The Morning Offering

Friday

June 24, 2011 / June 11, 2011

2^nd Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.

Apostles' (Peter & Paul) Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

Venerable Barlaam of Khutyn (1192) (movable holiday on the 1st Friday of Apostles' Fast).
"Tabynsk" and "Kursk-Root" Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos (movable holiday on the 9th Friday of Pascha).
Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas (1st c.).
Venerable Barnabas, abbot of Vetluga (1445).
Uncovering of the relics (1572) of Venerable Ephraim, abbot of New Torzhok (1053).
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "It is Truly Meet" ("Axion Estin") (10th c.).
Translation of the relics of Venerable Arcadius, monk of Vyazma and New Torzhok (1077).
St. Niphont patriarch of Constantinople (Romania).
Commemoration of the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel (10th c.) to a monk on Mt. Athos, and the revelation of the hymn "It Is Truly Meet" (Axion Estin).
St. Barnabus of Basa near Limasol in Cyprus (Greek).
Martyr Theopemptus and four otherss (Greek).

Words from the Abbot:

According to Saint Gregory Palamas, God has given us lordship over all the earth because of our capacity for sovereignty. With this sovereignty comes the responsibility to be good stewards of that which God has given us.

"There is within our soul's nature a governing and ruling faculty, and there is also that which is naturally subservient and obedient, namely, will, appetite, sense-perception, and in general everything that is sequent to the intellect and that was created by God together with the intellect."

Our fallen nature has also given us the capacity to reject the will of God and to misuse our sovereignty, refusing to use our freedom in a God pleasing way. We overindulge ourselves with food and drink, over graze our lands, destroy our rain forests, saturate our oceans and atmosphere with carbon based fuels, pave over our food producing farmlands and pump chemicals and other pollutants into our rivers and streams.

As though that were not enough, we squander our mental faculties with endless hours before our computers, TVs, and i pods. As creatures who were created to commune with God we waist our time in mindless pursuits, giving little thought to things  that are spiritual and of eternal value. We battle against not only the all-ruling God but also against the ruling power inherent in our nature.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photos of the Day:

 

This has been day two of the Serbian Orthodox Youth Conference, taking place at Seattle Pacific University.

Scripture Readings for the Day:

Romans 5:17-6:2

 

¹⁷ For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹ For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

 ¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Matthew 9:14-17

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Click photo to enlarge.