Martyr Charitina of Amisus (304). Sts. Peter (1326), Alexis (1378), Jonah (1461), Macarius (1563), Philip (1569), Job (1607), Hermogenes (1612), Philaret (1867), Innocent (Veniaminov) (1879), Tikhon (1925), Macarius (Nevsky) (1926), and Peter (Polyansky) (1937), hierarchs of Moscow.
Hieromartyrs Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, and the deacons Gaius and Faustus (264-265). Martyr Mamelta (Mamelchtha) of Persia (ca. 344). St. Gregory (Grigol), archimandrite, of Khandzta in the Klarjeti desert, Georgia (861). St. Damian the Healer, priest (1071), and Sts. Jeremiah (ca. 1070) and Matthew (ca. 1085), clairvoyants, of the Kiev Caves. St. Charitina, princess of Lithuania (1281). St. Varlaam, desert-dweller, of Chikoysk (1846). St. Seraphim (Amelin), schema-archimandrite, of Glinsk Hermitage (1958). Uncovering of the relics of New Hiero-confessor Basil (Preobrazhensky), bishop of Kineshma (1985).
New Hiero-confessor Gabriel (Igoshkin), archimandrite, of Melekess (Saratov) (1959).
Synaxis of the holy fellow-strugglers of St. Gregory of Khandzta (9th c.). St. Cosmas, abbot, in Bithynia (10th c.). St. John (Mavropos), metropolitan of Euchaita (1100). St. Matthew, founder of St. Nicholas-Cherneyev Monastery (Mordovia) (after 1573). St. Methodia, recluse, of Cimola (1908). Uncovering of the relics of St.Eudocimus the Unknown, monk of Vatopedi, Mt. Athos (1841).
Repose of Nun Agnia (Countess Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya) of Novgorod (1848) and Hieroschemamonk Paisius (Olaru) of Sihastria, Romania (1990).
Friday. [Phil. 3:8-19; Luke 7:31-35]
Whereunto then shall I liken the men
of this generation? That is, unbelievers. If the Lord
poses this question as if in perplexity, is it not even
more proper for us to be perplexed by acts of unbelief?
One might ask: how can people go against something that is
obvious in every respect? And yet they do. The fact that
Satan resists is not surprising—such is his name:
the enemy of truth and goodness. He clearly sees that God
exists, that God will judge him and condemn him, that
death for him is already prepared, but is nevertheless
defiant, and not for the sake of anything but evil, and
consequently, for greater ruin to himself. Are not
unbelievers being controlled by this spirit of fighting
against God? At least according to the understanding we
have about the soul and its operations, unbelief, given
the obviousness of the foundations of faith, is as
inexplicable as a sinner’s slavery to sin after he
has clearly seen that sin is destroying him. And here is
another contradiction! Only unbelievers and lovers of the
passions deny the existence of Satan and unclean spirits.
Those who should have stood up for them most of all
totally renounce them. Does not this teaching come from
them? Those who are of the darkness love the darkness,
they teach people to say that they do not exist, and that
moral life takes shape by itself, without their snares and
deceit.