Commemoration of the Miracle of Great-martyr Euphemia the All-praised, of Chalcedon (451).
Blessed Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, princess of Russia, named Helen in holy baptism (969).
Hieromartyr Cindeus, priest, of Pamphylia (283-305). St. Arcadius, monk, of Vyazma (ca. 1592).
Martyrs Januarius and Pelagia, of Nicopolis in Armenia (ca. 310). St. Drostan of Old Deer and Aberdeen (Scotland) (6th c.). St. Nicodemus of Hilandar and Vatopedi, Mt. Athos, instructor of St. Gregory Palamas (1320). New Martyr Nicodemus of Elbasan and Mt. Athos (1722). New Monk-martyr Nectarius of St. Anne’s Skete, Mt. Athos, at Vryoulla, Ephesus (1820). St. Cyril, monk, of Paros (1833). New Hieromartyrs Momcilo Grgurevic, Dobroslav Blazenovic, Milan Bozic, Mihailo Djusic, Jovan Zecevic, Bozidar Jovic, Bogdan Lalic, Trifun Maksimovic, Velimir Mijatovic, Bozidar Minic, Miladin Minic, Marko Popovic, Dimitrije Rajanovic, Budimir Sokolovic, Relja Spahic, Lazar Culibrk, Savo Siljac, Savo Skaljka, Milorad Vukojicic, Ratomir Jankovic, Mihailo Jevdjevic, Dusan Prijovic, Dobrosav Sokovic, Nestor Trkulja, Serafim Dzaric, Andrija Siljak, Slobodan Siljak, and Jovan Rapajic, priests, of Serbia (1941-1945). St. Leo, monk, of Mandra (Gr. Cal).
Repose of cave-dweller Anastasia of St. Cornelius of Padan Hermitage in Olonets (1901), and slaying of Sarah al-Moutari of Barida, Saudi Arabia (2008).
Friday. [I Cor. 11:8-22; Matt. 17:10-18]
Concerning John the Baptist the Lord said: Elias
is come already, and they knew him not. Why was
this? Because they did not heed the paths of God and were
not interested in them: they had a different mentality,
different tastes, different views on things. Outside the
range of Divine things, their shrewdness was in play, but
within this range they did not understand anything due to
their estrangement from it. One’s inner mentality
forms a feeling for things, which immediately notices and
determines what is familiar to it, no matter how concealed
it may be. An artist, scientist and economist look at one
thing with equal attention, but each makes a judgment
about it in his own way—one according to its beauty,
the second according to causal relations, the third
according to gains from it. So with the Jews: as was their
disposition, so they judged about John, and then about the
Saviour; but since they were disposed not according to
God, they did not understand them, who carried out the
work of God. Similarly, now people have begun to not
understand the Forerunner and the Lord—and do with
them what they like. A hidden persecution of Christianity
has arisen, which has begun to openly break through, like
recently in Paris. What was done there on a small scale,
is what we must expect with time in big
proportions…Save us, O Lord!