ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Прп. Ангелина Сербская Святитель Иоасаф Белгородский Мина Александрийский
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Old Style
December 10
Saturday
New Style
December 23
29th Week after Pentecost. Tone 3.
Nativity Fast.
Fish, wine and oil allowed.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомMartyrs Menas the Most Eloquent, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus, of Alexandria (ca. 313) Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Ioasaph, bishop of Belgorod (1754).

Martyr Gemellus of Paphlagonia (361). St. Thomas Defourkinos of Mt. Kyminas in Bithynia (10th c.). Blessed John, king of Serbia (1503), and his parents Stephen the Blind (1446) and Angelina (Brancovic) (16th c.).

New Hieromartyr Sergius (Sorokin), hieromonk, of Sreznevo (Ryazan) (1937). New Nun-confessor Anna, schemanun, of Sreznevo (Ryazan) (1958).

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

Saturday. [Eph. 2:11-13; Luke 13:18-29]

   Strive to enter in at the strait gate. The strait gate is a life not according to your will, not according to your desires, not for pleasing yourself; the wide gate is a life according to all of the stirrings and strivings of a passion-filled heart, without the slightest refusal of oneself in anything. Thus, the gate to the kingdom is self-constraint. Restrain yourself in all things and it will be the same as pressing or pushing against a door to open it and squeeze your way through it. How and with what should you restrain yourself? With the commandments of God, which are opposed to the passion-filled stirrings of the heart. When you begin to be angry with someone, remember the Lord’s commandment not to give place to wrath, and with this restrain your heart. When lustful stirrings come, bring to mind the prohibition against even looking at a woman with lust, and with this restrain your lustfulness. When you want to judge someone, remember what the Lord said, that by judging you deprive yourself of intercession before the Judge of heavenly things, and with this restrain your arrogance. Do likewise in relation to every sinful movement [of the heart]. Gather against each of them sayings from Divine Scripture and keep them in your memory. As soon as some bad desire comes from your heart, bind it immediately with a saying directed against it, or tie up all of your desires and thoughts in advance with Divine words, and walk in them; you will be as if in bonds. But in these bonds lies freedom, or a free path to the Kingdom of God.

Articles

Martyrs Menas the Most Eloquent, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus, of Alexandria

The Holy Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus suffered for their faith in Christ under the emperor Maximian (305-313).

St. Joasaph of Belgorod, in Verse and Song

L. N. Pogozheva

The Queen of Heaven is particularly close to children who call upon her. She loves and helps them. Once the father of the holy Russian hierarch Joasaph of Belgorod was sitting on his porch at sunset pondering on what awaited his son when he grew up and finished his studies. Suddenly he saw the Mother of God in the air and his son on his knees, praying at Her feet. Then he heard her say to Joasaph, "Your prayer is enough for me," and from the heights an angel flew down and cloaked the youth in a bishop's mantle.

Saint Joasaph of Belgorod

So great were the labors of St. Joasaph that he soon became known to Empress Elizabeth I, who summoned him to court and listened to his homilies with great attention, later calling him to hierarchal service. In 1748 St. Joasaph was consecrated bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan. From that moment and until the end of his days, the saint was quite literally a good shepherd of his flock and knew each sheep by name.

The Miraculous Relics of St. Joasaph of Belgorod

"At the time I was studying at St. Petersburg Theological Academy. I had much knowledge, but no real faith. There were ceremonies associated with the opening of the relics of St. Joasaph and I attended them unwillingly, thinking about the tremendous crowds of people thirsting for a miracle. How could miracles happen these days? ...I returned to Petersburg as another person—a believer."

St. Joasaph the Bishop of Belgorod

Saint Joasaph was born at Proluka, in the former Poltava governance, on September 8, 1705, the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.

St Angelina of Serbia

Saint Angelina was the daughter of Prince George Skenderbeg of Albania. Her mother’s name is not known, but she raised her daughter in Christian piety and taught her to love God.
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