ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2019
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Святой праведный Николай, Христа ради юродивый, Псковский Преподобный Василий Декаполит, исповедник
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February 28 		Wednesday
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March 13
1st Week of Great Lent. Tone 8.
Great Lent.
Monastic rule: xerophagy (bread, uncooked fruits and vegetables).

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. John Cassian the Roman, abbot, of Marseilles (435). Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Basil the Confessor (ca. 750). St. Arsenius (Matsievich), metropolitan of Rostov, confessor (1772).

Hieromartyr Nestor, bishop of Magydos, at Perge in Pamphylia (250). Sts. Marina and Kyra, nuns, of Beroea in Syria (ca. 450). Hieromartyr Proterius, patriarch of Alexandria, and six companions (457). St. John, called Barsanuphius, of Nitria in Egypt (5th c.). St. Theosterictus the Confessor, abbot, of Pelecete Monastery near Prusa (8th c.). Blessed Nicholas of Pskov, fool-for-Christ (1576). St. Cassian, recluse and faster of the Kiev Caves (12th c.). St. Cassian, founder of Muezersk Hermitage (16th c). St. Meletius, archbishop of Kharkov (1840).

Apostles of the Seventy Nymphas and Eubulus (1). St. Romanus, desert-dweller of Condat in the Jura Mountains (Gaul) (460). New Virgin-martyr Kyranna of Thessalonica (1751). St. Germanus of Dacia Pontica (Dobrogea, Romania) (5th c.). St. Oswald, archbishop of York (992). St. Barsus of Damascus, bishop

Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Theophan the Recluse

Wednesday.

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God (Prov. 2:3–5). The root of a God-pleasing life is fear of the Lord. When it comes to you, then, as a creative force, it will restructure everything within you and recreate in you a beautiful order—a spiritual cosmos. How can you acquire the fear of God? It is in you, only it is smothered. Resurrect it. Give voice to your reason, and open your heart to accept the influence of truth. Until now, your reason was not given a voice—it was enslaved, and did not dare to speak sensibly. Let it now speak. It will begin to speak about God’s omnipotence, which upholds you and could abandon you at any instant; about God’s omnipresence and omniscience, which sees everything within you and is wrathful with you for all that is bad within you; about God’s justice, which is ready to punish you now, but is restrained until the time by His mercy; about death, which at every instant is ready to catch you and give you over to judgement and retribution. Listen and bring your heart to a feeling of these truths. Awaken this feeling—and together with it will come the fear of God. This is the dawn of life.

Articles

Venerable John Cassian the Roman

Saint John Cassian the Roman was born around 360, probably in Lesser Scythia (in Dacia Pontica). His pious Christian parents gave him an excellent classical education, and also instructed him in the Holy Scriptures and in the spiritual life.

John Cassian: Half-Heretic or Saint?

Deacon Pavel Serzhantov

St. John Cassian expressed not simply his own theological opinion, but gave voice to the experience of the hesychastic monks’ ascetical experience of synergy. Striving for their own salvation, the hesychasts saw and understood that asceticism is salvific then and only then when two powers are at work within it in harmony—the Divine and the human. God and man are co-workers in the cause of salvation; their synergy leads sinners into the Heavenly Kingdom.

Venerable Basil the Confessor, companion of the Venerable Procopius at Decapolis

Saint Basil the Confessor was a monk and suffered during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741).

Hieromartyr Nestor the Bishop of Magydos in Pamphylia

During a persecution against Christians under the emperor Decius (249-251), he was arrested while praying in his home.

Sts. Marina and Kyra, nuns, of Beroea in Syria

Having cleared off a small plot of land, the holy virgins sealed up the entrance to their refuge with rocks and clay, leaving only a narrow opening through which food was passed to them. Their little hut had no roof, and so they were exposed to the elements.

Hieromartyr Proterius the Patriarch of Alexandria

The insolent heretics broke into this refuge and killed the Patriarch and six men who were with him. The fact that it was Holy Saturday and the Canon of Pascha was being sung did not stop them. In their insane hatred they tied a rope to the body of the murdered Patriarch, and dragged it through the streets.

Venerable John-Barsanuphius the Bishop of Damascus

Saint John, called Barsanuphius, was a native of Palestine. He was baptized when he was eighteen years old, and later became a monk.

Martyr Theokteristus

The Holy Martyr Theokteristus, Igumen of the Pelekete monastery, suffered for the holy icons under the impious emperor Constantine Copronymos (741-775).

Blessed Nicholas (Salos) of Pskov the Fool-For-Christ

Blessed Nicholas of Pskov lived the life of a holy fool for more than three decades. Long before his death he acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and was granted the gifts of wonderworking and of prophecy.

St. Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr

With a fatherly love the saint looked after young foster-children, raising them in a spirit of devotion to the Church of Christ. The saint particularly cared for the needy, widows and orphans.

Holy Hierarch Oswald, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York

Dmitry Lapa

Oswald was the offspring of pagan Danes who had invaded England in the ninth century and settled in the east and north of England, the region that came to be known as the Danelaw.
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