Martyrs Callistratus and 49 companions, of Carthage (304). St. Sabbatius, wonderworker of Solovki (1435).
Apostles Mark, Aristarchus, and Zenas, of the Seventy (1st c.). Martyr Epicharis of Rome (3rd c.-4th c.). St. Ignatius, abbot, of the monastery of the Deep Stream (963-975). New Hieromartyr Anthimus the Georgian, metropolitan of Wallachia (1716). St. Archippus, schemamonk of Glinsk Hermitage (1896). St. Rachel, schemanun of Borodino Convent (1928).
New Hieromartyr Peter (Polyansky), metropolitan of Krutitsa (1937). New Hieromartyr Herman (Kosolapov), bishop of Volsk and Michael Platonov, archpriest, of Saratov (1919).
St. Flavian I, archbishop of Antioch (404). Martyr Sigebert, king of the East Angles (635). New Virgin-martyr Aquilina of Thessalonica (1764). Synaxis of the Saints of Chelyabinsk.
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost. [II Cor. 9:6-11; Luke
5:1-11]
The fishermen toiled for an entire
night and took nothing; but when the Lord entered their
ship, and, after preaching commanded them to cast their
net, they took so many that they could not pull them out
and the net broke. This is an image for all work without
God’s help, and for work with God’s help. When
one person works, wanting to achieve something through his
strength alone—he is all thumbs. When the Lord draws
near to him, then one good thing after another flows in
from somewhere. In the spiritual-moral sense the
impossibility of success without the Lord is tangibly
visible: Without Me ye can do nothing, said the
Lord. And this law acts in all things. Just as a branch
not grown onto a tree not only does not bear fruit, but
dries up and loses its life as well, neither can people
bring forth fruits of truth valuable for eternal life if
they are not in living communion with the Lord. Any good
that they might have is only an appearance of good, but in
essence it is faulty—like a forest apple that
appears red but if you taste it, it is sour. It is also
tangibly clear in an external, worldly sense: one
struggles and struggles, and all in vain. When God’s
blessing descends, all comes out well. Those who are
attentive toward themselves and the paths of life know
these truths through experience.