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February 7
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Friday |
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February 20
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| Cheese-fare Week—no meat; fish and dairy allowed. Tone 3. |  Cheese-fare Week—no meat.
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St. Parthenius, bishop of Lampsacus on the Hellespont (4th c.). St. Luke of Mt. Steirion (ca. 946).
The 1,003 Martyrs of Nicomedia (303). St. Euthymius, monk of Glinsk Hermitage (1866).
New Hieromartyr Barlaam (Ryashentsev), archbishop of Perm (1942).
Hieromartyr Augulius, bishop of Augusta (ca. 305). Six Martyrs of Phrygia (ca. 305). St. Mastridia of Jerusalem, woman ascetic of the desert (ca. 580). New Martyr George of Alikianes on Crete (1867). St. Aprionus, bishop of Cyprus (Gr. Cal).
Repose of Archimandrite Gennadius, ascetic of the Roslavl Forests (1826), and commemoration of his disciple Abramius, desert-dweller of Whitehoof Convent (1868), and the latter’s spiritual daughter Abbess Alexandra (1883).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Friday.
So will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing, promises the Lord through the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 8:7–23). But under what condition? Under the condition that every man will speak the truth to his neighbour, that men will righteously sort out their affairs amongst themselves, that men will not remember wrongs in their hearts against their neighbour, that they will love no false oath, and will love truth and peace. If these conditions are met, says the Lord, they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness (Zech. 8:8), and His blessing shall spread among them. Then all strangers shall hear and say, “Let us go speedily to them to pray before the Lord, for we have heard that the Lord is with them (cf. Zech. 8:21–3). Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts (Zech. 8:22).
Thus did the high moral purity of the first Christians attract people and nations to the Lord. Those who live always according to the spirit of Christ are, without the use of words, the best preachers of Christ and the most convincing apostles of Christianity.