Afterfeast of the Dormition. Martyrs Andrew Stratelates and 2,593 soldiers with him, in Cilicia (284-305).
Martyrs Timothy, Agapius, and Thecla, of Palestine (304-306). St. Pitirim, bishop of Perm (1456). Uncovering of the relics of St. Gennadius, abbot, of Kostroma (1646).
“Donskaya” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1591).
Repose of Abbess Maria (Ushakova) of Diveyevo (1904) and Archimandrite Spyridon (Efimov) (1984), disciple of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco.
Friday. [II Cor. 11:5-21; Mark 4:1-9]
Behold, there went out a sower to
sow. Since the time that this sower went out to sow,
he has not ceased to sow. In the beginning he personally
sowed, then through the apostles and at last through
Divine Scripture and divinely-wise teachers. To this day
the word of God’s truth is being sown everywhere.
Just be prepared to show yourself as good ground and
without fail you will be sown. God will raise up what has
been sown. How do you make yourself into good ground? With
attention and study of the word of God, sympathy and love
toward it, and readiness to immediately carry out what you
learn. With such a mindset, not a single word will lie on
the surface of your soul, but all will pass within.
Uniting there with the elements of the spirit which are
native to it, it will take root and sprout. Being
nourished then—from above through spiritual
inspirations, and from below through good desires and
labours—it will grow into a tree, give flower and
fruit. God Himself arranged everything around us this way,
and this is why we cannot but be amazed at our
fruitlessness. But all of this is due to our
inattentiveness and carelessness.