Acts 1.1-8 (Epistle)

1Prvu sam ti knjigu napisao o svemu, o Teofile, što poèe Isus i tvoriti i uèiti 2Do dana kad se uznese, pošto Duhom svetijem zapovjedi apostolima koje izabra, 3Pred kojima i po stradanju svome pokaza sebe živa mnogijem i istinitijem znacima, i javlja im se èetrdeset dana, i govori o carstvu Božijemu. 4I sabravši ih zapovjedi im da ne idu iz Jerusalima, nego da èekaju obeæanje oèino, koje èuste, reèe, od mene; 5Jer je Jovan krstio vodom, a vi æete se krstiti Duhom svetijem ne dugo posle ovijeh dana. 6A oni onda koji zajedno bijahu, pitahu ga govoreæi: Gospode! hoæeš li sad naèiniti carstvo Izrailjevo? 7A on im reèe: nije vaše znati vremena i ljeta koje otac zadrža u svojoj vlasti; 8Nego æete primiti silu kad siðe Duh sveti na vas; i biæete mi svjedoci i u Jerusalimu i po svoj Judeji i Samariji i tja do kraja zemlje.

John 1.1-17 (Gospel)

1U poèetku bješe rijeè, i rijeè bješe u Boga, i Bog bješe rijeè. 2Ona bješe u poèetku u Boga. 3Sve je kroz nju postalo, i bez nje ništa nije postalo što je postalo. 4U njoj bješe život, i život bješe vidjelo ljudima. 5I vidjelo se svijetli u tami, i tama ga ne obuze. 6Posla Bog èovjeka po imenu Jovana. 7Ovaj doðe za svjedoèanstvo da svjedoèi za vidjelo da svi vjeruju kroza nj. 8On ne bješe vidjelo, nego da svjedoèi za vidjelo. 9Bješe vidjelo istinito koje obasjava svakoga èovjeka koji dolazi na svijet. 10Na svijetu bješe, i svijet kroza nj posta, i svijet ga ne pozna. 11K svojima doðe, i svoji ga ne primiše. 12A koji ga primiše dade im vlast da budu sinovi Božiji, koji vjeruju u ime njegovo, 13Koji se ne rodiše od krvi, ni od volje tjelesne, ni od volje muževlje, nego od Boga. 14I rijeè postade tijelo i useli se u nas puno blagodati i istine; i vidjesmo slavu njegovu, slavu, kao jedinorodnoga od oca. 15Jovan svjedoèi za njega i vièe govoreæi: ovaj bješe za koga rekoh: koji za mnom ide preda mnom postade, jer prije mene bješe. 16I od punosti njegove mi svi uzesmo blagodat za blagodaæu. 17Jer se zakon dade preko Mojsija, a blagodat i istina postade od Isusa Hrista.

Our Holy Father Nicetas the Confessor (824)

He was born in Caesarea of Bithynia. His widowed father became a monk, leaving Nicetas to the care of his grandmother. Nicetas himself, when he was grown, entered a monastery in Midikion, on the Sea of Marmara. After seven years of monastic life he was ordained hieromonk by Patriarch Tarasios. When Nikephoros, the abbot of the monastery, died, the brethren chose Nicetas as their new abbot.

When Leo the Armenian became Emperor, he revived the iconoclast heresy, even though it had been put down under the Empress Irene and condemned by an Ecumenical Council. The Emperor deposed and exiled the holy Patriarch Nicephoros, putting a heretic in his place. Nicetas, because he was known for his holiness and steadfast reverence for the holy icons, was imprisoned and tortured, but did not waver in his defense of Orthodoxy. Nicetas was taken from prison to prison, torture to torture, and exiled twice, until at last Leo the Armenian died and the Orthodox Emperor Michael came to the throne and freed all those imprisoned for Orthodoxy.

Once freed, Nicetas retired to a secluded hermitage near Constantinople, where he passed the remainder of his life in prayer and thanksgiving. When he died, his body was taken back to his monastery; during the journey, many of the sick who touched his holy body were healed.

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (886)

“Saint Joseph was from Sicily, the son of Plotinus and Agatha. Because Sicily had been subjugated by the Moslems, he departed thence and, passing from place to place, came with Saint Gregory of Decapolis (see Nov. 20) to Constantinople, where he endured bitter afflictions because of his pious zeal. Travelling to Rome, he was captured by Arab pirates and taken to Crete, whence he later returned to Constantinople. He became an excellent hymnographer and reposed in holiness shortly after 886 (according to some, it was in 883). The melismatic canons of the Menaion are primarily the work of this Joseph; they bear his name in the acrostic of the Ninth Ode. He also composed most of the sacred book known as the Paracletike, which complements the Octoechos. For this reason, Joseph is called par excellence the Hymnographer.” (Great Horologion)

The “bitter afflictions” which St Joseph suffered were probably due (judging from his dates) to his veneration of the holy icons.

Note: In the Slavic calendar he is commemorated on April 4.

Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa (1949) (March 21 OC)

Born in 1866, he married and had three children. In 1920, at the age of 54, he and his wife quietly separated and each entered monastic life. Eventually he became the spiritual father of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where, as a clairvoyant staretz, he also confessed thousands of laity. He said, “I am the storage room where people’s afflictions gather.” In imitation of his patron saint, he prayed for a thousand nights on a rock before an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He reposed in the Lord in 1949 and the Church of Russia glorified him in August of 2000. Thus his whole life as a monk was spent under Communist persecution.