Letting Christ lead us out of the stagnation of this present world
For those who immerse themselves in partying and entertainment, all in an attempt to avoid the hardships and life struggles that make great souls, they will have failed to embrace the essential element that makes this life journey salvific. They will have avoided their service of love by enduring those difficulties that unite them to the love of Christ, and Paradise itself will have been sacrificed.
The Lord promised us that the yoke would be easy, and the burden light (Matthew 11:30), if we but united ourselves to Him. Christ opens the door to Paradise, fills our hearts with His divine love, and we become new creatures. But if we do not have Christ, we do not have love, and all our material gain will have led us down the road to a spiritual void that is darkness. If we do not have Christ, even our fasting, virtue, labor, and prayer will have been meaningless.
When we turn to Christ and let His embrace lift us out of the stagnation of this present world, we will have gained everything, eternity will be ours, and love will have filled the void that is this present darkness.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photos: I served the Sunday Liturgy for the Pan Orthodox Youth Retreat, taking place at a church camp in Okanagan, British Columbia.
Monday November 10, 2014 / October 28, 2014
23rd Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
Great-martyr Parasceva of Iconium (3rd c.).
Martyrs Terence and Neonilla of Syria, and their children Sarbelus, Photus, Theodulus, Hierax, Nitus, Bele, and Eunice (249).
Venerable Stephen of St. Sabbas monastery, hymnographer (807).
St. Arsenius I of Srem, archbishop of Serbia (1266).
Repose of Venerable Job of Pochaev (1651).
St. Demetrius, metropolitan of Rostov (1709).
New Hieromartyr John priest (1918).
New Hieromartyr Archpriest Michael Lektorsky of Kuban (1920).
St. Arsenius of Cappadocia (1924).
Venerable Nestor (not the Chronicler) of the Kiev Caves (14th c.).
St. Theophilus, fool-for-Christ of Kiev (1852).
Martyrs Africanus, Terence, Maximus, Pompeius, and 36 others, at Carthage (250).
Hieromartyr Cyriacus, patriarch of Jerusalem (363), and his mother Martyr Anna.
Venerable John the Chozebite, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (532).
Hieromartyr Neophytus, bishop of Urbnisi, Georgia (587) (Georgia).
St. Firmilian, bishop of Caesareain Cappadocia, and Venerable Malchion, presbyter (269).
St. Febronia, daughter of Emperor Heraclius (632).
Righteous Virgin Parasceva of Pirimin on the Pinega River (Archangelsk) (16th c.).
New Martyrs Angelis, Manuel, George, and Nicholas of Crete (1824) (Greek).
St. Athanasius I, patriarch of Constantinople (Mt. Athos) (1340) (Greek).
Protection of the Mother of God (Greek).
The Scripture Readings for the Day
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their Good Example
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, 4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
Luke 11:29-33
Seeking a Sign
29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
The Lamp of the Body
33 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.
Very Rev. Fr. Tryphon
I have been reading your blog and listing to your podcast for the past several months. They speak to me, almost as if you addressing me personally.
I’ve been meaning to write but various trial excuses have easily allowed be to postpone for yet another day.
I’m in Hong Kong on business travel, past midnight unable to