Afterfeast of the Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple
On this first day of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, the Church commemorates the righteous Simeon and Anna the prophetess. The following words are ascribed to Christ in Ode 9 of the Canon: “I am not held by the Elder; it is I Who hold him, for he asks Me for forgiveness.”
The Synaxis of the Holy and Righteous Symeon the God-Receiver and the Holy Prophetess Anna
Stamatios, John, & Nicholas New Martyrs of Spetses
Martyred by the Turks.
Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos
Nicholas, Archbishop & Enlightener of Japan
Saint Nicholas (in the world John Kasatkin) was born on August 1,1836 in the village of Berezovsky Pogost, Belsky District, Smolensk Province into the family of a deacon.
During his half-century of service in Japan, Father Nicholas left only twice: in 1869-1870 and in 1879-1880. In 1870, through his intercession, a Russian ecclesiastical mission was opened in Japan with its center in Tokyo. On March 17, 1880, by the decision of the Holy Synod, he was assigned as vicar of Reval, then vicar of the Diocese of Riga. He was consecrated as a Bishop on March 30, 1880, in Holy Trinity Cathedral at Alexander Nevsky Lavra. According to his report to the Holy Synod, by the end of 1890 the Orthodox Church in Japan numbered 216 communities with 18,625 Christians in them.
Archbishop Nicholas, the Enlightener of Japan, fell asleep in the Lord on February 3, 1912 at the age of 76, After the Hierarch’s repose, the Japanese Emperor Meiji personally gave permission for him to be buried within the city, at the Yanaka cemetery. In Japan, Saint Nicholas is revered as a great righteous man and a special intercessor before the Lord.
Ansgar of Hamburg-Bremen
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