Christ Centered Dads

The importance of being a Christian father

I’ll forever be grateful for the love and support I received from my own father. He never let a day pass without giving his two sons assurance of his love and acceptance, and always demonstrated the importance of living an honest life. He was kind to everyone, generous almost to a fault, forgiving the wrongs done to him by others, looking for the good in everyone, and always demonstrating the importance of being true to oneself.

My father converted to the Orthodox Faith while in his mid seventies, along with my mother. Although I was raised in the Lutheran Church, by a devout mother, my dad was not much for “formal church”, as he put it. His way of worshiping God, he would say, was to enjoy God’s creation on the golf course. My dad would say he felt God’s presence in nature, but felt his boys needed to attend church, just as he’d been required to do when he was a boy (he’d been raised in the Episcopal Church). He always supported my mother in her commitment to our Lutheran parish, where she served for years as the choir director and organist.

I taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, while still in the eighth grade, and intended to one day become a Lutheran minister. Both my parents were proud of me, and supportive of my future goals. Since my father believed everyone should be free to go with their heart, he never pressed either me, or my brother, to push for a career that would somehow make him proud. He didn’t believe any parent should live vicariously through their children, but should encourage them to live a life that was grounded in their own heart of hearts.

It is always a joy for me to meet a father who visibly encourages his children, speaks proudly of his kids accomplishments even though their life choices may not have been his own, and encourages them to be true to themselves. Being a good father, especially in these difficult times of spiritual and moral decline, is not an easy task. Yet, the father who keeps his eyes focused on Christ, prays for his children, and demonstrates his unconditional love for them, will, in the end, have been a good father.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Wednesday September 26, 2018 / September 13, 2018
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Fast. Food with Oil
Forefeast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (The Holy Sepulchre) at Jerusalem (335).
Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion (1st c.).
New Hieromartyrs Stephan, Alexander priests and Nicholas deacon (1937).
Martyrs Cronides, Leontius, and Serapion of Alexandria (237).
Martyr Seleucus in Scythia (320).
Martyr Straton of Nicomedia (3rd c.).
Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian at Tomi in Romania (320).
Hieromartyr Julian of Galatia (4th c.).
Martyrs Elias, Zoticus, Lucian, Valerian, Macrobius, and Gordianat Tomi in Romania (320).
Venerable Peter at Atroe (9th C).
Great-martyr Ketevan, queen of Kakhetia (1624) (Georgia).
Venerable Cornelius of Padan-Olonets (16th c.), disciple of Venerable Alexander of Svir, and with him Venerables Dionysius and Misail
Venerable Litorius, bishop of Tours (370).
Venerable John of Prislop (15th-16th c.) (Romania).
Venerable Basil monk of Iveron Monastery (Greek).
St. Hierotheus of Kalamata, monk of Iveron Monastery, Mt. Athos (1745) (Greek).

The Scripture Readings

Ephesians 5:25-33

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects herhusband.

Matthew 23:29-39

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”