Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora, at Nicomedia (305-311).
Holy Apostles Apelles, Luke (not the Evangelist), and Clement, of the Seventy (1st c.). Martyr Barypsabas, in Dalmatia (2nd c.). St. Pulcheria the Empress (453). Sts. Peter and Paul, bishops of Nicaea (9th c.). St. Paul the Obedient, of the Kiev Caves (13th c.-14th c.). St. Ioasaph, monk, of Kubensk (Vologda) (1453). St. Theodoritus, archbishop of Ryazan and Murom (1617).
New Hieromartyrs Meletius (Fedyunev), hieromonk, of Kuzhba (Komi), and Gabriel (Yatsik), archimandrite, of Donskoy Monastery (Moscow) (1937), and Warus (Shmarin), bishop of Lipetsk (1938).
St. Finian, abbot, in Ulster (579). St. Salvius, bishop of Albi (Gaul) (584). St. Theodaard of Maastricht (668). St. Cassian, abbot, of Spaso-Kamenny and White Lake Monasteries (1469).
Repose of Elder Tikhon of Kapsala, Mt. Athos (1968).
Thursday. [Gal. 1:1-10, 20-2:5; Mark 5:1-20]
My name is Legion: for we are
many. Spirits are bodiless, and therefore they do not
fill or take up space like bodies. This explains why it is
physically possible for many spirits to reside in one
person. That it is possible morally on the part of the
spirits is understandable from their amorality, or absence
of all moral principles; while on the part of the person
it is understandable from the many-sided contact of the
constitution of one’s soul with the dismal realm of
unclean powers. But this only explains what is possible;
the reality of demonic possession is subject to conditions
which we do not have the ability to determine. We can only
say that spirits do not always enter in a visible way, and
it is not always shown through the possessed
person’s actions. There is an unseen, hidden demonic
possession; there is also a power of spirits over minds,
apart from the body, when the demons lead them wherever
they wish, through passions working in them. People think
that they are acting themselves, but they are actually the
laughing-stocks of unclean powers. What can we do? Be a
true Christian and no enemy power shall overcome
you.