ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Иоанн Дамаскин Великомученица Варвара Святитель Геннадий, архиепископ Новгородский
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Old Style
December 4
Sunday
New Style
December 17
28th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 3.
Nativity Fast.
Fish, wine and oil allowed.

Совершается служба на шестьGreat-martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana (306), at Heliopolis in Syria. Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. John Damascene, monk of St. Sabbas Monastery (760).

St. John, bishop of Polybotum (716). St. Gennadius, archbishop of Novgorod (1504).

New Hieromartyrs John Pyankov and Alexis Saburov, archpriests, of Perm (1918). New Hieromartyr Dimitry Nevedomsky, archpriest, of Ryabovo (Tver) (1937).

New Hieromartyr Seraphim, archbishop of Phanarion and Neochorion (1601).

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

Twenty Ninth Sunday After Pentecost. [Col. 3:4-11; Luke 17:12-19]

   Ten lepers were healed, but only one came to thank the Lord. Isn’t there generally a similar proportion of people who are grateful after receiving benefactions from the Lord? Who has not received good things; or, rather, what do we have in us, or what ever happens to us that is not good for us? Even so, is everyone grateful to God, and does everyone give thanks for everything? There are even those who permit themselves to ask, “Why did God give us existence? It would be better for us not to exist.” God gave you existence so that you would be in eternal bliss; He gave you existence as a gift, as a gift He has furnished you with every means for attaining eternal bliss. The job depends on you: you need only to labour a bit for this. You say, “But I have only sorrows, poverty, diseases, misfortunes.” Well, these are also some of the ways to attain eternal bliss. Be patient. Your entire life is less than a moment compared with eternity. Even if you had to suffer unceasingly your entire life, against eternity it is nothing; and you still have moments of consolation. Do not look at the present, but at what is prepared for you in the future, and concern yourself with making yourself worthy of that; then you will not notice the sorrows. They will all be swallowed up by unquestioning hope in eternal consolations, and your lips will never cease to utter thanks.

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