Great-martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana (306), at Heliopolis in Syria. St. John Damascene, monk of St. Sabbas Monastery (760).
St. John, bishop of Polybotum (716). St. Gennadius, archbishop of Novgorod (1504).
New Hieromartyr Seraphim, archbishop of Phanarion and Neochorion (1601).
Monday. [Heb. 3:5-11, 17-19; Luke 20:27–44]
The Sadducees had an objection to the resurrection, which
seemed to them irresolvable; but the Lord resolved it so
clearly in several words that everyone understood and
acknowledged the Sadducees as conquered by the truth of
His word (Luke 20:27–40). What then were [called]
Sadducees are now unbelievers of all sorts. They have
heaped up for themselves a multitude of fantasised
suppositions, set them forth as irrefutable truths, and
magnify themselves with them, supposing that there is
nothing to say against them. In reality they are so empty,
that there is no point in speaking against them. All of
their philosophizing is a house of cards: blow on it and
it will scatter. There is no need to refute them in each
part; it is enough to relate to them as to dreams. When
speaking against dreams, people do set not about proving
any incongruity in composition or in the parts of a dream;
they simply say, “It is a dream”—and
that says it all. Such precisely is the theory of the
formation of the world from cloudy spots, with its
props—the theory of spontaneous origination, of the
Darwinian origin of genus and species, with his latest
fantasy about the origin of man. It is all like the
delirium of a sleeping man. Reading them, you walk in the
midst of shadows. And scientists? What can you do with
them? Their motto is: do not listen if you do not want to,
but do not hinder us from telling lies.
Tuesday. [Heb. 4:1-13; Luke 21:12-19]
And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s
sake. He who breathes even a little of the spirit of
the world into himself becomes cold to Christianity and
its demands. This indifference turns into dislike when one
remains in it a long time without coming to one’s
senses, and especially after picking up somewhere a
particle of some false teaching. The spirit of the world
with its false teachings is a spirit of disliking Christ:
it is of the antichrist. It is the spread of hostile
attitudes toward the Christian confession and Christian
traditions. Apparently something like this is happening
around us. So far only hollow roars are sounding
everywhere; but it will not be surprising if soon the
Lord’s prophesy will begin, that, they shall lay
their hands on you…and persecute you…ye
shall be betrayed…and cause you to be put to
death. The spirit of antichrist is always the same;
what was in the beginning will be now, perhaps in another
form, but with the same meaning. What should we do? In
your patience possess ye your souls. Be patient, with
a firm word of confession of the truth in your mouth and
in your heart.