The Holy Eucharist is 0ne of the Greatest of all Miracles
Of all the miracles of Christ, the greatest is the Eucharist. The Gospels are filled with accounts of miracles performed by Christ, but the greatest of them all was when He offered the simple elements of bread and wine, made by man, and transformed them into His very Body and Blood. This miracle continues to this very day, after some two thousand years, to bring Christ into our very midst and allow us to receive Him for the healing of both our bodies and our souls. That He would use as agents for this transformation, priests, to call down the Holy Spirit to continue this miracle, is one of the great mysteries of our Christian Faith.
The Eucharist is not simply commemorating a past event, or celebrating a communal meal like the Passover of the Jews. The Church never saw this as a continuation of the Passover Meal, but rather a sacrifice that is offered for both the living and the dead. Because this sacrifice is not a mere figure or symbol but a true sacrifice, it is the most important service that takes place in the life of the Church. Furthermore, it is not the bread that is sacrificed, but the very Body of Christ. Although the Lamb of God was sacrificed only once, the sacrifice at the Eucharist consists, not in the real and bloody immolation of the Lamb, but in the transformation of the bread into the sacrificed Lamb.
The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist can not be explained in purely logical or rational terms, for the Eucharist, like Christ Himself, is a mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven which is “not of this world.” “Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man’s heart, to make his face to shine with oil, ‘strengthen thou thine heart,’ by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to shine.”” Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, XXII:8 (c. A.D. 350).
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Saturday October 28, 2023 / October 15, 2023
21st Week after Pentecost. Tone three.
Demetrius (Parental) Saturday. Remembrance of the dead.
Venerable Euthymius the New of Thessalonica, monk of Mt. Athos (889).
Martyr Lucian, presbyter of Greater Antioch (312).
New Hieromartyr Simeon priest (1918).
New Hieromartyr Valerian Novitsky, priest of Telyadovich (1930).
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1942).
St. Athanasius (Sakharov) the Confessor, bishop of Kovrov (1962).
Synaxis of Twenty-three New Martyrs of Belorussia: archbishop Seraphim (Shakhmut), archpriest Alexander Shalay, archpriest Vladimir Zubkov, archpriest Vladimir Izmajlov, archpriest Vladimir Pasternatsky, archpriest Vladimir Khirasko, archpriest Demetrius Pavsky, archpriest John Voronec, archpriest Leonod Biriukovich, archpriest Matthew Kritsuk, archpriest Michael Novitsky, archpriest Michael Polishevsky, archpriest Porfiry Rubanovich, archpriest Sergius Rodakovsky, priest Valerian Novitsky, priest Vladimir Taliush, priest Vladimir Khrischanovich, priest Demetrius Polyshevsky, priest John Vecherko, priest John Pankratovich, priest Nicholas Matskevich, priest Peter Grudinsky and deacon Nicholas Vasiukovich.
St. John, bishop of Suzdal (1385).
Hieromartyr Lucian, presbyter of the Kiev Caves (1243).
Martyrs Sarbelus and Bebai (Barbea) of Edessa (2nd c.).
St. Sabinus, bishop of Catania (760).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “She Who Ripens the Grain” (19th c.).
St. Dionysius, archbishop of Suzdal (1373).
St. Barses the Confessor, bishop of Edessa (378).
St. Thecla, abbess of Ochsenfurt ( 790) (Germany).
St. Aurelia of Strasbourg (Alsace) (383) (Gaul).
The Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Luke 6:1-10
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
6 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. 2 And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” 5 And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Healing on the Sabbath
6 Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?” 10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
The Comfort of Christ’s Coming
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
John 5:24-30
Life and Judgment Are Through the Son
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also,because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.