St. Macrina, sister of Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa (380). St. Dius, abbot, of Antioch (ca. 430). Uncovering of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov (1903). Synaxis of the Saints of Kursk.
Blessed Romanus, prince of Ryazan (1270). St. Paisius of the Kiev Caves (14th c.). Blessed Stephen Lazarevic, king of Serbia (1427) and his mother St. Milica (Eugenia in schema) (1405). Sts. Demetrius, metropolitan of Rostov (1709), and Mitrophan (1703) and Tikhon (1783), bishops of Voronezh. St. Sophronius, archimandrite, of Svyatogorsk Monastery (1921).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Umileniye” (“Of Tender Feeling”) of Diveyevo, before which St. Seraphim reposed.
St. Theodore, bishop of Edessa (848). Abba Diocles of the Thebaid.
Repose of Hieroschemamonk Anthony of Valaam (1862), Blessed Abbot Nilus (1870) and Elder John (1903), both of St. Nilus of Sora Monastery, and Archimandrite Nektary (Chernobyl) of Jerusalem (2000).
Sixth Sunday After Pentacost. [Rom. 12:6-14; Matt. 9:1-8]
The Lord forgives the sins of the man
sick of the palsy. One should rejoice; but the evil mind
of the learned scribes says: “This man
blasphemeth.” Even after the miracle of the healing
of the man sick of the palsy—a confirmation of the
comforting truth that the Son of man hath power on
earth to forgive sins—the people glorified God;
but nothing is said about the scribes, probably because
they continued to weave their deceitful questions even
after such a miracle. The mind without faith is a schemer;
it constantly hammers out its evil suspicions and weaves
blasphemy against the whole realm of faith. As for
miracles—it either doesn’t believe in them, or
it demands a tangible one. But when a miracle is given
that would obligate one to submit to the faith, this mind
is not ashamed to turn away from it, distorting or
slandering the miraculous works of God. It treats
irrefutable evidence of God’s truth in the same way.
It is sufficiently and cogently presented with both
experiential and intellectual proof, but it covers even
this with doubt. Sort out all that it produces and you
will see that in this there is only deceit, although its
own language calls it cleverness, and you are unwillingly
led to the conclusion that cleverness and deceit are one
and the same. In the realm of faith the Apostle says,
We have the mind of Christ. Whose mind is outside
of the realm of faith? The evil one’s. That is why
deceit has become its distinguishing
characteristic.