Becoming the Peacemaker Rather than Saving Face
As followers of Christ, we are called to wage peace, not war, for our Saviour has brought us the peace that passes all understanding. As His disciples, we must renounce all violence and tumult. We Christians must become peacemakers in this world, for peace means reconciliation, and Christ is the author of peace and reconciliation.
When we Christians work for peace, it should hardly surprise us when we receive a special blessing attributed to being peacemakers, for “they shall be called sons of God.” The message of the Sermon on the Mount is that those who seek to surrender to God, participate in God’s grace as they go to their enemies to make peace, for they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with His love.
As we surrender to God, and abandon the effort to get our needs met through the destruction of enemies, God comes to us in Christ to make peace with us; and we participate in God’s grace as we go to our enemies to make peace. It is good to remember that no one has ever been converted by violence.
We as peacemakers speak about peace as something already victoriously won. As peacemakers we can celebrate the peace that is part of our glorious past or as something that will be won in the other world. Peacemakers must continue to point out injustice, hypocrisy, and suffering, so being peacemakers does not lead to becoming isolationists. We are peacemakers when our actions and our words bring to light problems far away from us.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9)”.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Wednesday August 30, 2023 / August 17, 2023
13th Week after Pentecost. Tone three.
Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)
Martyr Myron of Cyzicus (250).
Venerable Pimen, archimandrite of Ugresh (1880)
New Hieromartyr Alexis priest (1918).
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1937).
Venerable Alypius the Iconographer of the Kiev Caves (1114).
Martyrs Paul and his sister Juliana of Syria (273).
Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius, and Coronatus, with others at Caesarea in Bithynia (250).
Martyr Patroclus of Troyes (3rd c.) (Gaul).
Martyrs Straton, Philip, Eutychian, and Cyprian of Nicomedia (303).
“Svensk” (“of the Kiev Caves”) (1288) Icon of the Mother of God.
The Armatian Icon of the Mother of God.
Venerable Leucius, abbot of Volokolamsk (1492).
Venerable Philip, monk of Sukhonsk, Yankovsk (Vologda) (1662).
Blessed Theodoretus, enlightener of the Laps (Solovki) (1571).
Venerable Ellas of Calabria (903).
St. Jeroen, hieromartyr of Noordwijk (857) (Neth.).
New Martyr Demetrius of Samarina in Epirus (1808) (Greek).
New Hieromartyr Archilleus Sirotin.
St. Tbeli Abuseridze of Khikhuni, Adjara (13th c.) (Georgia).
Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 9:12-10:7
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
The Spiritual War
10 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Reality of Paul’s Authority
7 Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s.
Mark 3:20-27
A House Divided Cannot Stand
20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.