Beginning of the Indiction (Orthodox New Year)
Saints of the Day
Church New Year. St. Symeon Stylites (the Elder) and his mother St. Martha. (The services to the Saint and forthe New Year are combined.) (Vespers only) Martyr Aeithalas of Persia. Holy 40 Women Martyrs and Martyr Ammon the deaconand their teacher, at Heraclea in Thrace. Martyrs Callista and her brothers Evodus and Hermogenes at Nicomedia. RighteousJoshua the Son of Nun. St. Meletius the New of Greece. New-Martyr Angelis of Constantinople. Commemoration of the Great Fireat Constantinople about 470 A.D. Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos in Miasena. (Greek Calendar:St. Evanthia. St. Nicholas ofCrete, monk.) Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Quote of the Day
“O miserable man, do you wish to find life? Hold faith and humility fast within you; for through them you will find mercy, help, and words spoken by God in the heart, along with a protector who stands beside you both secretly and manifestly. Do you wish to obtain these things, which are the fountain of life? From the very outset take hold of simplicity. Walk before God in simplicity and not with knowledge. Simplicity is attended by faith; but subtle and intricate deliberations, by conceit; and conceit is attended by separation from God.”
St. Isaac the Syrian
“Ascetical Homilies” (Homily Seventy-Two)
Photo of the Day
Russian members of the Cirque Du Soleil, now playing in Tacoma, Washington, made a pilgrimage to the monastery.
Scripture Readings for the Day
Ephesians 2:19-3:7
Christ Our Cornerstone
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Ephesians 3
The Mystery Revealed
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
Mark 11:11-23
11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
The Fig Tree Withered
12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
And His disciples heard it.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.
The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.