From the calendar 2027

Friday, October 29

Martyr Anastasia the Roman

Appointed readings

2 passages

Epistle

Philippians 1:27–2:4

27Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,

28and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

29For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

30having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

1Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,

2fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

3Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

4Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Gospel

Luke 11:23–26

Open Reader ↗

23He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

24'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'

25And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.

26Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.'

The rhythm of the day

Fasting: Strict fast
Weekly tone: Tone 1

In remembrance

The saints commemorated this day

Martyr Anastasia the RomanRead the life

She lived in Rome during the reigns of the Emperors Decius and Valerian. At an early age she left all to embrace a life of unceasing prayer, entering a small monastery in Rome, directed by a nun named Sophia. For her Christian faith, she was seized and brought before the governor Probus and, when she boldly confessed Christ and refused to honor the idols, was subjected to a series of vicious tortures, under which she died. An angel led Sophia to retrieve her holy relics, which are now venerated at the monastery of Grigoriou on Mt Athos.

We are sometimes told that monasticism developed in the Church after Christianity became accepted and grew more worldly. The story of St Anastasia is one of many evidences in the lives of the Saints that what we now call monasticism was present from the earliest days of the Church.

Ven. Avram of Rostov

Our Holy Father Abramius (366) and his niece Mary (371) of MesopotamiaRead the life

Abramius was a Christian of noble birth who, early in life, left all (including a young bride) to live as a solitary monk. This he did for fifty years. When Abramius’ brother died, leaving his seven-year-old daughter Mary orphaned and alone, The Saint took her under his care, giving her a monastic cell near his own. Though Mary devoted herself joyfully to the monastic life, when she was about twenty she fell into sin with a corrupt monk who visited the hermitage. Far worse, she then fell into despair, thinking that she had cast away her salvation, and fled the hermitage to become a harlot in a nearby town. Abramius, unaware of what had happened or where she had gone, prayed constantly for her safety and to be shown where she had fled.

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