ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2017
Previous day
Свт. Игнатий Брянчанинов
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Old Style
April 30
Saturday
New Style
May 13
4th Week after Pascha. Tone 3.
No fast.

Совершается служба с полиелеемHoly Apostle James, the brother of St. John the Theologian (44). Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомUncovering of the relics of St. Nicetas, recluse, of the Kiev Caves, bishop of Novgorod (1558). Совершается служба с полиелеемSt. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), bishop of the Caucasus and Stavropol (1867).

St. Donatus, bishop of Euroea in Epirus (ca. 387). Uncovering of the relics of Hieromartyr Basil, bishop of Amasea (4th c.). Martyr Maximus of Ephesus.

Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Of the Passion.”

Martyrs Eutropius and Estelle, of Saintes (Gaul) (3rd c.). St. Erconwald, bishop of London (ca. 693). St. Clement the Hymnographer, abbot, of the Studion (9th c.). New Martyr Argyra of Prusa, at Constantinople (1725).

Repose of Schema-abbess Martha (Protasieva) (1813), disciple of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky), and Hieromonk Clement (Sederholm) of Optina Monastery (1878). Slaying of Priest Igor Rozin of Tyrnyauz (Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia) (2001).

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. [Acts 12:1–11; John 8:31–42]

   The Lord said: If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36). Here is where freedom is! The mind is bound with bonds of ignorance, delusions, superstitions, and uncertainties; it struggles, but cannot get away from them. Cleave to the Lord and He will enlighten your darkness (cf. Ps. 18:28) and dissolve all the bonds in which your mind languishes. The passions bind the will, and do not give it space in which to act; it struggles, like one bound hand and foot, and cannot get away. But cleave to the Lord and He will give you the strength of Samson, and will dissolve all the bonds of untruth binding you. Constant worries surround the heart and do not give it peace. But cleave to the Lord, and He will soothe you; then, at peace, and seeing clearly everything around you, you will march in the Lord without hindrance or stumbling through the gloom and darkness of this life, to the all-blessed, complete joy and spaciousness of eternity.

Articles

Apostle James the Brother of St John the Theologian

The Holy Apostle James, the son of Zebedee, was the brother of Saint John the Theologian, and one of the Twelve Apostles.

Venerable Nikita of the Kiev Caves, Far Caves the Bishop of Novgorod

Saint Nikita, Bishop of Novgorod, in his youth entered the Kiev Caves monastery and soon wished to become a hermit.

Champion of the Arena—Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov

Archpriest Nicholas Deputatov

That piety so characteristic of all levels of society in Holy Russia. was rapidly evaporating from the 19th century high society intelligentsia when God raised up from its very midst a true ascetic and Church writer, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. In him was combined a rare eloquence of style and a profound understanding of the Christian life of struggle through which he was able to inspire many souls, blinded by Western "enlightened" ideas, to return to the saving enclosure of the Church.

Sayings of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov stands out as one of the greatest patristic writers of the nineteenth century. On this commemoration day of Holy Hierarch Ignatius Brianchaninov, we have translated some quotes from his ascetical writings.

A Brief Life of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

St. Ignatius (Dimitry Alexandrovich Brianchaninov in the world) was born on February 5, 1807 on his father’s estate in the village of Pokrov in the Vologda Province. His mother gave birth to him after a prolonged infertility, by her fervent prayers and travels to the surrounding holy places. The boy spent his childhood in the solitude of village life; from his earliest years he was inexplicably attracted to the monastic life. His religious temper appeared all the more noticeably with age, being manifested in a special disposition towards prayer and the reading of spiritual books.

St. Donatus the Bishop of Euroea in Epirus

Saint Donatus lived during the reign of the holy Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-397) and was bishop of the city of Euroea (in Albania).

Hieromartyr Basil the Bishop of Amasea

The Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amasea, lived at the beginning of the fourth century in the Pontine city of Amasea.

Holy Hierarch Erconwald, Bishop of London

Dmitry Lapa

According to early Orthodox tradition, Christianity was brought to London by the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul who both preached there. The tradition holds that St. Peter founded a church “in the west” which was a predecessor of what is now Westminster Abbey, while St. Paul erected a church “in the east”, which was a predecessor of what is now St. Paul’s Cathedral on Ludgate Hill.
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