Translation of the relics of Apostle Bartholomew from Anastasiopolis to Lipari (580). Holy Apostle Titus of the Seventy (1st c.).
St. Menas, patriarch of Constantinople (552). Sts. Barses (378) and Eulogius (ca. 386), bishops of Edessa, and St. Protogenes, bishop of Carrhae (ca. 387), confessors.
New Hieromartyr Moses (Kozhin), hieromonk of Solovki Monastery (1931).
Martyr Genesius of Arles (3rd c.). Sts. John the Cappadocian (520), and Epiphanius (535), patriarchs of Constantinople. St. Aredius of Limousin (Gaul) (591). St. Ebba the Elder, abbess, of Coldingham, Northumbria (683). St. John, bishop of Carpathos (7th c.). St. Gregory, abbot, of St. Martin Monastery in Utrecht (775). Translation of the relics of St. Hilda of Whitby (ca. 860). Synaxis of Hierarchs of Crete: Andrew, archbishop (740); Cyril (ca. 303) and Eumenius (7th c.), bishops of Gortyna.
Repose of Abbess Magdalene of Sevsk Convent (1848), Monk Benjamin of Valaam (1848), and Abbot Nikon (Vorobiev) of Gzhatsk (1963).
Monday. [Gal. 2:11-16; Mark 5:24-34]
The woman with the issue of blood had
only to touch the Lord with faith, and power went out of
the Lord into her: straightway the fountain of her
blood was dried up. The issue of blood is an image of
passionate thoughts and intentions, incessantly springing
forth from the heart, if it has not yet been cleansed from
all sympathy to sin—this is our sinful disease. It
is sensed by those who have repented and zealously strive
to keep themselves pure not only outwardly, but inwardly
as well. Such people see that evil thoughts incessantly
proceed from the heart, and they grieve over this and seek
healing. But it is not possible to find such healing in
oneself or others; it comes from the Lord, or more
precisely, it comes when the soul touches the Lord and
power goes out of the Lord into the soul. In other words,
it comes when tangible contact with the Lord occurs, to
which a particular warmth and inner burning testifies.
When it happens, I say, immediately the soul feels that it
“was healed of that plague.” This is a great
good; but how can it be attained? The woman with the issue
of blood pressed towards the Lord and received
healing—we too must press towards the Lord, going
without laziness by the narrow way of inner and outer
spiritual endeavours. Everything is narrow and pressing
for those who go by this way, and the Lord is not in
sight. But then suddenly there is the Lord. And joy! The
Kingdom of God does not come noticeably…