ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2025
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Святитель Феофилакт Никомидийский Чудотворная икона
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Old Style
March 8 		Friday
New Style
March 21
3rd Week of Great Lent. Tone 5.
Great Lent.
Monastic rule: xerophagy (bread, uncooked fruits and vegetables).

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомSt. Theophylactus, bishop of Nicomedia (842-845).

Apostle Hermas of the Seventy (1st c.). Hieromartyr Theodoretus, priest, of Antioch (361-363). Sts. Lazarus, founder (1391) and Athanasius, monk (15th c.), of Murmansk Monastery (Karelia). St. Andronicus (Lukash), schema-archimandrite of Tbilisi, Georgia, elder of Glinsk Monastery (1974).

“Kursk Root” Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos (1898).

St. Senan of Scattery Island, monastic founder (ca. 544). St. Felix of Burgundy, bishop of Dunwich and enlightener of East Anglia (ca. 648). St. Julian, archbishop of Toledo (690). St. Paul the Confessor, bishop of Plousias in Bithynia (ca. 840). St. Tarasius the Wonderworker, of Lycaonia.

Repose of Blessed Basiliscus of Uglich (1863) and Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko) of Eastern America (1960).

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

Friday.

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God (Wisdom 3:1). But in whose hand are the souls of sinners? The Saviour said to the apostles that satan seeks to sift them like wheat, that is, he seeks to knock them from the right path, to take them into his hands and do with them what he wants. That is why everyone turning away from the Lord is in the hands of satan, and he sifts them and casts them wherever he desires. Due to this the heads of sinners are constantly spinning, because the enemy, dragging them here and there, does not give them a chance to come to their senses. As soon as the enemy notices that someone is starting to have second thoughts, he starts to shake him even more strongly, so that his head again becomes clouded and his thoughts become scattered.

Friday.

The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness (Prov. 11: 5).[1]   Impiety is an incorrect relationship to God, or complete forgetfulness of God, to which belong also unbelief in the existence of God and in His providence for creatures. Some souls, being oppressed by wicked thoughts like these, but desiring nevertheless to be respectable individuals, resolve, “I will be upright, honest, and humane, not occupying myself with whether there is something higher than me which observes me, has expectations of me, and is able to demand an account.” And what is the result? The blessing of God—which they do not seek—does not abide with them, and their affairs do not prosper. Their conscience daily reminds them about their deeds either of unrighteousness, dishonesty or inhumanity. They only make a show of righteousness before other people in order to justify themselves, sharply fending off accusation, and falsely interpreting facts as needed. He whose conscious is inwardly blameless has no need of self-justification. Those who are not attentive to themselves allow this inner discord to slip by: those who are attentive control this with difficulty. Oh, when will one of such people conscientiously look at this discord, and discern where it comes from and how to set it right? He could then both set himself right and direct others toward the proper harmony.

[1] The Slavonic for Prov. 11:5 reads: The impious shall fall by his own impiety.

Articles

St. Theophylactus the Bishop of Nicomedia

Heading the Church of Nicomedia, Saint Theophylactus cared for the flock entrusted to him. He built churches, hospices, homes for wanderers, he generously distributed alms, was the guardian of orphans, widows and the sick, and personally attended those afflicted with leprosy, not hesitating to wash their wounds.

Apostle Hermas of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Hermas of the Seventy was bishop at Philippopolis, and died a martyr in the first century.

Hieromartyr Theodoritus of Antioch

Saint Theodoritus was a presbyter and keeper of sacred vessels at the cathedral church in Antioch.

Venerable Lazarus of Murom

Saint Lazarus of Murom was a Greek, born at Constantinople. In his native city he became a monk at the High-Mount monastery under the Elder Athanasius Diskotes, builder of many monasteries.

Venerable Athanasius of Murom

Saint Athanasius was igumen at the monastery of Saint Lazarus during the mid-fifteenth century.

The Wonderworking Kursk Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Sign"

The frightened monastic brethren rushed immediately to the cathedral, where they beheld a scene of horrible devastation. The force of the blast had shattered the gilded canopy above the icon. The heavy marble base, constructed of several massive steps, had been jolted out of position and split into several pieces. A huge metal candlestick which stood before the icon and been blown to the opposite side of the cathedral. A door of cast iron located near the icon had been torn from its hinges and cast outside, where it smashed against a wall and caused a deep crack. All the windows in the cathedral and even those in the dome above were shattered. Amid the general devastation, the holy icon remained intact and even the glass within the frame remained whole. Thinking to destroy the icon, the anarchists had, on the contrary, become the cause of its greater glorification.

Icon of the Mother of God “Kursk-Root”

The Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” is one of the most ancient icons of the Russian Church.

St. Felix of Burgundy the Bishop of Dunwich and Enlightener of East Anglia

Saint Felix, the Apostle of East Anglia, was born in the Burgundy region of what is now France. He was a bishop who was sent to England by Saint Honorius of Canterbury (September 30) to evangelize East Anglia.
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