The Morning Offering

Thursday, July 29 / 16 (Church Calendar)

Saints of the Day:

July 16 / 29. Hieromartyr Athenogenes, Bishop of Heracleopolis, and his ten disciples. Martyrs Paul and two sisters, Chionia (Thea) and Alevtina (Valentina), at Caesaria in Palestine. Martyr Antiochus, physician of Sebaste. Martyr Faustus. Virgin Martyr Julia of Carthage. (Greek Calendar: 1015 Martyrs of Pisidia. Martyr Athenogenes.) Repose of Elder Theodore of Glinsk Hermitage (1859).

Photo of the Day:

My beloved niece, Sarah, and her husband Nicholas, together with my grandnephew, Maximus, spent a few days at the monastery.

(click for enlargement)

Quote of the Day:

…. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.

…. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

Scripture Readings for the Day:

2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Greeting

 ¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Comfort in Suffering

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. ⁷ And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

Matthew 21:43-46

⁴³ "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴ And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."
⁴⁵ Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. ⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.