Great-martyr Menas of Egypt (304). Martyrs Victor and Stephanida, at Damascus (160). Martyr Vincent of Spain (304). St. Theodore the Confessor, abbot, of the Studion (826). Blessed Maximus of Moscow, fool-for-Christ (1433).
Great-martyr Stephen-Urosh III of Decani (1331). St. Martyrius, founder of Zelenets Monastery (Novgorod) (1603).
Myrrh-streaming “Montreal” Iveron Icon of the Theotokos (1982).
Martyr Drakonas of Arauraka in Armenia (4th c.). St. Martin the Merciful, bishop of Tours (397). St. Bartholomew the Younger, of Rossano, Calabria (ca. 1054). St. Nicodemus the Younger, of Beroea in Macedonia (ca. 1305). Blessed Euthymius and Nestor, of Decani (14th c.). Synaxis of the Saints of Decani. St. Neophytus and St. Stephen Urosica, of Serbia (14th c.). St. Milica, princess of Serbia (Eugenia in schema) (1405).
Repose of Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) of Moscow (1812).
Twenty Fifth Sunday After Pentecost. [Eph. 4:1-6; Luke
10:25-37]
To the man who asked how to be saved,
the Lord on his part offered a question: What is
written in the law? how readest thou? By this He
showed that to resolve all perplexity one must turn to the
word of God. And so that there will not be such perplexity
at all it is best to always read Divine Scripture
attentively, with discernment and sympathy, applying it to
your own life, and fulfilling in your own thoughts what
relates to thoughts, in your own feelings and dispositions
what relates to the senses, and in your deeds what relates
to deeds. One who hearkens to the word of God gathers
bright understanding of all that is in him, what is near
to him, and what is above him; he clarifies his
obligations in all aspects of life, and holy rules, like
valuable pearls, are strung onto the thread of his
conscience, which then precisely and definitely indicate
how and when to act so that he please the Lord. He tames
the passions—something reading the word of God
always acts to assuage. No matter what passion troubles
you, begin to read the word of God and the passion will
become quieter and quieter, and at last it will be
entirely calmed. He who enriches himself through knowledge
of the word of God is overshadowed by the pillar of cloud
which guided the Israelites in the desert.