| Previous day | 
|
Next day |
| Old Style
February 20
|
Wednesday |
New Style
March 4
|
|
1st Week of Great Lent.
Tone 4.
Great Lent. |
 Monastic rule: xerophagy (bread, uncooked fruits and vegetables).
|
St. Leo, bishop of Catania in Sicily (ca. 780). Abbot Macarius and 34 monks and novices of Valaam Monastery martyred by the Lutherans: hieromonk Titus, schemamonk Tikhon, monks Gelasius, Sergius, Varlaam, Sabbas, Conon, Sylvester, Cyprian, Pimen, John, Simonas, Jonah, David, Cornelius, Niphon, Athanasius, and Serapion, and novices Varlaam, Athanasius, Anthony, Luke, Leontius, Thomas, Dionysius, Philip, Ignatius, Basil, Pachomius, Basil, Theophilus, John, Theodore, and John (1578),
Hieromartyr Sadoc (Sadoth), bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him (342-344). St. Agatho, pope of Rome (682). St. Yaroslav the Wise, great prince of Kiev (1054). St. Agatho, wonderworker of the Kiev Caves (13th c.-14th c.). Martyrdom of St. Cornelius, abbot of the Pskov Caves Monastery, and his disciple St. Bassian of Murom (1570).
Hieromartyr Eleutherius, bishop in Byzantium (2nd c.). St. Eleutherius, bishop of Tournai (531). St. Eucherius, bishop of Orleans (ca. 740). St. Bessarion the Great, wonderworker of Egypt (466). St. Cindeus, bishop of Pisidia.
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By 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
 Hieromartyr Sadoc (Sadoth) the Bishop of PersiaThe Hieromartyr Sadoc, Bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him suffered in Persia under Sapor II. |
 St. Agathon the Pope of RomeSaint Agathon, Pope of Rome, was the son of pious Christian parents, who provided him an excellent education. |
 Venerable Agathon the Wonderworker of the Kiev CavesSaint Agathon of the Kiev Caves was a great ascetic, and he healed the sick by a laying his hands upon them. |
