The Way of Christ

The Abbot’s office

I received an email from a man from India, questioning why there is evil in the world, and wondering how he could come to know the true God, overcome sin, and live a life in transformation.  This is my response to him:

We live in a fallen world, one that was created in perfection, beauty, and goodness. Evil entered into this world when humankind turned from God, made themselves a god, and fell into pride and arrogance. The end result is the alienation from God, and the finality of death.

As followers of the Way of Christ, we believe God humbled Himself and pitched His tent in our world as one of us, and that this God, Who is worshiped in Holy Trinity, came down as the Second member of this Trinity of Unity, and became Man. Jesus Christ, we believe, is the Logos, the very Word by which everything that came into being was created.

As the Word made flesh, Jesus dwelt among us, and taught us how to live the commandments of God, and how to love God above everything else. He taught us that we must, if we are to be saved, keep the Two Great Commandments, that we love God with our whole heart, mind and soul, and love our neighbor as being our self.

Jesus, the Name above every other name, suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried, and on the third day conquered the power of death by His holy resurrection. When we accept the invitation to commune with this God Who has offered forgiveness for our sins, and offers us the possibility to commune with Him, His resurrection becomes our resurrection. We, although sinners, are forgiven, and become the sons and daughters of the Most High.

This message is a simple one. Anyone who opens their heart, repents of their sins, and asks God to come into their heart, will be made whole.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Saturday March 2, 2013

Week of the Publican and the Pharisee. Tone five.
Fast-free Week. Fast-free
Great-martyr Theodore the Tyro (306).
St. Hermogenes, patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (1612).
St. Nicholas (Planas), priest in Athens (1932).
New Hieromartyrs Michael, Paul priests (1938).
Venerable Theodore the Silent of the Kiev Caves (13th c.).
St. Mariamne, sister of Apostle Philip (1st c.).
Uncovering of the relics (867-869) of Martyr Menas the Melodius of Alexandria (ca. 313).
St. Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne (661) (Celtic & British).
St. Auxibius, bishop of Soli in Cyprus (102) (Greek).
New Martyr Theodore of Byzantium, at Mitylene (1795) (Greek).
Emperor Marcian (457) and Pulcheria, his wife (453), and the commemoration of the dedication of the Great Church in Constantinople (Greek).
Venerable Theodosius the Bulgarian and his disciple Venerable Romanus, monks, of Turnovo (1362) (Bulgaria).
New Martyr Michael Mavroeidis of Adrianople (1490).
Holy Hieromartyr Theodore of Adjara, who suflfered under the Turks on Mt. Athos (19th c.) (Georgia).
St. Barnabas, elder of the Gethsemane Skete of St. Sergius Lavra (1906).
You can read the life of the saint in green, by click on the name.

THANK YOU, to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Luke 20:46-21:4

⁴⁶“Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, ⁴⁷who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Two Mites

21 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, ²and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. ³So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; ⁴for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”