The Morning Offering

Living the evangelical life of Orthodox monasticism in witness to the salvific truth of the Gospels of Our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever!

The Morning Offering
Sunday, November 1 / October 18 (Church Calendar)

Saints of the Day:

October19 / November 1. Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt. Prophet Joel. Martyr Varus, and with him SixMonk-martyrs. Blessed Cleopatra and her son John, in Egypt. St. John, abbot of Rila in Bulgaria. Hieromartyr Sadoc (Sadoth),Bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him. St. Leontius the Philosopher of St. Sabbas' Monastery. Blessed Prochorus of Pechenga. New-Martyr Priest Alexis Stavrosky (1918). (Greek Calendar: Hieromartyr Felix and Deacon Eusebius.) Commemoration of the Glorification of New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia (1982)

Photo of the Day:

California's Redwood Forest, along the "Avenue of the Giants", on my way to the Pastoral Conference in San Francisco. (Click to enlarge.)

Quote of the Day:

"We should live on the earth as a wheel turns - one point touches the earth, all the rest reaches upward..."

 

Elder Ambrose of Optina

Scripture Readings for the Day:

Galatians 2:16-20

¹⁶ knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
¹⁷ "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. ¹⁹ For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Luke 8:5-15

⁵ "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. ⁸ But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

The Purpose of Parables

⁹ Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"
¹⁰ And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that


      ' Seeing they may not see,
      And hearing they may not understand.'

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹¹ "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³ But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. ¹⁴ Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.