Witnessing for the Faith

Giving our loved ones the gift of Orthodoxy through our witness

We who have embraced Orthodoxy, naturally want to share it with friends and loved ones who are important parts of our lives. As we’ve experienced the Ancient Faith preserved into the modern age, we naturally want those who are close to us to have what we have. But we must remember that Orthodoxy is not like some wonderful restaurant we’ve recently discovered. We can’t simply take our friends or relatives in for a bite, for Orthodoxy is not like some smorgasbord, where people get a taste and want to come back for more. Orthodoxy is not like being introduced to a new musical group, and automatically wanting to buy their CD’s. Nor is Orthodoxy like a mega church, where the charismatic minister is the draw, and the “worship team” performs a style of music that gets your feet tapping, and your arms waving.

Orthodoxy is a Faith that calls you to repentance, challenges you to strive with all your body, mind, and soul, to enter into the Heart of God, where you encounter Jesus Christ, Himself the founder of our Church. Orthodoxy is the faith that has served to save hundreds of generations of faithful Christians, and the Church has an unbroken connected through the ages in a union that even death can not divide. Orthodoxy is not “religion lite”, where you expect to walk away after a “worship experience”, with a big smile on your face, and feeling really good about yourself. Orthodoxy calls you to face the truth about your sinfulness, and how in need you are of God’s forgiveness and mercy. In Orthodoxy you see how you have fallen short of being the person God created, and in your falling down before this God of love and mercy, you seek to be transformed, and made worthy of the Kingdom that is to come.

So, how do we share Orthodoxy with our non-Orthodox friends and family? We let the light of Christ shine through us, so that they see the truth of Orthodoxy by our example, and how we are a people quick to forgive, and sincere in how we love. We dispel their preconception of Orthodoxy as some sort of Catholicism on steroids, and let them see the Church as a place for healing, transformation of life, and communion with one another. We let them see Christ in us, and experience His love for them, through us. And, finally, we leave the conversion up to the Holy Spirit.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday August 2, 2016 / July 20, 2016
7th Week after Pentecost. Tone five.

Holy Glorious Prophet Elias (Elijah) (9th c. B.C.).
New Hieromartyrs Constantine and Nicholas priests (1918).
Priest Philosoph Ornalsky and those with him (1918), Juvenal, deacon (1919).
New Hieromartyrs Alexander, George, John, John, Sergius and Theodore priests, Hieromartyrs Tykhon, George, Cosmas and Martyrs Euphimius and Peter (1930).
New Hieromartyr Alexis priest (1938).
St. Alexis Medvedkov, archpriest of Uzine (1934), EliasFondaminskii (1942), Priest Demetrius Klepinine (1944), George Skobtsov (1944), and Nun Maria (Skobtsova) (1945), of Paris.
Venerable Abramius of Galich or Chukhloma Lake (1375), disciple of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh.
Uncovering of the relics of St. Athanasius, abbot, of Brest-Litovsk (1649).
“Galich-Chukhlomsk” “Tenderness” (1350) and “Abalatsk” (“Sign”) (1637) Icons of the Mother of God.
Righteous Aaron the High Priest, brother of Prophet Moses the God-Seer.
Sts. Elias and Flavius, confessors, patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch (518).
St. Ilia the Righteous (1907) (Georgia).
St. Ethelwida, widow of King Alfred the Great (9th c.) (Celtic & British).
New Martyrs Lydia, and with her, soldiers Alexei and Cyril (1928).
Venerables Leontius (14 c.) and Sabbas (1392) of Stromyn.
Martyr Salome of Jerusalem and Kartli, who suffered under the Persians (13th c.) (Georgia).

Scripture Readings

James 5:10-20

10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your“No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

Meeting Specific Needs

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Luke 4:22-30

22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.