Prophet Amos (8th c. b.c.). 
St. Jonah, metropolitan of Kiev, Moscow, and all Russia (1461).
Martyrs Vitus (Guy), Modestus, and Crescentia, at Lucania (ca. 303). Martyr Dulas of Cilicia (ca. 305-313). Blessed Jerome (Hieronymus) of Stridonium (419-420). Blessed Augustine, bishop of Hippo (430), and his mother St. Monica of Tagaste (387). St. Michael, first metropolitan of Kiev (992). Great-martyr Tsar Lazar of Serbia (1389). Translation of the relics of St. Theodore the Sykeote, bishop of Anastasiopolis (ca. 9th c.). St. Ephraim II, patriarch of Serbia (1395). Monk-martyrs Gregory, abbot, and Cassian, monk, of Avnezh Monastery (Vologda) (1524). St. Dulas the Passion-bearer, of Egypt (5th c.). St. Symeon, archbishop of Novgorod (1421). Sts. Sergius and Barbara of Oyatsk, monastics, parents of St. Alexander of Svir (1477-1480). St. Theophan, elder of the Roslavl Forests and Optina (1819).
“Marianica” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Serbia. St. Cedronus, patriarch of Alexandria (107). Martyr Hesychius the Soldier, of Dorostolum, and two others, in Moesia (302). St. Orsiesius of Tabennisi, disciple of St. Pachomius the Great (ca. 380). St. Abraham, abbot, of Auvergne (Gaul) (477). St. Spyridon, patriarch of Serbia (1388). New Martyrs of Velic and Gornepolima (Serbia) killed by the Nazis (1943). Apostles Fortunatus, Achaicus, and Stephanas (1st c.).
Repose of Blessed Jonah, fool-for-Christ, of Peshnosha Monastery (1838), Metropolitan Innocent of Peking (1931), Elder Cosmas of Valaam and Riga (1968), and Elder Anthimus of St. Anne’s Skete, Mt. Athos (1996).
Friday. [Rom. 5:17–6:2; Matt. 9:14–17]
The Lord was asked why His disciples did not
fast. He answered that the time for them has not yet come.
Then in a parable he showed that in general, the
strictness of outer asceticism must be in keeping with the
renewal of inner powers of the spirit. First kindle the
spirit of fervour, and then take on austerities; for then
there will be a new inner power capable of enduring them
profitably. If you take them on without first having this
fervour, because you were either impressed by the example
of others, or wanted to make a show of your own
asceticism, then it will bring no profit. You will sustain
this austerity for a bit, and then you will weaken and
drop it. And you will be worse off than before. Austerity
without the inner spirit is like a patch of new linen on
an old garment, or new wine in old wineskins. The patch
will fall off and the rent made even worse; and the wine
will burst the wineskin, and the wine will be lost, and
the wineskin ruined. This, by the way, does not mean that
austerity is bad, but only suggests that one must begin it
in the proper order. The need for it must come from
within, so that it might content the heart, and not just
press from the outside like a weight.
