We Must Collaborate With God
If we are to be healthy spiritually, we must cooperate with God’s divine grace. The nous, as the center of our being, refers to the noetic energy that functions in the heart of every spiritually healthy person. Only the Holy Spirit can bring about the healing of the nous, but such healing requires our cooperation. We must collaborate with God’s grace if we are to be healed, and made whole. Healing takes place when our nous is made “free of conceit and evil” according to Saint Gregory Palamas.
When we immerse ourselves in the Life of the Church, we become collaborators with the action of the Holy Spirit, and the road to healing is opened to us. Our life in Christ changes us, and we become the children of the Most High. This is a gift of God because of His great mercy, but because He has created us with free will, our cooperation is necessary.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Tuesday August 29, 2023 / August 16, 2023
13th Week after Pentecost. Tone three.
Translation of the Image Not-Made-By-Hands of our Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople (944).
Martyr Diomedes the Physician of Tarsus in Cilicia (298).
133 Martyrs of Palestine.
New Hieromartyr Stephen priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs priest Vladimir and his brother Boris (1931).
New Hieromartyr Alexander priest, Virgin Martyr Anna and Martyr Jacob (1937).
Venerable Cherimon (Chaeremon) of Egypt (4th c.).
Martyr grand prince Constantine (1714) (Romania).
Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos of St. Theodore (“Feodorovskaya”) (1239) and “Triumph of Holy Theotokos” (Port Artur) (1904).
Venerable Joachim, monk, of Osogovo and Sarandapor (11th c.).
New Martyr Nicodemus of Meteora (1551) (Greek).
New Martyr Stamatius of Volos, Thessaly (1680) (Greek).
Venerable Anthony the Stylite of Martq’ophi, Georgia (6th c.) (Georgia).
Holy Martyr Kristepore Guruli (Georgia).
New Martyrs King Constantine Brancoveanu of Wallachia and his four sons Constantine, Stephen, Radu, and Matthew, and his counsellor Ianache (1714) (Romania).
Venerable Gerasimus the New Ascetic of Cephalonia (Mt. Athos) (1579) (Greek).
Venerable Nilus, brother of Emperor Theodore Laskaris, who rebuilt the monastery of the Mother of God at Epirus (Greek).
St. Timothy of Chalcedon, archbishop, founder of the monastery of Pendeli (Greek).
Great New Martyr Apostolos of the town of St. Laurence, martyred in Constantinople (1686) (Greek).
Translation of the relics of Martyrs Seraphim, Dorotheus, James, Demetrius, Basil and Sarantis of Megaris (Greek).
Martyr Alcibiades (Greek).
St. Raphael of Banat, Serbia (17th c.) (Serbia).
St. Roman the Sinaite of Djunisa, Serbia (14th c.) (Serbia).
St. Eustathius II, archbishop of Serbia (1309) (Serbia).
The Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
Collection for the Judean Saints
16 But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. 18 And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, 19 and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, 20 avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us— 21 providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
22 And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. 23 If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
Administering the Gift
9 Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; 2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. 3 Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; 4 lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. 5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
Mark 3:13-19
The Twelve Apostles
13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.