St. Isaac the Confessor, founder of the Dalmatian Monastery at Constantinople (383).
St. James, monk of Starotorzhok Monastery in Galich (Kostroma) (15th c.-16th c).
New Hieromartyr Basil Smolensky, archpriest, of Kholmets (Moscow) (1942).
St. Macrina, grandmother of Sts. Macrina, Basil the Great, Naucratius, Peter of Sebaste, and Gregory of Nyssa (4th c.). St. Venantius of Gaul, brother of St. Honoratus of Lerins (374). St. Hubert, bishop of Liege (727). St. Walstan of Bawburgh (1016).
Repose of Abbot Ephraim of Sarov (1778) and Hieromonk Benedict (Ghius) of Romania (1990).
Saturday. [Acts 20:7–12; John 14:10–21]
And whatsoever ye shall ask of the
Father in my name, that will I do (John 14:13). What a
consoling promise! But how few make use of it! People
rarely keep this in mind. There are people who do not
understand this at all, and do not accept it. Why is this
so? Because they do not love the Lord, and they do not
fulfil His commandments. This unfaithfulness of the heart
toward the Lord relinquishes any boldness to petition the
Lord, just as a lazy servant does not dare ask something
of his masters, for he knows that he does not deserve any
mercy. The established prayers are read in their usual
course, and they contain very great petitions; but they
are merely read, and this, as we well know, is far from
prayer and petitioning. We cannot stand with true prayer
before the Lord and extend our petitions to Him until our
conscience is clear before Him.