The Preeminence of Love
Obedience is a central theme throughout the history of salvation. Without obedience to God’s commandments, there can be no salvation, for the nous (the eye of the soul) must be healed before we can be made whole. The role of obedience is so central, in fact, that submission to God’s will must take place before the healing process can begin.
Obedience has often been misunderstood, for many associate submission as a sort of enslavement. For many, obedience is a relic of the past, when people had to bow before kings. Some parents even treat their children as though they were simply little friends, for fear obedience might stifle their child’s creativity.
Children raised by permissive parents often feel unloved, for they interpret leniency as a sign their parents don’t care. They sense a parent who really loves their child, would be willing to set boundaries as a way of protecting and nurturing the child.
Age and experience gives the parent an advantage, for it equips them with the needed tools to guide and protect their child. Experience is the factor that lets the parent know it is never a good idea to leave church attendance up to the child, for just as one would never think of asking a child if an education would be something they’d be interesting in pursuing, so the parent is willing to make the decision that church attendance is needed as a way of forming them into an adult with a spiritual grounding that will serve them well. Love is the root of a good parent’s expectation of obedience from their child.
Obedience also plays a role in our spiritual development, and our willingness to seek out spiritual guidance, and in turn, try to follow the direction we are given. The husband and wife who are obedient to one another, find true freedom in their mutual submission, for in surrendering their self will, they open themselves to the Grace of God, and healing of the nous can take place.
The obedience of a monk to his abbot, and to the rule of the brotherhood, also leads to a freedom that can not be enjoyed when he wallows in self will. Likewise, the obedience one gives to his bishop, is ultimately liberating, for in surrendering himself in obedience, the priest gives himself over to God’s will. The lives of monastic saints are filled with stories of persecution by bishops, but the monk who humbly embraces this suffering, is made holy, for holiness does not come without sufferingads e core of our Christian faith, and the foundation stone of our relationship with Christ. Without love, Christianity is simply philosophy.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Our novice, Bro. Basil, took this photo of Lilly drinking water from the fountain in the monastery’s courtyard.
Wednesday October 12, 2022 / September 29, 2022
18th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Fast. Food with Oil
Venerable Cyriacus the Hermit of Palestine (556).
New Hieromartyr John, archbishop of Riga in Latvia (1934).
Martyrs Dada, Gabdelas, and Casdoe (Casdoa) of Persia (4th c.).
Venerable Theophanes the Merciful of Gaza.
Uncovering of the relics of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco the Wonderworker (ROCOR)
Holy Martyr Gudelia of Persia (4th c.).
Venerable Cyprian, abbot, of Ustiug (Vologda) (1276).
The Eighty Holy Martyrs of Byzantium (4th c.).
Martyrs Tryphon, Trophimus, and Dorymedon, and 150 Martyrs in Palestine (Greek).
Translation of the relics of Venerable Neophytus the Recluse of Cyprus (1214) (Greek).
St. Auxentius the Wonderworker (Greek).
New Monk-martyr Malachias of Rhodes (1500).
St. Onuphrius the Wonderworker of Garesja, Georgia (18th c.).
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 her husband.
Luke 5:33-39
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting
33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
34 And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”
36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”