Are these the End Times?
The cultural and spiritual warfare that is taking place between the “Christian” West, and the Islamic Middle East, together with the extreme climate changes taking place around the world, have become a source of concern for many. Coupled with the polarization of the populous within the United States, and the mass apostasy from Christianity in the West, many Christians are now thinking we must be entering the period of the End Times.
Yet when we consider the words of the Our Father, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, we must know, as Christians, that our prayers do make a difference. Just as the faithful of the Early Church looked at events taking place in their world as possible signs of the imminent Second Coming of Christ, they, nevertheless, kept their focus on the possibility that there could be a “first resurrection”, as described in the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation, where the Church could experience a triumph, even in this world.
It is this hope that must be the ground of our daily living, for as Christians we are not to be giving ourselves over to fate, but to the hope that comes from Christ. God IS in charge, and He is NOT bound by anything. When we pray, “Thy will be done”, we must mean it!
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Together with my brother, Abba Melake Birhanat, of Seattle’s Ethiopian Cathedral.
Tuesday March 18, 2014
Third Week of the Great Lent. Tone five.
Great Lent. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil
Martyr Conon of Isauria (2nd c.).
St. Nicholas (1919).
New Hieromartyr John priest and New Hieromartyrs Mardarius and Theopane (1938).
St. Nicholas (Velimirovich), bishop of Ochrid and Zhicha, Serbia (1956) (Serbia).
Translation of the relics (1463) of St. Theodore, prince of Smolensk and Yaroslav (1299), and his children Sts. David (1321) and Constantine.
Monk-martyr Adrian, abbot of Poshekhonye (1550) and his fellow-ascetic St. Leonidas (1549).
Martyr Onisius of Isauria (2nd c.).
Martyr Conon the Gardener of Pamphylia (251).
Virgin-martyr Irais (Rhais) of Antinoe in Egypt (3rd c.) and with her Martyr Archelaus and 152 Martyrs in Egypt.
Martyr Eulogius of Palestine.
Martyr Eulampius of Palestine.
Venerable Mark the Faster of Egypt (5th c.).
Venerable Hesychius the Faster of Bithynia (790).
“Nurtured Up-Bringing” Icon of the Mother of God.
New Martyr John the Bulgarian (Mt. Athos), at Constantinople (1784) (Greek).
Martyr Archelaus and 152 Martyrs in Egypt.
St. Kieran (Ciaran) of Saigher, Munster (Ireland) (5th-6th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Theophilus, bishop of Caesaria in Palestine (200).
St. Virgil, archbishop of Aries (618).
Sts. Basil (1249) and Constantine (1257), princes of Yaroslavl.
New Hieromartyr Parthenius, Bishop of Didymoteichon in Thrace (1805).
New Martyr George of Rapsana (1818).
St. Piran, mont of Perranporth.
You can read the life of the saint by clicking on the highlighted name.
The Scripture Readings for the Day
Isaiah 9:9-10:4
9All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
13For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
14Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
15The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16For the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
17Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks folly.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
18For wickedness burns as the fire;It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
19Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
No man shall spare his brother.
20And he shall snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
And not be satisfied;
Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be against Judah.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
10 “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed2To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,And that they may rob the fatherless.
3What will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
4Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners,
And they shall fall among the slain.”
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
Genesis 7:1-5
The Great Flood
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. 2You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” 5And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him.
Proverbs 8:32-9:11
32“Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
34Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
35For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the Lord;
36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”
The Way of Wisdom
9 Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
3She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
4“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
5“Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
7“He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
8Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.