ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY Orthodox Calendar
Orthodox Calendar 2016
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Old Style
December 21
Tuesday
New Style
January 3
29th Week after Pentecost. Tone 3.
Рождественский пост.
Monastic rule: cooked food, no oil.

Cовершается служба, не отмеченная в Типиконе никаким знакомVirginmartyr Juliana of Nicomedia, and with her 500 men and 130 women (304). Совершается служба с полиелеемSt. Peter, metropolitan of Kiev and Moscow (1326).

Martyr Theomistocles of Myra in Lycia (251). St. Juliana, princess of Vyazma (Novotorzhok) (1406). Blessed Procopius of Vyatka, fool-for-Christ (1627). St. Philaret (Theodosius in schema), metropolitan of Kiev (1857).

New Hieromartyr Nicetas (Pribytkov), bishop of Belev (1938).

Finding of the relics of New Monk-martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri (1950).

Repose of Blessed Peter “the Nose,” of Kama (ca. 1938), Schemamonk Michael of Harbin (1939), and Mother Stavritsa, missionary in Kenya (2000).

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

Tuesday. [Heb. 12:25-26, 13:22-25; Mark 10:2-12]

           What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. With these words the Lord affirms the integrity of marriage; only one lawful ground for divorce is indicated—a spouse’s unfaithfulness. But what should one do if one discovers something like this? Be patient. We have a universal commandment—to bear one another’s burdens; even more willingly should close ones, such as spouses, mutually fulfill this with respect to one another. Unwillingness to be patient blows up some unpleasantness out of proportion, and trifles pile up into a dividing wall. What is the mind given us for? To smooth out the path of life. Wisdom will work out any unpleasantness which is met. Because of lack of earthly wisdom, it not worked out; even more because of an unwillingness to think over well the state of things, and even more from not having any goal in life other than pleasure. Pleasures cease, satisfaction with one another ceases; on it goes until divorce. The more goals in life are debased, the more frequent divorces become on the one hand, and on the other—unlawful temporary cohabitation. The source of this evil lies in materialistic views of the world and life.

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