Sts. Isaac (383), and Dalmatus and Faustus (5th c.), ascetics of the Dalmatian Monastery, Constantinople. St. Anthony the Roman, abbot (Novgorod) (1147).
Protomartyr Rajden of Tsromi and Nikozi, Georgia (457). St. Cosmas, eunuch and hermit, of Palestine (6th c.).
Holy Myrrh-bearer Salome (1st c.). St. John, confessor and abbot, of Patalaria Monastery (8th-9th c.). St. Theoclita the Wonderworker, of Optimaton (ca. 842). Nine Kherkheulidze brothers, their mother and sister, and 9,000 others, who suffered on the field of Marabda, Georgia (1625).
Repose of Hieroschemamonk Ignatius of Harbin (1958).
Tuesday. [I Cor. 15:29-38; Matt. 21:23-27]
When the Lord asked the question about
John the Baptist, the chief priests and the elders
thought, “If we answer this way or that, either way
is disadvantageous for us,” and that is why they
decided it would be better to use ignorance as a cover.
Their self-interest tied their tongue and did not enable
them to witness to the truth. If they loved truth more
than themselves, there would be different words, and
different deeds. Their interest covered up the truth and
would not let it reach the heart, interfered with forming
a sincere conviction, and made their heart indifferent to
it. And it is always this way: egotistical strivings are
the original enemies of truth. All other enemies follow
them and act due to them. If one investigates how all
delusions and heresies arose, it turns out that the source
of all of them is precisely this. In words we want nothing
but the truth; but in fact the truth is a hindrance which
must be eliminated, and a lie set in its place which is
more favourable for us. Why, for example, are there
materialist-nihilists? Because the idea of God the
Creator, Provider and Judge, together with the idea of the
spirituality of the soul, hinders those people from living
more broadly according to their inclinations, so they push
the idea aside. It is clear from the worthlessness of
their premises that the nihilists are not guided by the
truth—it is desirable for them that everything be
just as they think, and every phantom that reflects their
thoughts they put out for show as witness to the truth. If
they would sober up but a little, they would immediately
see their lie. But they pity themselves, and therefore
they remain as they are.