Saint John of Rila

Saint John of Rila Father John – I have no bread (short is the bread daily) And the Lestvitsa* - so long … Longer than a thought and shorter than a peal of a bell. I’m ashamed, Father, that today I am speaking but not staying quiet like a germ, like a drop of a candle. The heart holds me up. *[‘lestvitsa] stairway to spiritual life Saint John of Rila (Bulgarian: ????? ???? ??????, sveti Ivan Rilski) (876 – c. 946) was the first Bulgarian hermit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Rila January 7 — The Synaxis of St. John the Forerunner. This is his main feast day, immediately after Theophany on January 6 (January 7 also commemorates the transfer of the relic of the right hand of John the Baptist from Antioch to Constantinople in 956)