Martyrs Mamas of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and his parents, Theodotus and Rufina (3rd c.)
St. John the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople (595).
Sts. Anthony (1073)
and Theodosius (1074), of the Kiev Caves.
3,628 Martyrs at Nicomedia (303-305). Synaxis of the Saints of Saratov.
New Hieromartyrs Barsanuphius (Lebedev), bishop of Kyrillov, and priest John Ivanov, and Martyrs Seraphima (Sulimova), abbess of the Therapontov Convent, and Anatole, Nicholas, Michael, and Philip, all at the St. Cyril of White Lake Monastery (1918). New Hieromartyr Damascene (Tsedrik), bishop of Starodub (1937). New Hieromartyrs Herman (Ryashentsev), bishop of Vyaznikov, and the priest Stephen Yaroshevich (1937).
“Kaluga” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1748).
Righteous Eleazar, son of Righteous Aaron, and Righteous Phineas (ca. 1400 b.c.). St. Hieu, abbess of Tadcaster (England) (ca. 657).
Repose of Archbishop Vladimir of Kazan (1897).
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.