We Must Beware of False Idols
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object worshiped as though it were a god. Idolatry can also involve objects, persons, entertainment, even self. Anything that replaces the centrality of God in our life can be a form of idolatry. Job, music, money, sex, popularity, success, all can become a form of idolatry. Even nationalism can take on the form of idolatry.
It is a troubling time, when so many have given themselves over to the worship of rock stars, financial success, new cars, clothes, new trends, and even political parties. How many ministers have the American flag placed centrally in their “worship centers”, as though God were an American and salvation was linked to patriotism.
How many ministers spend more time preaching a nationalistic form of Christianity, while forgetting that Christ transcends cultures and nations. At the very time we need Christ the most, we allow ourselves to be distracted by entertainment, jobs, money, and even politics. We are bowing down, as a people, before false idols.
The centrality of Christ, and our personal relationship with Him, must be guarded against any intrusion of false idols. We, personally, must examine our life, making sure nothing has become an idol for us. Like the people of Israel in ancient times, turned back to God, repenting of their worship of a false idol, so too, must we put down our golden calves.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Wednesday July 20, 2022 / July 7, 2022
6th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)
Venerable Thomas of Mt. Maleon (10th c.).
Venerable Acacius of Sinai, who is mentioned in The Ladder (6th c.).
New Hieromartyr Paul priest (1918).
Venerable Eudocia, in monasticism Euphrosyne, grand-duchess of Moscow (1407).
Uncovering of the relics (2001) of Venerable Gerasimus, abbot of Boldino.
Martyrs Peregrinus, Lucian, Pompeius, Hesychius, Pappias, Saturninus, and Germanus, of Dyrrachium in Macedonia..
Martyrs Epictetus, presbyter, and Astion in Scythia (290).
Martyr Evangelus, Bishop of Tomi (Constanta) in Rumania.
Martyr Cyriaca (Domnica or Nedelja) of Nicomedia (289).
Translation (1654) of the Icon of the Mother of God “Vlaherensk” to Russia.
St. Hedda, bishop of the West Saxons (705) (Celtic & British).
St. Willibald, bishop of Eichstatt (786) (Celtic & British).
St. Maelruin of Tallaght (792) (Celtic & British).
St. Pantaenus the Confessor of Alexandria (203).
Hieromartyr Eustace (Greek).
Martyr Polycarp the New (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 2:9-3:8
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Sectarianism Is Carnal
3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
Watering, Working, Warning
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Matthew 13:31-36
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
The Parable of the Leaven
33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Prophecy and the Parables
34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
“I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
The Parable of the Tares Explained
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”