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| Old Style
May 8
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Wednesday |
New Style
May 21
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5th Week after Pascha.
Tone 4.
Fast Day. |
 Fish, wine and oil allowed.
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Apodosis of Mid-Pentecost. 
Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (98-117). 
St. Arsenius the Great, of Scetis (449-450).
St. Pimen the Faster, of the Far Caves in Kiev (12th c.). St. Arsenius the Lover of Labor, of the Kiev Caves (14th c.) Sts. Zosima and Adrian, of Volokolamsk, founders of the Sestrinsk Monastery (15th c.-16th c). Translation of the relics of St. Arsenius of Novgorod, fool-for-Christ (1785).
St. Hierax of Egypt (5th c.). St. Iduberga, foundress of Nivelles (Neth.) (652). Sts. Wiro (710) and Plechelm (730), missionary bishops, and Otger, deacon (8th c.), in the Maas Valley at Limburg (Neth.). St. Macarius of Ghent, archbishop (1012). St. Emilia (375), mother of Sts. Macrina, Basil the Great, Naucratius, Peter of Sebaste, and Gregory of Nyssa. Commemoration of the healing of the blinded Stephen by the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Cassiopia (1530).
Repose of Hieroschemamonk Michael of Valaam, confessor for the Orthodox Calendar (1934).
Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Wednesday. [Acts 13:13–24; John 6:5–14]
The disciples told the Lord to send the multitude away so they could buy themselves food in the villages; but the Lord said to them: They need not depart; give ye them to eat (Matt. 14:16). This preceded the miracle of feeding the five thousand people, beside women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fishes. Such an event, which had particular significance in the life of the Lord, offers also the following lesson. The multitude is an image of humanity, hungering and thirsting after the truth. When the Lord said to the apostles: give ye them to eat, by this He indicated in advance to them their future service to the human race—to feed it with the truth. The apostles did this for their times; in subsequent times they passed this service on to the pastorate which succeeded them. The Lord’s words extend to the present pastorate as well: Give ye them to eat. And the pastorate should keep this obligation in their conscience—to feed the people with the truth. In church there should be unceasing preaching of the word of God. What sort of pastors are silent pastors? And yet they are often silent—silent beyond measure. But it is impossible to say that this has occurred because there is no faith in their heart. It is just their misunderstanding, a bad habit. Nevertheless, this is no justification.
Articles
 St. John the Theologian |
 The Inexhaustible Ocean of Christ’s Divine LoveHieromartyr Thaddeus (Uspensky)Where the spirit of love blows, it is easy and free to breathe. |
 Venerable Arsenius the GreatSaint Arsenius the Great was born in the year 354 at Rome into a pious Christian family, which provided him a fine education and upbringing. |
 Venerable Pimen the Ascetic of the Kiev Far CavesSaint Pimen, Faster of the Caves, won fame by his exploit of fasting. |
 Venerable Arsenius the Lover-of-Labor of the Kiev Far CavesSaint Arsenius the Lover of Labor lived during the fourteenth century. |
 Orthodoxy in the Low Countries. Part 3: Great Monastic Saints and PenitentsMatthew HartleyWe now turn to some of the great monastic figures of the Low Countries. |