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| 14th Week after Pentecost. Tone 4. |  Fast-free period.
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Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy (44). Martyr Bassa of Edessa and her sons Theognius, Agapius, and Pistus (305-311). 
St. Abramius, archimandrite, wonderworker of Smolensk (1220), and his disciple St. Ephraim (1238). St. Martha, schemanun of Diveyevo (1829).
St. Abramius the Lover of Labor, of the Near Caves in Kiev (12th c.-13th c.). New Hieromartyr Raphael, abbot, of Sisatovac Monastery, Serbia (1941) (Серб.). St. Cornelius, founder of Paleostrov Monastery (Karelia) (1420), and his disciple St. Abramius (15th c.).
New Hieromartyr Ignatius (Dalanov), hieromonk of Optina Monastery (1942).
Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (ca. 2000 b.c.). St. Avitus, bishop of Clermont (Gaul) (594). St. Sarmean, catholicos of Kartli, Georgia (774). St. Theocleta the Wonderworker, of Asia Minor (840). St. Isaiah of Mt. Athos (14th c.). Hieromartyrs Romulus, priest, and the deacons Donatus and Silvanus, and Martyr Venustus (Romania). New Hieromartyr Symeon, bishop of Samokov (Bulgaria) (1737). Translation of the relics of St. Nectarius (Kephalas), metropolitan of Pentapolis (1953).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Thursday. [Gal. 1:1-10, 20-2:5; Mark 5:1-20]
My name is Legion: for we are many. Spirits are bodiless, and therefore they do not fill or take up space like bodies. This explains why it is physically possible for many spirits to reside in one person. That it is possible morally on the part of the spirits is understandable from their amorality, or absence of all moral principles; while on the part of the person it is understandable from the many-sided contact of the constitution of one’s soul with the dismal realm of unclean powers. But this only explains what is possible; the reality of demonic possession is subject to conditions which we do not have the ability to determine. We can only say that spirits do not always enter in a visible way, and it is not always shown through the possessed person’s actions. There is an unseen, hidden demonic possession; there is also a power of spirits over minds, apart from the body, when the demons lead them wherever they wish, through passions working in them. People think that they are acting themselves, but they are actually the laughing-stocks of unclean powers. What can we do? Be a true Christian and no enemy power shall overcome you.