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| Old Style
December 18
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Tuesday |
New Style
December 31
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29th Week after Pentecost.
Tone 3.
Nativity Fast. |
 Wine and oil allowed.
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Martyr Sebastian, at Rome, and his companions: Martyrs Nicostratus, Zoe, Castorius, Tranquillinus, Marcellinus, Mark, Claudius, Symphorian, Victorinus, Tiburtius, and Castulus (287).
St. Modestus I, archbishop of Jerusalem (4th c.). St. Florus, bishop of Amisus (7th c.). St. Michael the Confessor, at Constantinople (845). St. Daniel the Hesychast, of Voronet (Romania) (ca. 1482). St. Sebastian, founder of Sokhotsk Monastery (Yaroslavl) (1500). Glorification of Righteous Symeon, wonderworker of Verkhoturye (1694).
New Hieromartyrs Thaddeus (Uspensky), archbishop of Tver (1937), and Nicholas (Klementiev), archbishop of Great Ustiug (1937).
St. Gatianus, first bishop of Tours (3rd c.). Martyr Eubotius, at Cyzicus (318). St. Winebald, abbot of Heidenheim and bishop of Eichstatt (Germany) (761).
Repose of Schemanun Nazaria, eldress, of Varatec Monastery (Romania) (1814), and Metropolitan Benjamin (Costachi) of Moldavia (1846). Slaying of Hieromonk Nestor of Zharki (Ivanovo) (1993).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Tuesday. [Heb. 12:25-26, 13:22-25; Mark 10:2-12]
What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. With these words the Lord affirms the integrity of marriage; only one lawful ground for divorce is indicated—a spouse’s unfaithfulness. But what should one do if one discovers something like this? Be patient. We have a universal commandment—to bear one another’s burdens; even more willingly should close ones, such as spouses, mutually fulfill this with respect to one another. Unwillingness to be patient blows up some unpleasantness out of proportion, and trifles pile up into a dividing wall. What is the mind given us for? To smooth out the path of life. Wisdom will work out any unpleasantness which is met. Because of lack of earthly wisdom, it not worked out; even more because of an unwillingness to think over well the state of things, and even more from not having any goal in life other than pleasure. Pleasures cease, satisfaction with one another ceases; on it goes until divorce. The more goals in life are debased, the more frequent divorces become on the one hand, and on the other—unlawful temporary cohabitation. The source of this evil lies in materialistic views of the world and life.
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