mi smo od Boga; koji poznaje Boga sluša nas, a koji nije od Boga ne sluša nas. Po ovom poznajemo duha istine i duha prijevare.

Mark 14.43-15.1 (Gospel)

43I odmah dok on još govoraše, doðe Juda, jedan od dvanaestorice, i s njim ljudi mnogi s noževima i s koljem od glavara sveštenièkijeh i od književnika i starješina. 44I izdajnik njegov dade im znak govoreæi: koga ja cjelivam onaj je: držite ga, i vodite ga èuvajuæi. 45I došavši odmah pristupi k njemu, i reèe: Ravi! ravi! i cjeliva ga. 46A oni metnuše ruke svoje na nj i uhvatiše ga. 47A jedan od onijeh što stajahu ondje izvadi nož te udari slugu poglavara sveštenièkoga, i otsijeèe mu uho. 48I odgovarajuæi Isus reèe im: kao na hajduka izišli ste s noževima i s koljem da me uhvatite, 49A svaki dan sam bio kod vas u crkvi i uèio, i ne uhvatiste me. Ali da se zbude pismo. 50I ostavivši ga uèenici svi pobjegoše. 51I za njim iðaše nekakav mladiæ ogrnut platnom po golu tijelu; i uhvatiše onoga mladiæa. 52A on ostavivši platno go pobježe od njih. 53I dovedoše Isusa k poglavaru sveštenièkome, i stekoše se k njemu svi glavari sveštenièki i književnici i starješine. 54I Petar ide za njim izdaleka do u dvor poglavara sveštenièkoga, i sjeðaše sa slugama, i grijaše se kod ognja. 55A glavari sveštenièki i sva skupština tražahu na Isusa svjedoèanstva da ga ubiju; i ne naðoše; 56Jer mnogi svjedoèahu lažno na njega i svjedoèanstva ne bijahu jednaka. 57I jedni ustavši svjedoèahu na njega lažno govoreæi: 58Mi smo èuli gdje on govori: ja æu razvaliti ovu crkvu koja je rukama naèinjena, i za tri dana naèiniæu drugu koja neæe biti rukama naèinjena. 59I ni ovo svjedoèanstvo njihovo ne bijaše jednako. 60I ustavši poglavar sveštenièki na srijedu zapita Isusa govoreæi: zar ništa ne odgovaraš što ovi na tebe svjedoèe? 61A on muèaše i ništa ne odgovaraše. Opet poglavar sveštenièki zapita i reèe: jesi li ti Hristos, sin blagoslovenoga? 62A Isus reèe: jesam; i vidjeæete sina èovjeèijega gdje sjedi s desne strane sile i ide na oblacima nebeskijem. 63A poglavar sveštenièki razdrije svoje haljine, i reèe: šta nam trebaju više svjedoci? 64Èuste hulu na Boga; šta mislite? A oni svi kazaše da je zaslužio smrt. 65I poèeše jedni pljuvati na nj, i pokrivati mu lice, i æušati ga, i govoriti mu: proreci; i sluge ga bijahu po obrazima. 66I kad bijaše Petar dolje na dvoru, doðe jedna od sluškinja poglavara sveštenièkoga, 67I vidjevši Petra gdje se grije pogleda na nj i reèe: i ti si bio s Isusom Nazareæaninom. 68A on se odreèe govoreæi: ne znam niti razumijem šta ti govoriš. I iziðe napolje pred dvor: i pijetao zapjeva. 69I opet kad ga vidje sluškinja, poèe govoriti onima što stajahu ondje: ovaj je od njih. 70A on se opet odricaše. I malo zatijem opet oni što stajahu ondje rekoše Petru: vaistinu si od njih: jer si Galilejac, i govor ti je onakovi. 71A on se poèe kleti i preklinjati: ne znam toga èovjeka za koga vi govorite. 72I drugi put zapjeva pijetao. I opomenu se Petar rijeèi što mu reèe Isus: dok pijetao dvaput ne zapjeva odreæi æeš me se triput. I stade plakati.

1I odmah ujutru uèiniše vijeæu glavari sveštenièki sa starješinama i književnicima, i sav sabor, i svezavši Isusa odvedoše ga i predadoše Pilatu.

Holy and Righteous Symeon the God-receiver and the Prophetess Anna

“There is an ancient tradition that the holy, righteous elder Symeon, who came from Egypt, was one of the Seventy learned Jews chosen in the days of the Pharoah Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 BC) for the task of rendering the Hebrew Bible into Greek, and that to Symeon was assigned the translation of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. When he reached the famous passage where the Prophet foretells the virgin birth of Christ, saying: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Is. 7:14), he was so perplexed that he took a penknife to erase the word ‘virgin’ in order to replace it by ‘young woman’. At that moment, an angel of God appeared and prevented him from altering the sacred text, explaining that what seemed impossible to him was, in fact, a prophecy of the coming into this world of the Son of God. To confirm the truth of this, he promised that Symeon would not see death until he had seen and touched the Messiah born of the Virgin. When, after many long years, Christ was brought into the Temple at Jerusalem by the All-Holy Mother of God, the Holy Spirit revealed to the Elder Symeon that the time of fulfilment of the promise had come. He hurried to the Temple and, taking the Child in his arms, he was able to say wholeheartedly to God: Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation (Luke 2:29). For indeed, the Elder Symeon was the living image of the ancient Israel of the Old Testament, which having awaited the coming of the Messiah was ready to fade away and give place to the light and truth of the Gospel. The relics of the holy and righteous Symeon were venerated at Constantinople in the church of St James, built at the time of the Emperor Justin.

“The prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, was eighty-four years old. Since the early death of her husband, she had spent her whole life in the Temple in hope of the coming of the Saviour. She is the pattern for holy widows, virgins and monks, who have freed themselves of worldly cares in order to dwell always in the Temple, offering their fasts, hymns and prayers in eager expectation of the Lord’s coming. And when, like Anna and Symeon, they have seen the indwelling Christ with the eyes of their heart and touched Him through their spiritual senses, they proclaim with joy and assurance to all mankind that the Saviour is still coming into the world: A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of His people Israel (Luke 2:32).” (Synaxarion)

The Synaxarion notes that the tradition that St Symeon was one of the Seventy is by no means universal among the Fathers. According to some, Symeon was the son of Hillel and father of Gamaliel, St Paul’s teacher. According to others, he was a righteous and devout Jew aged 112, neither a priest nor a Pharisee.

Our Father among the Saints, Nikolai (Nicholas), Archbishop and Enlightener of Japan (1912)

Born in Russia in 1836, he became one of the great Orthodox missionaries of modern times. As a boy, he resolved to become a missionary in the far East. With the counsel and blessing of Bishop Innocent of Siberia and Alaska, he went to Japan in 1861 and joined a small Russian mission there. Though the mission’s official purpose was to minister to the Russian consular community, the consul-general who invited Hieromonk Nikolai hoped to bring the light of the Orthodox Faith to the Japanese people as well. Realizing that he could only hope to convert the Japanese people if they understood one another well, Fr Nikolai immersed himself in the study of Japanese thought, culture and language. Over the course of his life he translated most of the Bible and most of the Orthodox services into Japanese, and became a fluent speaker of the language. He encountered much resistance: Preaching of Christian doctrine was officially banned in Japan, and a Samurai once approached him with the words “Foreigners must die!” It was this same Samurai who later became his first Japanese priest. In 1880 he was elevated to Bishop of Japan. During the Russo-Japanese war he remained in Japan and labored successfully to overcome nationalist strife that might have harmed or destroyed the Church in Japan. He encouraged all his Japanese faithful to pray for the Japanese armed forces, though he explained that as a Russian he could not do so, and excluded himself from all public services for the duration of the war. He sent Russian-speaking Japanese priests to the prison camps to minister to Russian prisoners of war. At the time of his repose in 1912, after forty-eight years in Japan, St Nikolai left a Cathedral, eight churches, more than 400 chapels and meeting houses, 34 priests, 8 deacons, 115 lay catechists, and 34,110 Orthodox faithful. The Church of Japan is now an autonomous Orthodox Church under the care of the Moscow Patriarchate.