ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2017
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Преподобный Алексий, человек Божий Прп. Макарий Калязинский
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Old Style
March 17
Thursday
New Style
March 30
5th Week of Great Lent. Tone 7.
Великий пост.
Wine and oil allowed.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Alexis the Man of God, in Rome (411). Совершается служба со славословиемSt. Macarius, founder of Kalyazin Monastery (Tver) (1483).

Martyr Marinus the Soldier, at Caesarea in Palestine (260). St. Patrick, bishop of Armagh and enlightener of Ireland (451).

Hieromartyr Gabriel the Lesser, of Gareji, Georgia (1802). St. Ambrose, deacon, of Alexandria (400). St. Gertrude, abbess, of Nivelles (659). St. Beccan of Rhum (677). St. Withburga, solitary at Holkham and East Dereham (ca. 743). Monk-martyr Paul of Crete (767). St. Gurias, archbishop of Tauria and Simferopol (1882). St. Theosterictus the Confessor, abbot of Pelecete Monastery near Prusa (826).

Repose of Archbishop Tikhon (Troitsky) of San Francisco (1963).

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

Thursday.

A haughty spirit goeth before a fall (Prov. 16:18).[1] Therefore, do not allow evil thoughts to come in, and there will be no falls. And yet what are people most careless about? About their thoughts. They allow them to seethe as much and however they like, not even thinking to subdue them, or to direct them to rational pursuits. Meanwhile, within this inner turmoil the enemy approaches, places evil in the heart, seduces it and inclines it toward evil. And the person unnoticeably prepares himself for evil. It remains for him to either carry out the evil fixed to his heart, or to struggle with it. But this is our sorrow: that almost nobody takes on the struggle; while all are led to the evil as if bound.

[1] The Slavonic for Prov. 16:18 reads: Evil thoughts go before a fall. Probably St. Theophan used the Slavonic version as he wrote, but the editor used the Russian version, and so the editor added the words, “evil thoughts” in parentheses in my version of the text).

Articles

Venerable Alexis the Man of God

The parents sought the missing Alexis everywhere, but without success. The servants sent by Euphemianus also arrived in Edessa, but they did not recognize the beggar sitting at the portico as their master.

Venerable Macarius the Abbot and Wonderworker of Kalyazin

The boyar Ivan Kolyaga, to whom the nearby lands belonged, began to fear that a monastery would grow up there, and that monks would begin to cultivate the wastelands. The Enemy of our salvation planted such spite and enmity in the boyar, that he decided to kill the saint.

Martyr Marinus

After cruel tortures, the saint was beheaded.

The Confessions of St. Patrick

So for that reason one should, in fact, fish well and diligently, just as the Lord foretells and teaches, saying, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,’ and, again, through the prophets: ‘“Behold, I am sending forth many fishers and hunters,” says the Lord,’ et cetera. So it behoved us to spread our nets, that a vast multitude and throng might be caught for God, and so there might be clergy everywhere who baptized and exhorted a needy and desirous people. Just as the Lord says in the Gospel, admonishing and instructing: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always to the end of time.’

Saint Patrick and the Emptiness of Revenge

Gabe Martini

If literature and film that extols revenge is typical of our culture, most of us would have spent those six years plotting our own acts of vengeance against the Irish. But St. Patrick shows us a better way.

St. Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland

Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland was born around 385, the son of Calpurnius, a Roman decurion (an official responsible for collecting taxes).

Venerable Hieromartyr Gabriel the Lesser (†1802)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Saint Gabriel the Lesser was a major figure in the eighteenth- century Georgian Church. Few details of his life are known, but it is evident that the education he received was quite good for the period. Striving toward the monastic life but still living in the world, Gabriel tried in every way to close himself off from the vanity of the world. He kept a small sewing shop in Tbilisi and distributed most of his profits to the poor.
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