Hieromartyr Gregory, bishop and enlightener of Greater Armenia (ca. 335). St. Gregory, founder of Pelshma Monastery (Vologda) (1442). Translation of the relicsof St. Michael, first metropolitan of Kiev (c. 1103).
Martyrs Rhipsima and Gaiana and companions, in Armenia (beg. of 4th c.). St. Michael, great prince of Tver (1318).
New Martyr Alexandra (Chervyakova), schemanun, of Moscow (1937). New Hiero-confessor Seraphim (Zagorovsky), hieromonk, of Kharkov (1943).
Blessed Jerome (Hieronymus) of Stridonium (420). St. Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury (653). St. Meletius, patriarch of Alexandria (1601).
Saturday. [I Cor. 15:58-16:3; Luke 5:17-26]
But that ye may know that the Son of
man hath power on earth to forgive sins, He said to
the paralytic, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up they
couch, and go into thine house. Remission of sins is
an inner, spiritual miracle; healing from paralysis is an
outer miracle—the natural acting of God in the
world, a physical miracle. The flowing in of God’s
power is justified and confirmed by this event in the
moral realm, and in the movement of phenomena in the
physical world. The latter is in view of the former, for
in the former lies the goal of everything. The Lord does
not coerce one’s freedom, but gives understanding,
inspires, and amazes. One of the best means for this is an
outer miracle. This came to be when man became a rational
creature, ruled by freedom. This connection is so
essential, that those who reject the supernatural action
of God in the world also reject the freedom of man, along
with the recognition that the latter must necessarily call
forth the former. On the other hand, those who confess the
truth of God’s influence in the world beyond a
natural flow of events can say boldly: we can feel that we
are free. The recognition of freedom is as strong and
irresistible as the recognition of one’s existence.
Freedom urgently demands direct providential actions of
God: consequently the acknowledgement of these actions
stands as firmly as the recognition of freedom.