Prophet Jonah (8th c. b.c.). Hieromartyr Phocas, bishop of Sinope (117). St. Jonah the Presbyter (9th c.), father of Sts. Theophanes the Hymnographer and Theodore Graptus. Blessed Parasceva (“Pasha of Sarov”), fool-for-Christ, of Diveyevo (1915).
Martyr Phocas the Gardener, of Sinope (320). St. Peter of Constantinople, tax collector in Africa (6th c.). St. Jonah, founder of the Yashezersk Annunciation Monastery (Karelia) (1589-1592). St. Macarius, founder of Zhabyn Monastery (Belev) (1623). Hieromartyr Theodosius of Brazi Monastery, metropolitan of Moldavia (1694). Synaxis of the Saints of Tula.
New Hieromartyr Benjamin (Voskresensky), bishop of Romanov (1931).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “She Who Is Quick to Hear.”
Martyrs Maurice and the Theban Legion, including the officers Candidus and Exuperius, at Agaunum (Gaul) (ca. 287). Hieromartyr Emmeram, bishop in Gaul, at Regensburg (Bavaria) (652). 26 Martyrs of Zographou Monastery, Mt. Athos, martyred by the Latins (see October 10th) (1284). St. Cosmas, desert-dweller of Zographou, Mt. Athos (1323).
Repose of Abbot Innocent of Valaam (1828).
Friday. [Eph. 6:18-24; Luke 4:22-30]
The people of Nazareth marvelled at the
word of the Lord, but nevertheless they did not believe:
envy prevented them as the Lord Himself revealed. Every
passion opposes truth and goodness, but envy most of all,
because falsehood and spite make up its essence. This
passion is the most unjust and poisonous both for the one
who bears it and for the one against whom it is directed.
It occurs on a small scale with everyone when someone
equal or inferior gets the upper hand. Egoism gets
irritated, and envy begins to gnaw away at the heart. This
is still not so tormenting if the road is still open to
you; but when it is blocked off, especially by the one you
already envy, then its aggression is unstoppable, and
peace is impossible. Envy demands the overthrow of
one’s enemy from his place on the peak, and will not
rest content until it somehow attains this, or until it
ruins the envier. Good natured, well-wishing people, whose
kindly sentiments prevail over egotistical ones, do not
suffer from envy. This is also the way to extinguish envy
for any person tormented by it. You must hasten to inspire
good will, especially towards the one whom you envy, and
manifest it in deed; then envy will immediately abate. If
you repeat this several times, with God’s help it
will entirely subside. But if you leave it the way it is,
if you do not overcome yourself and force yourself to do
good to the one you envy, it will torment you, dry you up,
and send you to your grave.