January 14, 2018. + Orthodox Calendar

Orthodox Calendar 2018

Собор преподобных отцев в Синае и Раифе избиенных

Нина равноапостольная

Преподобный Стефан Вифинский

Old Style

January 14

Saturday

New Style

January 27

34th Week after Pentecost. Tone 8.

No fast.

Apodosis of the Theophany. The Holy Fathers slain at Sinai and Raithu: Isaiah, Sabbas, Moses and his disciple Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, Adam, Sergius, Domnus, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Eusebius, Elias, and others (4th c.-5th c.). St. Nina (Nino), Equal-to-the-Apostles, enlightener of Georgia (335).

St. Joseph Analytinus of Raithu Monastery (4th c.). St. Theodulus, son of St. Nilus of Sinai (5th c.). St. Stephen, abbot of Chenolakkos Monastery near Chalcedon (8th c.). St. Acacius, bishop of Tver (1567). St. Meletius, bishop of Ryazan, missionary to Yakutia (1900).

New Hiero-confessor John (Kevroletin), hieroschemamonk, of Verkhoturye (1961). New Martyrs slain at Raithu Monastery near Kazan: hieromonks Joseph, Anthony, Barlaam, Job, and Sergius, and novice Peter (1930).

St. Kentigern (Mungo), first bishop of Strathclyde (Glasgow), Scotland (612). St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ecija, Spain (632). St. Sava I, enlightener and first archbishop of Serbia (1235).

Repose of Nicholas Motovilov (1879), disciple of St. Seraphim of Sarov, and Hieromonk Cosmas, missionary to Zaire (1989).

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. [II Tim. 2:11–19; Luke 18:2–8]

To more strongly impress the truth that men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1) and that if their prayer is not soon heard, that they should continue to pray, the Lord told a parable about the judge who did not fear God and neither regarded man. The judge complied at last with the widow’s petition, not because he feared God and regarded man, but only because that widow would not give him peace. So, if such a callous man could not withstand the persistence of this woman’s petition, will not God, who loves mankind and is filled with mercy, fulfil a petition raised up to Him persistently, with tears and contrition?! Here is the answer to why our prayers are often not heard: Because we do not send up our petitions to God zealously, but as though in passing; furthermore, we pray once today, then expect our prayer to be answered by tomorrow, not thinking to sweat and trouble ourselves any more in prayer. That is why our prayer is neither heard nor answered. We ourselves do not fulfil as we ought the law laid down for prayer—the law of hope-filled and zealous persistence.

Articles

Fathers slain at Sinai and Raithu

There were two occasions when the monks and hermits were murdered by the barbarians. The first took place in the fourth century when forty Fathers were killed at Mt. Sinai, and thirty-nine were slain at Raithu on the same day.

Saint Nino, Equal-to-the-Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia (†335 AD)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Nino began to pray fervently to the Theotokos, asking for her blessing to travel to Georgia and be made worthy to venerate the Sacred Robe that she had woven for her beloved Son. The Most Holy Virgin heard her prayers and appeared to Nino in a dream, saying, “Go to the country that was assigned to me by lot and preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will send down His grace upon you and I will be your protector.”

The Life of St. Nina, Equal to the Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia

St. Nina was born in Cappadocia and was the only daughter of pious and noble parents—the Roman general Zabulon, a relative of the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the patriarch of Jerusalem. When St. Nina was twelve years old, she traveled with her parents to the holy city of Jerusalem.

The Maiden Apostle

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)

The most significant event in the history of Georgia was the country’s conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century by St. Nino, Equal-to-the-Apostles.

St. Joseph Analytinus of Raithu

Saint Joseph Analytinus of Raithu was a strict ascetic

Venerable Theodulus, son of the Venerable Nilus of Sinai

Saint Theodulus was the son of Saint Nilus the Faster (November 12), and he recorded the slaughter of the holy Fathers at Raithu in the fifth century.

Venerable Stephen the Abbot of Khenolakkos Monastery, Near Chalcedon

Saint Stephen lived during the eighth century, and was born into a family in Cappadocia, who raised him in great piety.

Holy Hierarch Kentigern (Mungo) of Strathclyde, Bishop of Glasgow, Wonderworker

Dmitry Lapa

St. Kentigern was much loved and venerated by the people for his gift of working miracles. Once he brought back to life a tame robin of St. Serf, which had been killed by jealous monks. Another time he miraculously lit a fire in St. Serf's monastery, which had earlier gone out.

'The Earth Cannot Imprison Him'—St. Sava of Serbia

"In creating the Serbian Church, he created the Serbian state and Serbian culture along with it. He brought peace to all the Balkan peoples, working for the good of all, for which he was venerated and loved by all on the Balkan peninsular. He gave a Christian soul to the people of Serbia, which survived the fall of the Serbian state."

Serbia Celebrates Sveti Sava

Saint Sava, known as the Illuminator, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, the founder of Serbian law, and a diplomat.

Life of Our Holy Father Sava I

This young child, Rastko, whose monastic name later was Sava, became and still remains the most beloved of all Serbian Orthodox saints, considered by all Serbs everywhere and at all times as the ultimate expression and example of what it means to be fully human, that is, what it means to be a devout and committed follower of Jesus Christ.

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