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, December 20 / 7 (Church Calendar)

Saints of the Day:

December 7 / 20. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. St. Anthony, abbot of Siya Monastery (Novgorod). St. Nilus, monk of StolbenskLake. St. Paul the Obedient. St. John, faster of St. Sabbas' Monastery. St. John, faster of the Kiev Caves. Martyr Athenodorus ofMesopotamia. St. Gregory the Silent of Mt. Athos. (Greek Calendar: Martyr Neophytus. Martyr Dometius. Martyrs Isidore,Acepsimas and Leo. St. Ignatius, monk, near Blachernae. Blessed Gregory of Serbia.)

Photo of the Day:

Interior view of Holy Protection Monastery Church. (Click to enlarge)

Quote of the Day:

"...the first of all Christian virtues is humility. Without this virtue, no other virtue can be acquired, and the spiritual perfection of a Christian is unthinkable."
Metropolitan Philaret

Scripture Readings for the Day:

Colossians 1:12-18

¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Luke 17:12-19

¹² Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. ¹³ And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
¹⁴ So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
¹⁵ And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, ¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" ¹⁹ And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."