Use Your Suffering “Blessed is the man who uses his sufferings, knowing that all suffering in this brief life is loosed on men by God in His love for mankind, for the benefit and assistance of men. In His mercy, God looses suffering on men because of their sins –
Sunday December 21, 2025 / December 8, 2025 28th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone three. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed Venerable Patapius of Thebes (7th c.). New Martyr John (Kochurov), priest (1918). New Hieromartyr Sergius (1937). Venerable Cyril, abbot of Chelma Hill (1367). Holy Apostles of the Seventy: Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesar, and
Bind Up Thy Words “Bind up thy words that they run not riot, and grow wanton, and gather up sins for themselves in too much talking. Let them be rather confined, and held back within their own banks. An overflowing river quickly gathers mud.” Saint Ambrose of Milan #talk #words
Saturday December 20, 2025 / December 7, 2025 28th Week after Pentecost. Tone two. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (397). Venerable Nilus, monk, of Stolben Island (1554). Venerable Anthony, abbot of Siya Monastery (Novgorod) (1556). New Hieromartyrs Sergius, Andronic (1917). New Hieromartyr Antonius priest (1918). St. Ambrosius
Seize Your Salvation “If you want to serve God, prepare your heart not for food, not for drink, not for rest, not for ease, but for suffering, so that you may endure all temptations, trouble and sorrow. Prepare for severities, fasts, spiritual struggles and many afflictions, for “by many afflictions
Friday December 19, 2025 / December 6, 2025 28th Week after Pentecost. Tone two. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, archbishop of Myra in Lycia (345). Blessed Maximus, metropolitan of Kiev (1305). New Martyr Nicholas of Karamanos in Asia Minor (1657) (Greek). St. Nicholas, bishop of Patara. St. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (181).
The Sweet Life “All our attention must be centered on the parable of the Prodigal Son. We all see ourselves in it as in a mirror. In a few words the Lord, the knower of hearts, has shown in the person of one man how the deceptive sweetness of sin
Thursday December 18, 2025 / December 5, 2025 28th Week after Pentecost. Tone two. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified (532). New Hieromartyr Elias priest (1932). New Hieromartyr Gennadius (1941). St. Sergius confessor, priest (1950). St. Gurias, archbishop of Kazan (156). Martyr Anastasias. Venerable Karion (Cyrion) and his son St. Zachariah of
Virtue Freed “A virtuous person, even if he is surrounded by misfortunes or is burdened by labors, yet he remains free. On the contrary, an evil person, even if he were to rule an entire kingdom, remains a slave, for he has many masters: the iniquitous desires and passions that
Wednesday December 17, 2025 / December 4, 2025 28th Week after Pentecost. Tone two. Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Food with Oil Great-martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana at Heliapolis in Syria (306). Venerable John Damascene (760). New Hieromartyrs Alexis, John, Alexander and Nicholas priests, Basil deacon and with him 10 Martyrs (1918). New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest,