St. Hilarion the Great, of Gaza (371-372). Translation of the relics of St. Hilarion, bishop of Meglin, Bulgaria (1206).
Martyrs Dasius, Gaius, and Zoticus, at Nicomedia (303). St. Hilarion, metropolitan of Kiev (ca. 1055). Sts. Theophilus and James, monks of Konevits, founders of Dormition Monastery at Omutch (Pskov) (ca. 1412). St. Hilarion, founder of Pskovoezersk Monastery (Gdov) (1476).
New Hieromartyrs Paulinus (Kroshechkin), archbishop of Mogilev, and Arcadius (Yershov), bishop of Ekaterinburg, and with them Anatole Levitsky and Nicander Chernelevsky, priests, and New Martyr Cyprian Annikov (1937). New Hieromartyr Damian (Voskresensky), archbishop of Kursk (1937). New Hieromartyrs Constantine Chekalov, Sergius Smirnov, Basil Kozyrev, Theodore Belyaev, Vladimir Vvedensky, Nicholas Raevsky, John Kozyrev, Basil Nikolsky, Alexander Bogoyavlensky, Demetrius Troitsky, and Alexis Moskvin, priests, and Sergius Kazansky and John Melnitsky, deacons, all of the Tver diocese (1937). New Hieromartyr Alexis (Bui), bishop of Voronezh (1930). New Hieromartyrs Neophytus (Osipov), archimandrite, of Moscow, and Sophronius (Nesmeyanov), hieromonk, of Lozeva (Tver) (1937).
Hieromartyr Socrates, priest, and Martyr Theodote, of Ancyra (ca. 230). St. Ursula and her companions, martyrs at Cologne (beg. of 4th c.). St. Fintan Munnu of Teachmunnu (Ireland) (635). The 63 Martyrs of Jerusalem: Pegasus, Neophytus, Acacius, Dorotheus, Stephen, Dometius, Herman, Dionysius, Epiphanius, Stratonicus, Leontius, Emmanuel, Theophilus, Elias, John, Samuel, Eulampius, Alexius, Photius, Eutrepius, Methodius, Chariton, Theophylactus, Anastasius, Andronicus, Symeon, Theoktistus, Romanus, Paul, Agathonicus, Minas, Athanasius, Jacob, Nicephorus, Porphyrius, Timothy, Irenarchus, Auxentius, Joseph, Gregory, Callinicus, Aaron, Cyriacus, Theodosius, Eustathius, Isaac, Alexander, Eleutherius, Adrian, Christophor, Antiochus, Isidore, Parthenius, Sergius, Euplus, Ignatius, Theophanes, Cyril, Zachariah, and Anthimus (724). St. Malathgeny of Cluain-Edneach (Ireland) (767). Translation of the relics of St. Christodulus the Wonderworker, of Patmos (1093). St. Philotheus of Neapolis and Mt. Athos (14th c.). Sts. Bessarion (Sarai), hieromonk (1745), and Sophronius of Ciorara, monk (ca. 1765), confessors, and St. Oprea of Salistie (18th c.), martyred by the Latins in Romania. New Martyr John of Monemvasia, at Larissa (1773). Hiero-confessors John of Gales, and Moses (Macinic), priests, of Sibiel (Transylvania) (18th c.).
Repose of Schema-archimandrite Herman (Bogdanov) of New Valaam Monastery in Siberia (1938) and Schemanun Seraphima (Bobkova) of Shamordino Convent (1990).
Tuesday. [Col. 2:20-3:3; Luke 9:23-27]
Do not be ashamed to confess the Lord Jesus Christ
as the incarnate Son of God who redeemed us through His
death on the cross, who through His resurrection and
ascension opened for us the entrance into the Kingdom of
heaven. If you shall be ashamed, then He shall be ashamed
of you, When he shall come in His own glory, and in His
Father’s, and of the holy Angels. Now in society
there is a trend to not talk at all about the Lord and
about salvation, whereas in the beginning these dear
subjects were all that people talked about. One’s
talk more readily flows from the place where the heart
abides. Can it really be that people’s hearts abide
less with the Lord? Judging from the talk, this must be
the case. Some do not know Him at all, others are cold
towards Him. Fearing encounters with such people, even
those who are warm towards the Lord do not direct the
conversation towards Him, and the priesthood is silent.
Now, talk about the Lord and Saviour and about our main
concern—salvation—is excluded from the circle
of talk acceptable in society. What, you say, are we
really supposed to talk only about that? Why only about
that? One can talk about anything, but in a way that is
shaded by the spirit of Christ. Then it would be possible
to guess whether the speaker is Christian or pagan. Now,
however, it is impossible to guess what they are, neither
by their talk, nor by their writings. Look through all the
periodicals—what don’t they write there? But
nobody wants to make Christian conversation. What a
complicated time!
Wednesday. [Col. 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:44-50]
Whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth Him that sent
Me, said the Lord, while He that sent Him is God.
Consequently, whosoever confesses the Lord, confesses God;
whereas whosoever does not confess Him, does not confess
God. You will say: I confess Christ to be a great, most
wise, universal teacher. No, confess Him as He Himself
speaks of Himself, that He and the Father are one, persons
of one Divine nature, separate, but one in honour and
coreigning. If one does not confess thus, no matter how
much he has honoured the Lord, it is the same as if he
does not confess Him; while not being His confessor, he
does not confess the Father either, he does not confess
God. That is why, no matter what displays you make of
honouring God, you do not honour Him if you do not confess
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Only-Begotten Son of God,
incarnate for our sake, and Who saved us through His death
on the cross. It is not all the same which God one
confesses as long as one confesses: those who worship the
sun and stars, or invented creatures, are not called
honourers of God, because they did not consider as God
what is God. Thus, whosoever does not confess the Lord is
not an honourer of God, because he does not confess the
God who is the true God. The true God does not exist
without the Son co-eternal and co-unoriginate. Therefore,
once you cease to confess the Son, you no longer confess
the true God. Only God will discern what your confession
is worth; but since for us God is revealed as the true
God, apart from this revelation one cannot have the true
God.