We Must be Prepared for the Storms that Abound
The past few days I have addressed the issue of young Orthodox Christians and their college experience, suggesting that they must be prepared to defend their faith in a challenging, secular setting. The truth is, all of us need to be prepared to defend our faith, but not just against the occasional person who would challenge our beliefs, or question our involvement in a faith that is so demanding of our time and energy.
Orthodoxy is not like any other form of Christianity. Only in Orthodoxy do we find the challenge of keeping over half the year as periods of fasting. Only in Orthodoxy do we keep the ancient Christian practice of standing for our services, some lasting for many hours. Only in Orthodoxy are we expected to abstain from all food and drink from midnight on, before receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood. Only in Orthodoxy are we expected to confess our sins to Christ, frequently, before a witness (the priest).
I could go on, but the point I am trying to make is that Orthodoxy is not “Christianity lite”. The Orthodox Church has not attempted to reinvent herself every ten or twenty years. Her teachings, divine services, and way of life have remained virtually unchanged for two millennia, and are not likely to see many changes for the next thousand years. If it works, why change it?
Since the Church, ancient as she is, is still set in a modern world, her faithful need to be armed as in combat, ready to live the life that Orthodoxy expects of her faithful, regardless of the influences and temptations that abound at her doorstep. The only way this is possible is if we strengthen our resolve to live our Orthodoxy in this secular environment by educating ourselves about our faith. Blind acceptance of the Church’s practices and beliefs is simply not enough. We will ultimately fail in our adherence to our Orthodox Faith if we simply go through the motions without understanding what it means to be Orthodox.
Although the services impart the teachings of our faith (provided we understand the liturgical language that is being used), we can not expect to deepen our own understanding by simply attending services. Spiritual reading must be a part of our daily routine. We must see spiritual reading as more important than reading the newspaper, or watching television. Immersing ourselves in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and following the daily readings of the Church Year, should be as important as brushing our teeth. Reading books on prayer and the inner life should be as intricately a part of our day as having a nourishing breakfast before starting work.
Finally, feeding our soul is not just the job of our priest, for that would be like sending our child off to school while not expecting them to do their homework. The Great Ship of the Church is taking us on a wonderful journey into the Heart of God. We must be prepared for the storms that abound, so that we do not find ourselves being tossed overboard, or crashing into the rocks.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Monday September 6, 2021 / August 24, 2021
12th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Hieromartyr Eutychius (1st c.), disciple of St. John the Theologian.
Translation of the relics of St. Peter, metropolitan of Kiev (1479).
New Hieromartyr Maximus Sandovich priest (1914).
New Hieromartyr Priests Michael Voskresensky, and those with him, of Nizhni-Novgorod (1918).
Venerable Aristoclius elder of Moscow (1918).
New Hieromartyr Seraphim (1946).
Venerable Arsenius, abbot of Komel (Vologda) (1550).
Martyr Tation at Claudiopolis (305).
Virgin-martyr Cyra of Persia (558).
Venerable George Limniotes the Confessor of Mt. Olympus (716).
Equal-to-the-Apostles Cosmas of Aitolia (1779).
0Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Petrovskaya” (“of St. Peter of Moscow”) (1306).
St. Martyrius, ArchBishop of Novgorod (1199).
Commemorating the appearance of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary to Venerable Sergius, abbot, of Radonezh (1385).
St. Dionysius of Zakynthos, archbishop of Aegina (1622).
St. Serapion the Wonderworker, abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist at Garesja, Georgia (1747) (Georgia).
The Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 5:10-15;
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
Be Reconciled to God
12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Mark 1:9-15
John Baptizes Jesus
9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. 11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Satan Tempts Jesus
12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Hebrews 7:26-8:2
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.
The New Priestly Service
8 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
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.
