Complaining disturbs the heart and distracts us from the Path
If we make it a habit to avoid complaining, we will disarm the enemy of our soul, for the act of complaining is like adding kindling to a fire, for it stokes our passions, and our ego is made stronger. It was Christ Himself who demonstrated on the cross that our focus must be on our Heavenly Father. If we make a constant effort to imitate Christ in all humility and love, the enemy of our soul will be displaced, the flames of our passions will be extinguished, and we will be one step closer to being transfigured, and made whole.
Complaining only disturbs the heart, and it distracts us from the Path. Complaining weakens our resolve and interferes with the acquisition of peace and holiness. When we complain we are rejecting the role of suffering as a means towards union with God. Our complaining keeps our heart from soaring to the heavens and delays that important moment when we surrender ourselves into the protective arms of Jesus.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Sunday October 26, 2014 / October 13, 2014
20th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone three.
Commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787).
Translation into Moscow of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1648).
Martyrs Carpus, bishop at Thyateira, Papylus the deacon, Agathadorus, and Agathonica at Pergamus (251).
New Hieromartyrs Innocent and Nicholas priests (1937).
Returning of the relics Venerable and God-bearing Father Sabbas the Sanctified (439-532) to the monastery of Massaba in Jordan on October 24, 1965.
Venerable Benjamin of the Kiev Caves (14th c.).
Martyr Florentius of Thessalonica (1st-2nd c.).
Martyr Benjamin, deacon, of Persia (ca. 424).
Venerable Nicetas the Confessor of Paphlagonia (838).
St. Meletius, archbishop of Alexandria (1601).
Great Martyr Zlata (Chryse) of Meglin, Bulgaria and Serbia (1795) (Bulgaria and Serbia).
Kazan “Of the Seven Lakes” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (17th c.).
St. Vanantius of Tours (400) (Gaul).
St. Anthony Metropolitan of Chkondidi and his disciple Hieromonk Jacob the Elder (18th-19th c.) (Georgia).
St. Cogman, abbot of Lochalsh.
The Scripture Readings for the Day
Galatians 1:11-19
Call to Apostleship
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Contacts at Jerusalem
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
Luke 8:5-15
5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The Purpose of Parables
9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
The Parable of the Sower Explained
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.