Prophet Ezekiel (6th c. b.c.). St. Symeon of Emesa, fool-for-Christ (590), and his fellow faster St. John (ca. 590).
Martyr Victor of Marseilles (3rd c.). St. Onuphrius the Silent, of the Kiev Caves and St. Onesimus, recluse, of the Kiev Caves (12th c.-13th c.) Uncovering of the relics of St. Anna, princess of Kashin (Euphrosyne in monasticism) (1649). St. Arsenia (Sebryakova), abbess of the Ust-Medveditsk Convent (Volgograd) (1905).
“Armatia” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Hieromartyr Zoticus of Comana in Armenia (204). Martyrs Justus, Matthew, and Eugene, at Rome (305). Hieromartyr Bargabdesian, deacon, at Arbela in Assyria (354). Sts. Paul, bishop, and John, priest, ascetics, near Edessa (5th c.). Sts. Raphael (1640-1645) and Parthenius (1660) of Old Agapia Monastery (Romania). St. Parthenius of Radovizlios, bishop (1777). New Hieromartyrs Simo Banjac and Milan Stojisavljevic, and the latter’s son Martyr Milan, of Glamoc, Serbia (1941-1945). St. Eleutherius of “Dry Hill”.
Repose of Abbot Gerasim of the Chudov Monastery (1911), Blessed Anthony Petrovich Shuvalov, wonderworker of Undor- Simbirsk (1942), and Abbess Euphemia of the Ravanica and St. Petka monasteries (Serbia) (1958).
Tuesday. [I Cor. 10:5-12; Matt. 16:6-12]
Beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees, said the Lord. The
Sadducees are a model of carelessness; the Pharisees
represent people who are outwardly zealous. The former do
nothing, whereas the latter, although they look very busy,
nothing really comes of them. Similar to these are members
of our modern society who are enticed by the ideas of
humanism. You hear them talk only about the good of the
people, but no good ever comes to the people, for it is
all talk and no action. Their humanism is feigned; they
make only the appearance of humaneness, but in reality
they are egoists. Speech does not require
sacrifice—they speak lavishly; but when the matter
touches sacrifices, they retreat. Nowadays almost everyone
is an actor; some show off in front of others as being
zealous for good, and particularly for enlightenment, and
they are all quite satisfied when their own verbal
testimony portrays them as being really this way.
Therefore, as soon as some charitable undertaking comes up
among us, talk is everywhere, but deeds do not come to
fruition. Do not expect sacrifices from them; they have no
need to help others, as long as their affairs are going
well. But it also happens that, without any particular
mental effort over real plans to help their neighbors,
they give alms in order to be left alone. The Lord has
condemned both categories, and has commanded us to be
filled with sincere love for one another, which does not
love to show off.
Wednesday. [I. Cor. 10:12-22; Matt. 16:20-24]
When the Holy Apostles confessed the
Saviour to be the Son of God, He said, I
must…suffer…and be killed. The work
had ripened; it remained only to complete it through the
death on the cross. The same thing occurs in the course of
a Christian’s moral progress. While he is struggling
with his passions, the enemy still hopes somehow to tempt
him; but when passions have settled down and the enemy no
longer has enough power to awaken them, he presents
external temptations, all sorts of wrongful accusations,
moreover, the most sensitive. He tries to plant the
thought: “So what did you work and struggle for? No
good will come of it for you.” But when the enemy
thus prepares a war from without, the Lord sends down the
spirit of patience to his struggler, thereby preparing a
lively readiness in his heart for all sorts of suffering
and hostility before the enemy can manage to stir up
trouble. As the Lord said about Himself, I must
suffer, spiritual strugglers also feel a sort of
thirst for sorrows. And when the suffering and hostility
come, they meet them with joy, and drink them in like a
thirsting man drinks cooling water.