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| Old Style
August 17
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Thursday |
New Style
August 30
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| 14th Week after Pentecost. Tone 4. |  No fast.
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Hieromartyr Myron, priest, of Cyzicus (250). St. Pimen, archimandrite, of Ugresh (1880).
Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus (Coronatus), with others, of Bithynia (249-251). Martyr Patroclus of Troyes (Gaul) (270-275). Martyrs Paul and his sister Juliana, and Quadratus, Acacius, and Stratonicus, at Ptolemais in Syria (ca. 273). Martyrs Straton, Philip, Eutychian, and Cyprian, of Nicomedia (ca. 303). St. Alypius the Iconographer, of the Kiev Caves (ca. 1114). Blessed Theodoretus, enlightener of the Laps (Solovki) (1571). St. Philip, monk, of Yankov (Vologda) (1662).
“Svensk” and “Armatia” Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos (1288).
Monk-martyr Macarius of Mt. St. Auxentius (768). Hieromartyr Jeroen, hieromonk, at Noordwijk (Neth.) (857). St. Elias the Younger, of Calabria (903). St. Tbeli Abuseridze of Khikhuni, Adjara (13th c.). New Monk-martyr Agapius, at Thermes, near Thessalonica (1752).
Repose of Schemanun Ardaliona of Ust-Medveditsky Convent (1864) and Schemamonk Onuphrius of Valaam (1912).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Thursday. [Gal. 1:1-10, 20-2:5; Mark 5:1-20]
My name is Legion: for we are many. Spirits are bodiless, and therefore they do not fill or take up space like bodies. This explains why it is physically possible for many spirits to reside in one person. That it is possible morally on the part of the spirits is understandable from their amorality, or absence of all moral principles; while on the part of the person it is understandable from the many-sided contact of the constitution of one’s soul with the dismal realm of unclean powers. But this only explains what is possible; the reality of demonic possession is subject to conditions which we do not have the ability to determine. We can only say that spirits do not always enter in a visible way, and it is not always shown through the possessed person’s actions. There is an unseen, hidden demonic possession; there is also a power of spirits over minds, apart from the body, when the demons lead them wherever they wish, through passions working in them. People think that they are acting themselves, but they are actually the laughing-stocks of unclean powers. What can we do? Be a true Christian and no enemy power shall overcome you.
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