St. Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome (655).
Martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius, of Vilnius, Lithuania (1347). Martyr Ardalion the Actor, who suffered under Maximian (4th c.). Martyr Azat the Eunuch and 1,000 Martyrs, in Persia (341).
New Martyr Sergius (Trofimov) of Nizhni-Novgorod and companion (1918).
Vilna Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. “Sweet-kissing” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (9th c.).
St. Tassach, bishop of Raholp (Ireland) (5th c.). Monk-martyr Christopher of St. Sabbas’ Monastery (797). New Martyr Demetrius of the Peloponnese, at Tripolis (1803). Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens, and Trophimus, of the Seventy (ca. 67). St. Cyriacus, chorepiscopus of Jerusalem, and his mother, Martyr Anna (363). New Hieromartyr Protopresbyter Basil Martysz of Teratyn (Chelm and Podlasie, Poland) (1945).
Thomas’ Sunday. [Acts 5:12–20; John
20:19–31]
My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)
cried the holy apostle Thomas. Do you feel the strength
with which he has grasped the Lord, and how tightly he is
holding onto Him? A drowning man grasps the plank on which
he hopes to be saved in the same way. We will add that
whoever does not have the Lord like this for himself and
does not keep himself this way in relation to the Lord,
does not yet believe in the Lord as he should. We say:
“Saviour and Lord,” meaning that He is the
Saviour of all; but Thomas says: “my Saviour and
Lord.” He who says: “my Saviour,” feels
his own salvation proceeding from Him. The feeling of
salvation lies adjacent to the feeling of perishing, out
of which the Saviour pulls whomever He saves. The feeling
of perishing, for a man who is life-loving by nature and
who knows that he cannot save himself, forces him to seek
the Saviour. When he finds Him and feels the power of
salvation proceeding from Him, he grasps Him tightly and
does not want to be torn from Him, though he be deprived
for this of life itself. Such a nature of events in the
spiritual life of a Christian are not only imagined in the
mind, but are experienced in deed. Then, both his faith
and his union with Christ become firm, like life and
death. Only such a person can sincerely cry: Who shall
separate me! (cf. Rom. 8:35).
