Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever!
Saints of the Day
August 9 / 22. Afterfeast of the Transfiguration. Apostle Matthias. Martyr Anthony of Alexandria. Martyrs Julian, Marcian, John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Photius (Phocas), Peter, Leontius and Mary of Constantinople. St. Psoes of Egypt. St. Macarius, abbot of Oredezh.
Photo of the Day
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Archpriest Basil Rhodes, rector of Saint Nicholas Church in Saratoga, CA, together with Abbot Tryphon. We’ve been close friends since 1986, and having Father Basil with us for a week has been a great blessing. Father Basil and I are standing in the trapeza, next to a painting of Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America.
Quote of the Day
“Sweet life is not experienced by those who enjoy it in a worldly way, but rather by those who live spiritually and accept bitterness with joy, like a healing herb for the soul’s health, and eat only for their bodily preservation.”
Elder Paisios
Scripture Readings for the Day
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Gifts at Corinth
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Matthew 19:3-12
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
Jesus Teaches on Celibacy
11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”