Being empathetic allows us to see through the other persons eyes
To be empathetic is to be more tolerant, for by being empathetic we can view the extenuating circumstances of other people’s lives. This means that we learn to seek a broader understanding of other people’s behaviors, because we’ve become willing to listen. Our empathy helps us to see other peoples experience, not with our own eyes, but with their eyes. We even see that we can recognize ourselves in others, for we are all filled with fear of humiliation, shame, hurt, and even the desire for revenge. Our empathy helps us see that we are all sinners, and that the other person’s salvation needs to be just as important to us, as our own salvation.
It is important to consider that the enemy of empathy is power. Those who are in positions of power over others, often have trouble being empathetic. For anyone holding positions of power, be they bosses, clergy, heads of departments, politicians, or even parents, empathy must be fostered by learning to listen to others. The department head who fires an underling because of office gossip, without taking the time to look at the whole picture, fails at being empathetic. This is because when power becomes absolute, the ability to empathize is sacrificed. To be empathetic is to be more tolerant, for by being empathetic we see ourselves, as did Saint Paul, as the worst of sinners, and we don’t have time to sit in judgement of another person. As empathetic persons we realize that we are all struggling with our fallen nature, and we want to support one another on our journey into the Heart of God.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Friday August 21, 2015 / August 8, 2015
12th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)
Afterfeast of the Transfiguration.
St. Emilian the Confessor, bishop of Cyzicus (820).
St. Philaret of Ichalka, Ivanovo (1913).
New Hieromartyr Joseph (1918).
New Hieromartyr Nicholas priest (1937).
New Hieromartyr Nicodemus (Krotov) archbishop of Kostroma and Galich (1938).
Venerable Gregory, iconographer of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).
Translation of the relics (1566) of Venerables Zosimas (1478) and Sabbatius (1435) of Solovki.
Second translation of the relics (1992) of Venerables Zosimas, Sabbatius, and Herman of Solovki.
St. Myron, bishop of Crete (350).
Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonides of Constantinople, and many infants with them.
Venerable Gregory of Sinai (Mt. Athos) (1346).
“Tolga” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1314).
Martyr Gormizdas of Persia (418).
New Martyr Triandaphyllus of Zagora in Thessaly (1680) (Greek).
Twelve Ascetics of Egypt (Greek).
Two Martyrs of Tyre (Greek).
Martyr Styracius (Greek).
New Martyr Anastasius (Spaso) of Radovishte in Strumica who suffered at Thessalonica (1794) (Greek).
St. Gregory, wonderworker of the Kiev Caves (14th c.).
St. Zosimas the Sinaite of Tumana Monastery, Serbia (14th c.).
Monk-martyr Euthymius, abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist at Garesja, Georgia (1804).
Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 7:10-16
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 12 Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
The Joy of Titus
13 Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. 15 And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
Mark 2:18-22
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”