Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus, Anempodistus, and those with them, of Persia (341).
St. Marcian, monk, of Cyrrhus in Syria (388). Blessed Cyprian of Storozhev, former outlaw (16th c.).
New Hieromartyr Basil Luzgin, priest, of Glazomicha (1918).
Shuya-Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God (1654-1655).
St. Erc, bishop of Slane, Ireland (512). St. Anthony the Confessor, archbishop of Thessalonica (844).
Repose of Patriarch Pavle of Serbia (2009).
Tuesday. [I Thess. 3:9-13; Luke 11:34-41]
The light of the body is the eye, while the
light of the soul is the mind. When the eye of the body is
undamaged we see everything around us in our external
life, and we know how and where to go, and what to do. So
also when the mind is sound, we see everthing in our inner
life, in our relation to God and our neighbour, and in how
we ought to behave. The mind, the higher side of the soul,
combines a feeling of the Godhead, the demands of
conscience, and aspirations for what is better than
everything possessed by us and known to us. When the mind
is sound, fear of God reigns in the soul, as well as good
conscience and detachment from anything outward; but when
it is unsound—God is forgotten, the conscience limps
on both legs, and the soul wallows in what is visible and
obtainable. Then it is a dark night for that
person—concepts are confused, deeds are in
disharmony, and the heart is constricted with
hopelessness. Circumstances which he encounters push him
and he is drawn after them like a wood chip in the current
of a river. He does not know what has been done until now,
what he is now, and how his path will end. On the hand, he
whose mind is sound, fearing God, conducts his affairs
with circumspection, listens only to the law of his
conscience, which gives a uniform harmony to his entire
life, and he does not plunge himself into things of the
senses, taking wing through hope in future bliss. From
this his view on the entire flow of life with all that it
touches is clear, and for him all is full of light, as
when the bright shining of a candle doth give one light
(cf. Luke 11:36).