A Time to be Grateful for All the Right Things
The United States is one of the world’s few countries to have established a national day in which to give thanks to God for all He has given us. This day may have become a purely secular excuse, for some, to overeat, but for the serious Christian it is still a time for giving thanks.
When Saint Tikhon of Moscow was serving as Archbishop of San Francisco, he arranged a Thanksgiving Moleben service for the eve of the American Thanksgiving. This great hierarch was deeply moved that his adopted country had set aside this day as a national day of thanksgiving.
Sometimes we forget that being thankful for all the blessings we’ve received from God is not about our attachment to things. We may be grateful for our nice house, good job, the abundance of good food, our friends and family, and a myriad of other things, but our gratitude should not be focused on material things.
If we’ve become too attached to these blessings, true gratitude will not endure, for we will begin to think we could not possibly be happy without these things. We could even begin to think that gratitude to God is impossible, unless we continue to be blessed with all these things. We could even entertain fearfulness at the possibility of losing what we think makes us happy.
The real treasure that must be received with gratitude is not material, or even relational in nature, but that which is eternal. Our faith is the greatest treasure we have, and the utmost reason for us to give thanks to God. As a nation, our forefathers knew that although we never established a State Church, we nevertheless, as a people, had declared from the very conception of our great nation, that we are a people, under God, blessed with freedom and abundance, and that all of this has come to us from a God Who loves us.
Because of this, we as a nation, like the great Patriarch Saint Tikhon, can rejoice that we live in a country that has set aside a day for the collective gathering of families, and faith communities, to thank the Lord of Lights, for all He has given us.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: Waiting for the southend ferry.
For any of my readers who happen to be living in Northern Idaho, or the Spokane area, I would urge you to take the oportunity to attend my brother’s piano concert. Dwayne is a very talented pianist and composer, and I am very proud of my younger brother. Abbot Tryphon
Thursday November 25, 2021 / November 12, 2021
23rd Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
AMERICAN THANKSGIVING DAY
St John the Merciful, patriarch of Alexandria (620).
Venerable Nilus the Faster of Sinai (451).
New Hieromartyr Alexander priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Constantine, Vladimir, Alexander, Matthew, Demetrius priests (1937).
New Hieromartyr Boris (1942).
Blessed John “the Hairy,” fool-for-Christ at Rostov (1580).
Prophet Ahijah (Achias) (960 B.C.).
St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher of Mt. Athos (1651).
“The Merciful” Icon of the Mother of God.
New Martyr Sabbas Nigdelinus of Constantinople (1726) (Greek).
New Martyr Nicholas of Constantinople (1726).
St. Leontius, patriarch of Constantinople (1143).
Venerable Emilian of Vergegio in Iberia.
Venerable Lebuinus, missionary monk of the Netherlands (Netherlands).
St. Machar, bishop of Aberdeen (Scotland) (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Sinell of Cleenish (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Cadwaladr, king of the Welsh (664) (Celtic & British).
New Hieromartyr priest Theodore Gidaspov.
Synaxis of the Russian New Martyrs of Optina: Anatolius, Barnabas, Dositheus, Nectarius, Panteleimon and Vincent.
The Scripture Readings
1 Thessalonians 2:9-14
9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Their Conversion
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans,
Luke 13:1-9
Repent or Perish
13 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”