When Guilt Destroys Us
The conscience is that gift God has bestowed upon us that tells us when we have sinned against Him, and against our neighbor. The conscience calls us to turn from our sin, and seek to change the patterns of behavior that have caused us to sin in the beginning.
This tug by our conscience can be counterproductive if we make no effort at changing our behavior. It can also be counterproductive if we simply give in to despair, and resign ourselves to our sinful behavior, as though there is no cure for our illness. That sense of guilt is meant to aid in the fight to turn around our bad behavior.
When we have sinned, and our sins are tormenting us, it is at that moment that we must seek out Christ, for only His sacrifice for our sins is eternal and living. When we lay our sins before the face of that sacrifice, we have nothing to fear, for we recognize that we can not be saved by your own efforts.
If we simply surrender to guilt, we will find nothing but destruction, and our conscience will have been of no benefit whatsoever, and victory will not be ours.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday January 12, 2023 / December 30, 2022
31st Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
Fast-free
St. Macarius, metropolitan of Moscow (1563).
Virgin-martyr Anysia at Thessalonica (298).
Martyr Zoticus of Constantinople, feeder of orphans (4th c.).
New Hieromartyr Priest Sergius Florinsky of Rakvere, Estonia (1918).
Virgin-martyr Mary (1946).
Apostle Timon the Deacon (1st c.).
Martyr Philoterus of Nicomedia, and with him six soldiers and one count (311).
Venerable Theodora, nun of Caesarea in Cappadocia (8th cen.).
Venerable Theodora, nun, of Constantinople (940).
New Martyr Gideon of Karakallou, Mt. Athos (1818) (Greek).
Martyrs Magistrianus, Paulinus, Umbrius, Verus, Severus, Callistratus, Florentius, Arianus, Anthimus, Ubricius, Isidore, Euculus, Sampson, Studius, and Thespesius, who suffered under Julian the Apostate (4th c.).
Opening of the relics (1652) of Venerable Daniel of Pereyaslavl (1540).
St. Egwin, bishop of Worcester (717) (Celtic & British).
St. Tryphon, bishop of Rostov (1468).
St. Leo the Archimandrite (Greek).
St. Isaacius of Dalmaton (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
John 10:1-9
Jesus the True Shepherd
10 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
James 1:19-27
Qualities Needed in Trials
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Doers—Not Hearers Only
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Mark 11:27-33
Jesus’ Authority Questioned
27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.”
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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.