Hieromartyr Charalampus, bishop of Magnesia in Asia Minor, and Martyrs Porphyrius and Baptus (202).
Martyrs Ennatha, Valentina, and Paula, of Palestine (308). St. Anna of Novgorod (1050). St. Prochorus of the Kiev Caves (1107). St. Longinus, founder of Koryazhemka Monastery (Vologda) (1540). St. Raphael, archimandrite (1765), and St. Ioannicius, hieromonk (1882), of Svatogorsk Monastery. Synaxis of Novgorod Hierarchs: Sts. Joachim (1030), Luke the Jew (1060), Germanus (1095), Arcadius (1162), Gregory (1193), Martyrius (1199), Anthony (1231), Basil (1352), Moses (1362), Symeon (1421), Gennadius (1504), Pimen (1571), and Athonius (1653).
“Areovindus” (“Fiery Vision”) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
St. Scholastica of Italy (543), sister of St. Benedict of Nursia. St. Anastasius II, patriarch of Jerusalem (706). St. John Chimchimeli of Bachkovo and Gremi (13th c.).
Tuesday. [II Pet. 2:9–22; Mark 13:14–23]
If any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ;
or, lo, he is there; believe him not (Mark
13:21). Christ the Lord, our Saviour, having established
upon the earth the holy Church, is well pleased to abide
in it, as its head, enlivener, and ruler. Christ is here,
in our Orthodox Church, and He is not in any other church.
Do not search for Him elsewhere, for you will not find
Him. Therefore, if someone from a non-orthodox assemblage
comes to you and begins to suggest that they have
Christ—do not believe it. If some one says to you,
“We have an apostolic community, and we have
Christ,” do not believe them. The Church founded by
the Apostles abides on the earth—it is the Orthodox
Church, And Christ is in it. The community established
only yesterday cannot be apostolic, and Christ is not in
it. If you hear someone saying, “Christ is speaking
in me,” while he shuns the [Orthodox] Church, does
not want to know its pastors and is not sanctified by the
Sacraments, do not believe him. In him is not Christ, but
rather another spirit appropriating the name of Christ in
order to divert people from Christ the Lord and from His
holy Church. Neither believe anyone who suggests to you
even some small thing alien to the [Orthodox] Church.
Recognize all such people to be instruments of seducing
spirits and preachers of lies.