St. Theophylactus, bishop of Nicomedia (842-845).
Apostle Hermas of the Seventy (1st c.). Hieromartyr Theodoretus, priest, of Antioch (361-363). Sts. Lazarus, founder (1391) and Athanasius, monk (15th c.), of Murmansk Monastery (Karelia). St. Andronicus (Lukash), schema-archimandrite of Tbilisi, Georgia, elder of Glinsk Monastery (1974).
“Kursk Root” Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos (1898).
St. Felix of Burgundy, bishop of Dunwich and enlightener of East Anglia (ca. 648). Martyrs Quintilian and Capatolinus, at Nicomedia. St. Julian, archbishop of Toledo (690). St. Paul the Confessor, bishop of Plousias in Bithynia (ca. 840). St. Tarasius the Wonderworker, of Lycaonia.
Repose of Blessed Basiliscus of Uglich (1863) and Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko) of Eastern America (1960).
Friday.
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God
(Wisdom 3:1). But in whose hand are the souls of sinners?
The Saviour said to the apostles that satan seeks to sift
them like wheat, that is, he seeks to knock them from the
right path, to take them into his hands and do with them
what he wants. That is why everyone turning away from the
Lord is in the hands of satan, and he sifts them and casts
them wherever he desires. Due to this the heads of sinners
are constantly spinning, because the enemy, dragging them
here and there, does not give them a chance to come to
their senses. As soon as the enemy notices that someone is
starting to have second thoughts, he starts to shake him
even more strongly, so that his head again becomes clouded
and his thoughts become scattered.
Monday (3rd week of Lent).
The fear of the Lord is to hate
evil (Prov. 8:13);[1]
and if it hateth evil, it will drive it away; if it
drives it away, the soul will be cleansed of it, and
will thus appear righteous
before the Lord. This is everything that we now seek with
such effort. Thus, restore the fear of God in yourself and
maintain it, and you will possess the most powerful means
for self-healing. The fear of the Lord will not allow you
to sin, and it will force you to do every good thing on
every possible occasion. Then you will fulfil the
commandment: Depart from evil and do good (Ps.
34:14), which the prophet gives to those seeking true
life. How can one attain fear of God? Seek and ye shall
find (cf. Matt. 7:7). We cannot say in this regard,
“Do this,” or “Do that;” the fear
of God is a spiritual feeling, secretly conceived in the
heart that is turning to God. Reflection helps, and the
effort to have this feeling helps; but in fact it is given
from the Lord. Search it out like a gift and it will be
given to you. When it is given, then listen to it without
contradicting, and it will correct all evil within
you.[2]
[1]The
Slavonic for Prov. 8:13 reads: The fear of the Lord
hateth evil.
[2]“All
evil within you”—here St. Theophan refers
to the word in the quote from Prov. 8:13, which in the
KJV slightly differs from the Slavonic.