The Morning Offering

A Beautiful Autumn Day at the Monastery

October 31/18

A Financial Appeal:
Hieromonk Paul has just closed out the books for this past fiscal year, and, just as we suspected, we are about $6,000.00 in the red. Your help, through PayPal, or a mailed donation, would be greatly appreciated.
Abbot Tryphon

Saints of the Day:
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. Martyr Marinus the Elder at Anazarbus. St. Julian the hermit of Mesopotamia. St. Mnason, Bishop of Cyprus. St. David, abbot of Serphukov. New-Martyrs Gabriel and Cirmidol of Egypt. (Greek Calendar: Saints Symeon, Theodore and Euprosynus, monks who found the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Great Cave of Peloponnesus. St. Peter, Metropolitan of Montenegro.)
Quote of the Day:  
"The counsels of the Fathers are much more universal than the basic postulates of Freudianism, and can be applied to people who live in the most diverse cultural and temporal contexts. The works of the Fathers will never be irrelevant, given that they treat questions, the answers to which are decisive for humanity's destiny."

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk

Photo of the Day:
A beautiful autumn day, at the Monastery.

Scripture Readings for the Day:
Ephesians 2:4-10

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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.