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| Fresco in the Cemetery Church of Saint Nicholas in Vevi of Florina, c. 1460 |
By St. Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis
The Oikos
The Oikos
From youth, wise one, with unwavering desire, you followed Christ, laboring diligently in the life-bearing commandments and divine precepts, appearing a proven laborer with utmost zeal, and with a heart inflamed by divine eros; for you renounced all worldly pursuits, and were seen competing with Angels in your steadfast self-control and every other virtue of a prudent ascetic discipline; and even further, being exalted to the Lord, you ascended a tree and entered into the shade of high contemplations, having been wholly purified, and you were divinized in the theurgic union. Therefore, Thessaloniki rejoices in you, and celebrates your memory crying out: O David, most genuine servant of God. From the divine gifts with which you have been enriched, grant us, O Venerable One, a share.
Ὁ Οἶκος
Ἀπὸ νεότητος σοφέ, ἀπεριτρέπτῳ πόθῳ, κατηκολούθησας Χριστῷ, τῶν ζωοφόρων ἐντολῶν, καὶ θείων προσταγμάτων, ἐργάτης δόκιμος φανείς, ὁλοτρόπῳ, σπουδῇ, καὶ φλεγομένῃ θείῳ ἔρωτι καρδίᾳ• πᾶσαν γὰρ ἠρνήσω του κόσμου προσπάθειαν, καὶ πρὸς Ἀγγέλους ἁμιλλωμένους ὤφθης συντόνῳ ἐγκρατείᾳ καὶ πάσῃ ἄλλῃ ἀρετῇ ἀσκητικῆς ἐμφρόνως ἀγωγῆς• καὶ ἔτι μεταρσιούμενος Κυρίῳ, ἐπὶ δένδρου ἀνῆλθες, καὶ πρὸς γνόφον ὑψηλῶν θεωριῶν εἰσῆλθες, ὅλος καθαρθείς, καὶ θεουργικῇ ἑνώσει ἐθεώθης, καὶ θείων χαρισμάτων ἐπληρώθης. Διὸ Θεσσαλονίκη ἐν σοὶ ἀγαλλιᾶται, καὶ τὴν σὴν ἑορτάζουσα μνήμην κραυγάζει, Δαβὶδ Θεοῦ θεράπων γνησιώτατε. Ἐκ τῶν θείων δωρεῶν ὧν κατετρύφησας, καὶ ἡμῖν μετάδος Ὅσιε.
