Sunday December 7, 2025 / November 24, 2025 26th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone one. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed 1Great-martyr Mercurius of Caesarea in Cappadocia (259). 2Great-martyr Catherine of Alexandria (305). 2Hieromartyr Mercurius of Smolensk (1238). 0Venerable Mercurius, the Faster of the Kievan Caves, far caves (14th C). oNew Hieromartyr Eugraphus (1919). oNew Hieromartyrs Eugene and Michael
Escape From This Hell “The escape from this hell of addiction to food cannot be anything but prayer, the reestablishment of our ontological dependence on God. But if we eat and feel we betrayed God, we will never escape this hell. We must do what He teaches us: do everything
Saturday December 6, 2025 / November 23, 2025 26th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish St. Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium (394). St. Gregory, bishop of Agrigentum (680). St. Alexander Nevsky (in schema Alexis), grand prince of Novgorod (1263). St. Metrophanes (in schema Macarius), bishop of Voronezh (1703). New Hieromartyr Seraphim
“In how many, many ways have the persecutors of Christians thought to themselves that they were done with Christianity for good. In fact, it was their lives that were finished, while Christianity sprouted and flowered anew. Still, even in the face of this experience, some of our contemporaries reckon that
Friday December 5, 2025 / November 22, 2025 26th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Apostles Philemon and Archippus, Martyr Apphia, wife of Philemon, and St. Onesimus, disciple of St. Paul (ca. 109). Martyrdom of St. Michael, prince of Tver (1318). New Hieromartyr Vladimir priest (1932). New Hieromartyr Iosaph bishop of Mogilev, New Hieromartyrs John, Basil,
Saved in Simplicity “So we no longer pursue plainness and simplicity of life. We no longer value stillness, which helps to free us from past defilement, but prefer a whole host of things which distract us uselessly from our true goal. Rivalry over material possessions has made us forget the
Thursday December 4, 2025 / November 21, 2025 26th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. Venerable Columbanus of Bobbio, abbot and founder of Luxeuil Abbey (Gaul) (615) (Celtic & British). New Martyrs Priest Alexander Khotovitsky of New
How To Be Angry “Anger is by nature designed for waging war with demons and for struggling with every kind of sinful pleasure. Therefore angels, arousing spiritual pleasure in us and giving us to taste its blessedness, incline us to direct our anger against the demons. But the demons, enticing
Wednesday December 3, 2025 / November 20, 2025 26th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Forefeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. Venerable Gregory Decapolites (816). St. Proclus, archbishop of Constantinople (447). New Hieromartyrs Macarius bishop of Ecaterinoslav, Alexis, Alexander, Vladimir, John, Alexis, Basil, Nicholas,
Guarantee Victory “Wait on the Lord.” In due time both you and he who wishes evil to you will realize that He sees and remembers. You may wonder what you have accomplished in not returning evil for evil. You have accomplished the wisest possible thing in any given circumstances, namely: