ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar 2016
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Old Style
July 17
Saturday
New Style
July 30
6th Week after Pentecost. Tone 4.
Fast-free period.

Совершается служба на шестьGreat-martyr Marina (Margaret) of Antioch in Pisidia (4th c.).

St. Irenarchus, abbot, of Solovki (1628). St. Leonid, founder of Ust-Neduma Monastery (Vologda) (1654). Translation of the relics of St. Lazarus the Wonderworker, of Mt. Galesion near Ephesus. St. Timothy, fool-for-Christ, of Svyatogorsk, near Pskov (1563). Glorification (1996) and translation of the relics (2000) of St. Gabriel of Seven Lakes Monastery (Kazan) and Pskov-Eleazar Monastery (Pskov).

Martyrs Speratus and his companions: Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda, at Scilli, near Carthage (180). Child-martyr Prince Kenelm of Wales (ca. 821). St. Euphrasius of Ionopolis, bishop (Gr. Cal).

Slaying of Bishop John (Bulin) of Pechersk (Pskov Caves) (1941).

Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Theophan the Recluse

Saturday. [Rom. 9:1-5; Matt. 9:18-26]

   The woman with the issue of blood said: If I may but touch His garment, (the Lord’s), I shall be whole, and she received healing according to her faith. We, the sensual, need physical contact in order to receive intangible strength. The Lord arranged things this way. His holy Church has a visible structure. Its various parts embrace us and we touch them. The power of God, found inside the Church, is received through such contact by those who have a receiver—faith, which says: “If I may but touch, I shall be made whole.” The Church is the body and garment of the Lord. The most visible parts, which we touch, are the Divine Mysteries, particularly baptism and Chrismation, the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood in conjunction with the Sacrament of confession. But contact with all the other aspects can draw needed strength from the Lord, Who is everywhere. He sees each person who does this, and says to his heart, “Be bold, my child!” Free-thinkers, antagonistic toward the external rites of the Church, thus deprive themselves of the opportunity to enter into contact with the inner, divine, all-animating power. This is why they remain sick, and exhausting themselves with the flow of vain thoughts and feelings, they dry up spiritually and die.

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