Repentance Power
“Repentance has great power. It takes the coal and turns it into a diamond. It takes the wolf and makes it a lamb. It takes the savage and makes him a Saint! It takes the bloodthirsty robber and makes him the first inhabitant of Paradise.”
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
#orthodoxy #repentance #power
Thursday January 23, 2025 / January 10, 2025
31st Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
St. Gregory of Nyssa (395).
Venerable Dometian, bishop of Melitene (601).
St. Theophan the Recluse, bishop of Tambov (1894).
Venerable Marcian, presbyter of Constantinople (471).
Venerable Paul, abbot of Obnora (Vologda) (1429), and his disciple St. Macarius, abbot of Pisma Monastery.
Venerable Antipas of Valaam (1882).
New Hieromartyr Zenobius priest (1920).
New Hieromartyr Peter priest (1930).
New Hieromartyr Anatolius metropolite of Odessa (1938).
Woman Hieromartyr Arsenia abbess (1939).
Venerable Macarius of Pisemsk and Kostroma (14c).
Blessed Theosebia the Deaconess (385), sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
Venerable Ammon of Nitria, monk (5th c.).
Venerable Antipas of Galapodeshti, Romania and Valaam Monastery (1882) (Romania).
Martyred Elder Ephraim and six incorrupt monks of Obnora (1538).
The Scripture Readings
John 10:1-9 Matins Gospel
1
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4
And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7
Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8
All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
19
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20
for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24
for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
17
Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18
So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
19
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’
20
And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
21
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
24
And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!
25
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
26
And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
27
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
Hebrews 7:26-8:2 St. Theophan
26
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
27
who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
28
For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
1
Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2
a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
John 10:9-16 St. Theophan
9
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12
But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13
The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15
As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
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