ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2023
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Священномученик Елевферий Иллирийский Иларион сщмч. Преподобный Павел Латрийский
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Old Style
December 15
Thursday
New Style
December 28
30th Week after Pentecost. Tone 4.
Nativity Fast.
Fish, wine and oil allowed.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомHieromartyr Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, and Martyrs Anthia (his mother), Coremonus the eparch, and two executioners who suffered with them (117-138). Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Paul of Mt. Latros (956). Совершается служба на шестьSt. Stephen the Confessor, archbishop of Surozh in the Crimea (ca. 790). Совершается служба с полиелеемNew Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), archbishop of Verey (1929). Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSynaxis of the Saints of the Crimea.

Martyr Eleutherius of Byzantium (beg. of 4th c.). St. Pardus, hermit, of Palestine (6th c.). St. Tryphon of Pechenga, or Kola (1583), and his martyred disciple Jonah (16th c.). Synaxis of the Saints of Kola.

Martyr Susanna the Deaconess, of Palestine (4th c.). Monk-martyr Bacchus of St. Sabbas Monastery, at Misr al-Fustat (Egypt) (787).

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

Thursday. [Heb. 10:35-11:7; Mark 9:10-16]

   History flows on and, it seems, inexorably determines individual events. How many preparations there were to receive the Saviour!… At last His closest indicator came, John, but what came of it? With John, They have done…whatsoever they listed, and the Son of Man suffered and was humiliated. The flow of events could not be broken; it took its own. So the flow of history always draws everything after it. People ask, “Where is freedom? What is it, given such an order of events? No more than a phantom.” Thus fatalists usually reason. But this all-determining necessity for the flow of events is only an appearance; in reality all human events, both common and individual, are the fruit of man’s free undertakings. The common [history] flows exactly the way it does because everyone, or a majority of people, want this; and the individual enters into agreement with the common [majority] because one or another in particular wants it. The proof of this is obvious: in the midst of general good there occur bad particulars; and in the midst of general bad there occur good particulars. Also, in the midst of a firmly established commonality are born particulars which, spreading and becoming stronger and stronger, overpower the former commonality and take its place. But these particulars are always a matter of freedom. What in di Christianity have in common with the character of time in which it was conceived? It was sown by several individuals who were not a result of the necessary flow of history; it attracted those who desired it; it spread vigorously and became the general affair of mankind of the time, and yet it was a matter of freedom. Similarly, only in a bad direction—how did the West become corrupted? It corrupted itself: instead of learning from the Gospels they began to learn from pagans and adopt their customs—and they became corrupted. The same will happen with us: we have started to learn from the West which has fallen from Christ the Lord, and have transferred its spirit to ourselves. Finally, like the West, we will renounce true Christianity. But in all of this there is nothing necessarily determining the matter of freedom: if we want to, we will drive away the Western darkness. If we don’t want to, of course, we will submerge ourselves in it.

Articles

Hieromartyr Eleutherius the Bishop of Illyria, and His Mother

Saint Eleutherius, the son of an illustrious Roman citizen, was raised in Christian piety by his mother.

Venerable Paul of Latros

Saint Paul of Latros was a native of the city of Aelen in Pergamum. Early bereft of his father, he was educated at the monastery of Saint Stephen in Phrygia.

St. Stephen the Confessor the Archbishop of Sourozh in the Crimea

Saint Stephen the Confessor, Archbishop of Surrentium (Sourozh), was a native of Cappadocia and was educated at Constantinople.

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.

Martyr Eleutherius at Constantinople

The Holy Martyr Eleutherius Cubicularius was an illustrious and rich chamberlain [“cubicularius”] at the Byzantine court.

Venerable Tryphon the Abbot of Pechenga (Kolsk)

Saint Tryphon of Pechenga and Kola, in the world Metrophanes, was born in the Novgorod governia into a priestly family.
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