We are Eucharistic beings
Because we are rational creatures who exists in an unceasing communion of love with our Creator, our Orthodox Tradition teaches us that man is a “eucharistic being.” We are oriented towards our God with an insatiable inherent inclination of gratitude, thanksgiving, and doxology. Because we are created in God’s image, we have an innate capacity for love and thanksgiving, and it is precisely for this reason that we bear the seal of gratitude indelibly within ourselves. Our God freely created us out of divine goodness, in order that we might participate in His Divine Goodness, and because of this we are the recipients of this beneficence, and thus become partakers of Divine glory. “The desire to glorify God is by nature implanted in all rational creatures (Saint Basil the Great).”
Saint John of Damascus said that because God, Who is preeminently good, was not satisfied with contemplation of Himself, but in His exceeding goodness willed that certain things should come into existence which would enjoy His benefits and participate in His goodness, He brought all things, both invisible and visible, out of non-being into being and created them—including man, who is a compound of the visible and the invisible. Because of God’s love and mercy, we become fully aware of our eucharistic nature by our participation in the Mystery of Divine Liturgy, where we have a foretaste of the glory of Deified human nature in the sanctified atmosphere of doxology and thanksgiving.
In the Divine Liturgy, we have revealed to us the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the communion of God with His rational creatures in the glorified Body and Blood of the God-Man, Jesus Christ our Saviour. In this highest point in this supernatural Mystery, even in our fallen nature, we receive the most sublime gift of re-creation, renewal, and Deification in Christ. In partaking of His Flesh, we partake of His Nature, and truly participate in His Divine Essence, becoming communicants and heirs of His Divinity. Therefore, the supernatural and all-holy Mystery of Divine Communion is, in truth, the supreme Mystery of Gratitude. It is for this very reason that the dread Mysteries celebrated at every Liturgy, are also called a Eucharist (Thanksgiving) because they are the remembrance of many benefits, and they signify the culmination of God’s Providence towards us.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Sunday July 26, 2015 / July 13, 2015
8th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the First Six Councils (movable holiday on Sunday closest to July 16).
Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel.
Venerable Stephen of St. Sabbas’ Monastery (794).
St. Julian, bishop of Cenomanis (Le Mans) in Gaul (1st c.).
Martyr Serapion, under Severus (193).
Martyr Marcian of Iconium (258).
Translation of the relics (1620) Venarable Anthony Leokhnovsky (1611).
Venerable Abbess Sarah of Seeds in Libya (370).
Venerable Just, monk in Cornwall (5th c.) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Mildred, abbess of Minster in Thanet (England) (700) (Celtic & British).
Synaxis of Hilandar Saints, Mt. Athos (Greek).
Virgin-martyr Juthwara of Cornwall.
The Daily Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Sectarianism Is Sin
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Matthew 14:14-22
14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Jesus Walks on the Sea
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.