Raising our children to love God
Children are all wonderful gifts from God, who are pliable and open, ready to learn from the adults who are their parents, teachers, pastors, and neighbors. They depend on us for comfort and support, AND protection. They are in our care, and God expects us to take this responsibility very seriously. They are the future of our country, our Church, and our world, and must be taught the importance of being kind and generous towards others.
The child that is raised in the ways of the Lord, will in turn raise his/her child in the ways of God. Let us not pass on the sins and failures one generation into the generations to come. Let peace, love, justice, and charity be the hallmark of what we pass on to the next generation, and let us, most importantly, instill in our children the love of Christ.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photos: 1 and 2) Father Stephen Vernak, together with his matushka and children are visiting from Harrisburg, PA. They hosted me a few months ago, when I was speaking throughout Archbishop Mark’s Eastern Pennsylvania Diocese. Father Seraphim Majmudar of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tacoma, WA, together with his small children, brought the Vernaks to the monastery for a visit on Monday morning. 3) My dear Ethiopian friend is now a bishop! Abouna Markos! Axios! Axios! Axios!
Tuesday June 28, 2016 / June 15, 2016
2nd Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Apostles’ (Peter & Paul) Fast. Fish Allowed
St. Jonah, metropolitan of Moscow (1461).
Prophet Amos (8th c. B.C.).
New Hieromartyr Amos priest (1918).
Venerables Gregory and Cassian, abbots of Avnezh (Vologda) (1392) (translation of the relics, 1524).
Martyrs Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia at Lucania (303).
Martyr Dulas of Cilicia (305-313).
Venerable Dulas the Passion-bearer of Egypt.
Venerable Jerome (Hieronymus) of Stridonium (420).
Translation of the relics (9th c.) of Theodore the Sykeote (613).
Great-martyr Tsar Venerable Lazar of Serbia (1389).
St. Ephraim, patriarch of Serbia (1400).
Blessed Augustine, bishop of Hippo (430), and his mother Monica (387).
Venerable Orsiesius of Tabenna, disciple of St. Pachomius the Great (368-380).
Virgin Martyrs Leonis, Libye, and Eutropia, and their mother, who suffered in Palmyra of Syria (305).
St. Michael, first metropolitan of Kiev (992).
St. Symeon, archbishop of Novgorod (1421).
Venerable Abraham, abbot, of Auvergne (477) (Gaul).
Apostles Fortunatus, Achaicus, and Stephen (Greek).
Venerable Joseph, monk, of Bethlehem (Greek).
Martyr Grace (Greek).
St. Cedronus, patriarch of Alexandria (107).
Martyr Hesychius the Soldier of Dorostolum and two others in Moesia (302).
St. Spyridon, patriarch of Serbia (1388).
All New Martyrs of Serbia.
St. Trillo, abbot of Llandrillo.
Scripture Readings
Romans 4:4-12
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while stilluncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
Matthew 7:15-21
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.