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January 26/February 8
St. Xenophon and his wife St. Mary, and their
two sons Sts. Arcadius and John, of Constantinople (6th c.). Martyrs Ananias the priest, Peter the prison guard, and seven soldiers, in Phoenicia
(295). St. Ammon of Egypt (350), disciple of St. Anthony the
Great. St. Symeon “the Ancient” of Mt. Sinai (ca. 390). St. Paula of
Rome, monastic foundress in Palestine (404). St. Gabriel, abbot at Jerusalem
(ca. 490). St. Conon, bishop and monastic founder on the Isle
of Man (648). Translation of the relics (845) of Sts. Theodore the
Confessor, abbot of the Studion (826), and his brother Joseph the
Confessor, archbishop of Thessalonica (832). St. David the Builder,
king of Georgia (1125). St. Clement of Mt. Sagmation (12th c.). St.
Xenophon, abbot of Robeika (Novgorod) (1262).
Repose of Metropolitan
Gabriel of Novgorod and St. Petersburg (1801) and Metropolitan Joseph
(Naniescu), of Suceava, Romania (1902).
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Tuesday
I Peter 3:10-22
Mark 12:18-27
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Thoughts for Each Day of the Year
According to the Daily Church Readings from the Word of God
By St. Theophan the Recluse
Tuesday. [I Pet. 3:10–22; Mark 12:18–27]
But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts (I Pet. 3:15). Sanctifying the Lord
in one’s heart is the soul and spirit of the hidden
man of the heart depicted above. As in the beginning, God
created the body of man out of particles of dust, breathed
into him the breath of life (cf. Gen. 2:7), and man became
as he ought to be, so the hidden man of the heart, created
on the inside from the indicated virtues, is only a real
spiritual man when his heart sanctifies the Lord God.
Thus, we read in the Lord’s Prayer,
“Hallowed[1] Be Thy
Name.” If this does not occur, then the man, who
was modelled from the aforementioned virtues, will end
up a stillborn child, without the spirit of life. Let
this be known to those who think to get away with a few
virtues without having any relationship to God! What
does it mean to sanctify God in the heart? It means
showing great reverence before Him unceasingly, always
bearing in mind the thought of His omnipresence; being
eager at every instant to zealously please Him, and
with all fear to beware of everything unpleasing to
Him. Especially, it means committing all of your
temporal and eternal life unto His fatherly care; to
accept all that happens humbly, submissively and
thankfully, as coming straight from His hand.
[1]In
the Slavonic, the words “sanctify” from
the Epistle is the same as word as
“hallowed” in the Lord’s
prayer.
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