ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Иларион сщмч. Икона Божией Матери Оковецкая-Ржевская Ольга равноапостольная
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Old Style
July 11 		Monday
New Style
July 24
8th Week after Pentecost. Tone 6.
No fast.

Совершается служба на шестьCommemoration of the Miracle of Great-martyr Euphemia the All-praised, of Chalcedon (451). Совершается служба на шестьBlessed Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, princess of Russia, named Helen in holy baptism (969). Совершается служба с полиелеемUncovering of the relics of Hieromartyr Hilarion, archbishop of Verey (1998).

Hieromartyr Cindeus, priest, of Pamphylia (283-305). St. Arcadius, monk, of Vyazma (ca. 1592).

Martyrs Januarius and Pelagia, of Nicopolis in Armenia (ca. 310). St. Drostan of Old Deer and Aberdeen (Scotland) (6th c.). St. Nicodemus of Hilandar and Vatopedi, Mt. Athos, instructor of St. Gregory Palamas (1320). New Martyr Nicodemus of Elbasan and Mt. Athos (1722). New Monk-martyr Nectarius of St. Anne’s Skete, Mt. Athos, at Vryoulla, Ephesus (1820). St. Cyril, monk, of Paros (1833). New Hieromartyrs Momcilo Grgurevic, Dobroslav Blazenovic, Milan Bozic, Mihailo Djusic, Jovan Zecevic, Bozidar Jovic, Bogdan Lalic, Trifun Maksimovic, Velimir Mijatovic, Bozidar Minic, Miladin Minic, Marko Popovic, Dimitrije Rajanovic, Budimir Sokolovic, Relja Spahic, Lazar Culibrk, Savo Siljac, Savo Skaljka, Milorad Vukojicic, Ratomir Jankovic, Mihailo Jevdjevic, Dusan Prijovic, Dobrosav Sokovic, Nestor Trkulja, Serafim Dzaric, Andrija Siljak, Slobodan Siljak, and Jovan Rapajic, priests, of Serbia (1941-1945). St. Leo, monk, of Mandra.

Repose of cave-dweller Anastasia of St. Cornelius of Padan Hermitage in Olonets (1901).

Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse

St. Theophan the Recluse

Monday. [I Cor. 9:13-18; Matt. 16:1-6]

   The Pharisees and Sadducees desired of the Lord that He would show them a sign, but they did not see the sign before their very eyes. The Lord Himself was the sign—His teaching and deeds clearly showed who He was; no additional evidence was needed. The works that I do…they bear witness of me (John 10:25), He said to the Jews. The Lord denounced them, saying, Ye can discern the face of the sky, but the signs of the times ye cannot discern. Why did this happen with them? Because they lived an outward life, and did not enter within themselves. Without collectedness, without attentiveness and without self-searching it is impossible to notice or comprehend the works of God. This has continued until this day. Christianity is before everyone’s eyes as the true sign of God; but those who look at it do not see this, are shaken in faith and step away. Their eyes lose the ability to see the stamp of divinity in it, and they are ready to ask for special signs from heaven, like the Jews. But a sign is not given and shall not be given, because those who seek this do so only to tempt, and not in order to walk the path of Christ. Just enter onto this path, and from the first step you will see that it is divine, that it leads to God and brings God nearer to you. The Lord said to the Jews: “there shall no sign be given…but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” The Lord foresaw today’s unbelievers as well, and prepared for them an answer: Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn… (Matt. 24:30).

Articles

The Miracle of Saint Euphemia the All-Praised

The holy Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople proposed that the Council submit the decision of the Church dispute to the Holy Spirit, through His undoubted bearer St Euphemia the All-Praised, whose wonderworking relics had been discovered during the Council’s discussions. The Orthodox hierarchs and their opponents wrote down their confessions of faith on separate scrolls and sealed them with their seals. They opened the tomb of the holy Great Martyr Euphemia and placed both scrolls upon her relics.

Saints Euphemia and Olga

St. John of Shanghai

St. Euphemia was tortured during the persecutions against Christians under Diocletian, and her death and suffering are commemorated on September 16/29. But today her memory is celebrated because of a miracle that happened during the Fourth Ecumenical Council. This council was supposed to decide who is right—those who believe that Christ was both God and man, the God-Man, or those who asserted that the divinity in Christ completely swallowed up His humanity, so that even His sufferings were only apparent.

Greatmartyr Euphemia the All-praised

The Miracle of Saint Euphemia the All-Praised: The holy Great Martyr Euphemia (September 16) suffered martyrdom in the city of Chalcedon in the year 304, during the time of the persecution against Christians by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). One and a half centuries later, at a time when the Christian Church had become victorious within the Roman Empire, God deigned that Euphemia the All-Praised should again be a witness and confessor of the purity of the Orthodox teaching.

Greatmartyr Euphemia the All-praised

The young maiden Euphemia was also among those praying there. Soon the hiding place of the Christians was discovered, and they were brought before Priscus to answer for themselves.

Princess Olga Equal-to-the-Apostles

Before long a Greek bishop came to Russia and started preaching and telling Russians about our Lord the Savior and the Holy wonders recorded in the Old and New Testaments. The Russians who heard him telling about the three young men surviving the blazing furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3), stopped him and said, "If we do not see a similar miracle, we will not believe you." The bishop said prayers and then placed the holy Gospel into the fire. The flames did not harm the Gospel, not even the cloth book markers were singed.

One Woman’s Faith: St.Olga—The Mother of Saints of Many Nations

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

We sometimes see the term ‘the Russian Saints’, only to find that these saints include St.Olga and St.Vladimir and many others who lived long before Moscow became established as a small town, let alone as the capital of a country now called ‘Russia’ The problem is that English has no translation for the word ‘Rus’.

St. Olga the Princess of Russia, in Holy Baptism Called Helen

Saint Olga, Equal of the Apostles, was the wife of the Kievan Great Prince Igor. The struggle of Christianity with paganism under Igor and Olga, who reigned after Oleg (+ 912), entered into a new phase.

Holy Equal-to-the Apostles Olga

The Life of Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verey

One of the most eminent figures of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1920s was Archbishop Hilarion of Verey, an outstanding theologian and extremely talented individual. Throughout his life he burned with great love for the Church of Christ, right up to his martyric death for her sake. His literary works are distinguished by their strictly ecclesiastical content and his tireless struggle against scholasticism, specifically Latinism, which had been influencing the Russian Church from the time of Metropolitan Peter Moghila [of Kiev].

Reverend Hilarion Troitsky

In the morning the sun chased away the mists shrouding the beach. And at that point everyone saw the boat returning… It contained not four but nine people. And then everyone gathered on the quay, — monks, prisoners, guards, — all crossed themselves and went down on their knees. “A Miracle, indeed! The Lord has saved them!” came cries from the crowd.

Service to Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) of Verey

All thy hope didst thou set on God, following His divine will; and in time of persecution thou didst take up the archpastoral staff as a cross, preparing thyself for martyrdom for the sake of Christ. Him didst thou confess before thy tormenters, enduring sufferings. And standing now before Christ, O Hilarion, thou dost rejoice with the holy Patriarch Tikhon. O Hilarion, most honored master, thy life was truly lived in accordance with thy name; for, having the serenity of prayer within thee, thou didst make manifest the joy of Pascha unto all.

The Life of Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verea

Andrei Gorbachev

“He simply would give away everything that he had—which they asked for. He wasn’t interested in his things. So someone, out of charity, had to look after his suitcase at any rate. And he had such a helper on Solovki, too…"

St. Hilarion (Troitsky)

Progress and Transformation

Hieromonk Ignaty (Shestakov)

The ideal for a Christian should be not progress but transformation—a movement upward to the grace of the Holy Spirit, to the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Venerable Arcadius of Novotorsk

Saint Arcadius of Vyazma and Novotorsk was from the city of Vyazma of pious parents, who from childhood taught him prayer and obedience.
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