Commemoration of the Apparition of the Sign of the Precious Cross over Jerusalem in a.d. 351 (351). Martyr Acacius the Centurion, at Byzantium (303).
St. John of Zedazeni in Georgia, and 12 disciples: Sts. Shio of Mgvime, David of Gareji, Anthony of Martqopi, Thaddeus of Urbnisi (or Stepantsminda), Stephen of Khirsa, Isidore of Samtavisi, Michael of Ulumbo, Pyrrhus of Breta, Zeno of Iqalto, Jesse (Ise) of Tsilkani, Joseph of Alaverdi, and Abibus of Nekressi (6th c.). Repose of St. Nilus, founder of Sora Skete (Belozersk) (1508). Uncovering of the relics of St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher, of Mt. Athos (1815). Synaxis of the Saints of St. Panteleimon Monastery (Mt. Athos).
'Lyubech' (11th c.) and 'Zhirovits' (1470) Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos.
St. Lydia of Philippi (1st c.). Uncovering of the relics of St. Euthymius the Great (473). St. Domitianus, bishop of Maastricht (560). St. John of Beverley, bishop of York (721). King Bagrat III of Georgia (1014). New Martyr Pachomius the Russian, of Usaki near Philadelphia (1730). St. John the Confessor, of Psycha on the Bosphorus (ca. 825).
Repose of Monk Nicholas (Boris in schema) of Valaam and Pskov (1969).
Monday. [Acts 10:1–16; John 6:56–69]
When the Lord presented His teaching
about the mystery of His Body and Blood, setting it as a
necessary condition for communication with Himself and as
a source of true life, then many of His disciples went
back, and walked no more with Him (John 6:66). Such an
act of God’s boundless mercy toward us seemed too
miraculous to them, and their disinclination toward the
miraculous tore them from the Lord. The Lord saw this, and
although He was prepared to be crucified for the salvation
of every person, He did not consider it possible to
diminish or cancel the miraculous. It is so crucial in the
economy of our salvation! Albeit with regret, He allowed
them to depart from Him into the darkness of unbelief and
destruction; and said to them and to the chosen twelve as
well, will ye also go away? (John 6:67) This showed
that He was ready to let them go also, if they could not
bow down before the miraculous. So it is, that to flee
from the miraculous is to flee from the Lord and Saviour;
and one who turns away from the miraculous is as one who
is perishing. May those who are horrified by the
miraculous heed this! Even they will come across a miracle
which they will not be able to thwart: death, and after
death, judgment. But whether this inability to thwart it
will serve them unto salvation, only God knows.