Darkness and Light

The Light of Christ dispels the darkness

In many of my writings I have shared the joy and healing that is to be found within the walls of the Orthodox Church, and the depth of an encounter with Christ that brings about transformation, and the restoration of the human heart as God meant it to be.

The mixture of anger boiling on all sides of the political spectrum, together with the forced separation from the social and psychological support we all have grown to expect from our society, is only compounded by a world that has become devoid of love. Thus, the importance of the Church as a hospital of the soul where one can receive the healing from Christ that makes us whole is just as important today, as it has been since the beginning, and dare not be dismissed.

The message of the Incarnate Son of God Who condescended to take on our flesh, and share His Divinity with our humanity, is the only real hope any of us has. The very Christ Who healed the sick, forgave the sins of the woman at the well, and sat down with tax collectors and sinners, reaches out to us through His Church, wherein His Light shines brightly, revealing the love of God to all of us.

It is within His Church that we can see the darkness of this world dispelled, and the Sun of Righteousness illuminating the salvific path that brings about the “peace that passes all understanding”. Only by moving ourselves within the safe harbor of the Church will we see the Light that saves us, and brings about eternal hope. Only the Light of Christ can dispel the darkness.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photos: My monastic cell.

Saturday December 19, 2020 / December 6, 2020
28th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed
St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, archbishop of Myra in Lycia (345).

Blessed Maximus, metropolitan of Kiev (1305).
New Martyr Nicholas of Karamanos in Asia Minor (1657) (Greek).
St. Nicholas, bishop of Patara.
St. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (181).
St. Abramius, bishop of Cratea in Bithynia (6th c.).

Prayer request: On this Feast of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, I am asking for your prayers on behalf of Subdeacon Athanasios Schumacher of Post Falls, Idaho. Athanasios has been battling stage four kidney cancer since the fall of 2016, and has taken a turn for the worst. Please also remember his beloved wife, Elene during this difficult time for them both. They are both long time friends of mine, and were both wonderful to my parents, who were both members of Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Post Falls.

The Scripture Readings

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.

Hebrews 13:17-21

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.

Prayer Requested

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.

Benediction, Final Exhortation, Farewell

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.

Luke 6:17-23

Jesus Heals a Great Multitude

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.

The Beatitudes

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.