Afterfeast of the Meeting of Our Lord. Holy and Righteous Symeon the God-receiver and Anna the Prophetess (1st c.). St. Nicholas, Equal-to-the-Apostles, enlightener of Japan (1912).
Prophet Azariah (10th c. в до Р.10th c..). Martyrs Papias, Diodorus, and Claudianus, at Perge in Pamphylia (250). Martyr Blaise of Caesarea in Cappadocia (3rd c.). Martyrs Adrian and Eubulus, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (ca. 308-309). St. Romanus, prince of Uglich (1285). St. Symeon, bishop of Polotsk and Tver (1289). St. Svyatoslav-Gabriel and his son St. Dimitry, of Yuriev (1253). St. Ignatius of Mariupol in Crimea, metropolitan of Gothia and Kafa (1786).
New Hieromartyrs Vladimir (Zagreba), hieromonk of Borisoglebsk Monastery (Novotorzhok), Basil Zalessky, archpriest, of Astrakhan, and Adrian Troitsky, archpriest, of Kazan (1938).
Martyr Paul the Syrian (284-305). St. Lawrence, archbishop of Canterbury (619). St. Werburga of Chester, abbess (ca. 700). St. Ansgar, bishop of Hamburg, enlightener of Denmark and Sweden (865). St. James, archbishop of Serbia (1292). St. Sabbas of Ioannina (15th c.). New Martyrs Stamatius and John, brothers, and Nicholas, their companion, at Spetses on Chios (1822).
Repose of Schemamonk Paul of Simonov Monastery (1825), disciple of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky), and Hieromonk Isidore of Gethsemane Skete, Moscow (1908).
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.