A Journey for Family

My journey to Maine

I will be traveling to Maine, early today, to baptize my niece’s third child, a baby girl. She and her husband Nicholas now have three beautiful children, and are members of Saint Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church, in Richmond, Maine. Father Chad Williams is their priest, and has kindly blessed me to serve both as the godfather to this child, and as the baptizing priest. I was previously blessed to have baptized my niece, Sarah, and her husband, back when they were living in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and members of Father Gregory Horton’s, Holy Myrrbearers Antiochian Orthodox Church.

My parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, converted to the Orthodox Faith in their mid seventies, back when Father Gregory was rector of Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Post Falls, Idaho, and are now laid to rest in the parishes’ cemetery. Of my immediate family, only my brother and sister-in-law remain outside the Faith, but I pray daily for their conversion, for the joy that would be mine, to be able to commemorate the whole of my family during the Divine Liturgy, would be beyond astounding.

Please pray for my safe journey to the State of Maine, and that God will bless my stay with Sarah and Nicholas. Please pray that I will be to them, the very best uncle, and to their new daughter, the very best godfather that I can be. If the Lord will it, my visit to this dear family will serve as a great blessing, and another generation will be committed to the Orthodox Faith, and to God, Whom we all worship in Holy Trinity.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Monday October 17, 2016 / October 4, 2016
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.

Hieromartyr Hierotheus, bishop of Athens (1st c.).
Uncovering of the relics (1595) of St. Gurias, first archbishop of Kazan (1563) and St. Barsanuphius, bishop of Tver (1576).
Synaxis of All Saints of Kazan.
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Demetrius priest Nicholas, Micael, Jacob and Tikhon priests, Martyr Basil (1937).
St. Khionia confessor (1945).
St. Vladimir Yaroslavich, prince of Novgorod (1052), and his mother, St. Anna of Novgorod (1050).
Venerables Helladius and Onesimus of the Near Caves in Kiev (12th-13th c.).
Venerable Ammon of the Far Caves in Kiev (13th c.).
Martyrs Gaius, Faustus, Eusebius, and Chaeremon of Alexandria (3rd c.).
Venerable Peter of Capitolia, bishop of Bostra (715).
Martyrs Domnina and her daughters Berenice (Bernice) and Prosdoce, of Syria (4th c.).
Venerable Paul the Simple (340) and Venerable Ammon (350), of Egypt, disciples of St. Anthony the Great.
Martyr Adauctus and his daughter St. Callisthene, of Ephesus(4th c.).
Martyr Stephen (Stiljanovich) of Serbia (1515) and his wife, St. Elena (Serbia).
Blessed Elizabeth of Serbia (Greek).
St. Theodore the Wonderworker, bishop of Tamassos in Cyprus (2nd. c.).
St. John (Lampadistes) of Cyprus (10th c.).
Sts. Jonah and Nectarius of Kazan, monks (16th c.).
Martyr Evdemoz the Catholicos of Georgia (1642).
Venerable Peor recluse of the Kiev Caves (13 c.).
St. Peter (Michurin) of Siberia (1820).

Scripture Readings

Ephesians 4:25-32

Do Not Grieve the Spirit

25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Luke 6:24-30

Jesus Pronounces Woes

24 “But woe to you who are rich,
For you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you who are full,
For you shall hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now,
For you shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Love Your Enemies

27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.