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August 5
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Tuesday |
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August 18
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12th Week after Pentecost.
Tone 2.
Успенский пост. |
 Monastic rule: cooked food, no oil.
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Forefeast of the Transfiguration. 
Martyr Eusignius of Antioch (362).
Hieromartyrs Antherus (236) and Fabian (250), popes of Rome. Martyr Pontius, at Cimella in Gaul (ca. 257). Righteous Nonna, mother of St. Gregory the Theologian (374). Monk-martyr Job the Gorge-dweller, on the Mezen River (Solovki) (1628). Martyrs Cantidius, Cantidian, and Sibelius, of Egypt (4th c.).
New Martyrs Eudocia Shikova and Novices Daria Timolina, Daria Siushinskaya, and Maria, of Puzo (1919). New Hieromartyr Simon (Shleyev), bishop of Ufa (1921).
Martyr Oswald, king of Northumbria (642). St. Euthymius, patriarch of Constantinople (917). New Martyr Christos of Preveza, at Kos (1668). St. Eugenius, monk, of Anatolia (1682). Uncovering of the relics of St. Arsenius the New, of Paros (1967).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Wednesday. [II Cor. 6:11-16; Mark 1:23-28]
The demon praised the Saviour, but the Saviour said to him: Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Demons never say anything or do anything with a good purpose—they always have something evil in mind. So it was here. The Lord, not exposing their crafty designs, decided it with a word: hold thy peace and come out. He did not want to converse long with an evil spirit. Here is a lesson for us. A person manages to do very little of something good before a demon sits nearby and begins to trumpet in his ears: “You are this and that.” Do not listen and do not enter into conversation with this flatterer, but immediately say point blank: “Hold thy peace and come out,” and erase his tracks with sighs and self-reproach, then incense that place where he was with contrite prayer. He wants to give rise to self-opinion and self esteem, and to fan self-praise and vainglory from them—all of those thoughts and feelings are the spiritual life the same as thieves in everyday life. Like thieves that enter a house to rob its goods, so these demons, taking root in a soul, destroy all that is good in that soul and cast it away, so that nothing remains for the Lord to praise later.
Tuesday. [II Cor. 5:15-21; Mark 1:16-22]
The Lord taught in the Capernaum synagogue, and everyone marvelled at His teaching: for He taught them as one that had authority, and not as the Scribes. This authority is not a commanding tone, but the power of influence on souls and hearts. His Word entered within, and bound itself to human consciences, showing that all was as He said. This is how a word which is imbued with Divine power, a word from the Spirit, or an anointed word always is. This is how it was with the holy apostles, and after them, with all influential teachers. They spoke not from learnedness, but as the spirit gave them the gift of prophesy. It is a gift of God which can only be acquired through labors to master it in one’s heart and life, and not just by learning. Wherever this occurs the word is imbued with cogency, because it moves from heart to heart; in this is the power of the word over souls. Scribes, speaking and writing from their learnedness, are not given such power, because they speak from their head and mix into their head their own philosophizing. Life is not found in the head, but only life’s surface. Life is in the heart, and only what comes forth from the heart can influence the currents of life.