Against The Current of a Sinful Age
“A fish that is alive swims against the flow of water. One that is dead floats down with the water. A true Christian goes against the current of a sinful age. A false one is swept away by its swiftness.”
Saint Philaret of Moscow
Wednesday January 22, 2025 / January 9, 2025
31st Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
Fast. Wine and Oil Allowed
Martyr Polyeuctus of Melitene in Armenia (259).
4Hieromartyr Philip, metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia (1569).
St. Jonah (Peter in schema), founder of Holy Trinity Monastery in Kiev (1902).
New Hieromartyr Paul priest (1943).
Prophet Shemaiah (Samaia, Semeias) (10th c. B.C.).
St. Peter, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (395), and brother of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
Venerable Eustratius the Wonderworker of Tarsus (821).
St. Adrian of Canterbury (709) (Celtic & British).
St. Berhtwald Archbishop of Canterbury (731) (Celtic & British).
St. Fillan (Foelan) of Strathfillan (VIII) (Celtic & British).
New Martyr Parthena of Edessa in Macedonia (1375).
Translation of the relics of St. Judoc, hermit of Ponthieu.
St. Fillan, abbot of Strathfillan.
The Scripture Readings
Luke 6:17-23 Matins Gospel
17
And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,
18
as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
19
And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
20
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.
21
Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.
22
Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake.
23
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
1
James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9
Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,
10
but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
11
For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18
Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
11
So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
12
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
13
Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14
But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
15
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.
16
And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Hebrews 13:17-21 Hieromartyr Philip
17
Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
18
Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.
19
But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20
Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21
make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
John 10:9-16 Hieromartyr Philip
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.
16
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
https://rumble.com/v6bkgoy-against-the-current-of-a-sinful-age.html
https://old.bitchute.com/video/zeNRsqJeudjb/