The Morning Offering

Tuesday

June 21, 2011 / June 8, 2011

2^nd Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.

Apostles' (Peter & Paul) Fast.  

Fish Allowed

Translation of the relics of Great-martyr Theodore Stratelates (319).
St. Theodore, bishop of Rostov and Suzdal (1023).
Finding of the relics (1501) of Sts. Basil (1249) and Constantine (1257), princes of Yaroslavl.
Venerable Ephraim, patriarch of Antioch (546).
Venerable Zosimas, monk, of Phoenicia (Syria) (6th c.).
"Yaroslavl" (13th c.) and "Uriupinsk" (1827) Icons of the Mother of God.
New Martyr Theophanes at Constantinople (1559) (Greek).
Venerable Atre (Athre) of Nitria (Egypt).
Venerable Naucratius, abbot of the Studion (848).
Venerable Theophilus of Luga and Omutch (1412), disciple of St. Arsenius of Konevits (Valaam).
Martyrs Nicander and Marcian at Dorostulum in Moesia (303) (Romania).
St. Medardus, bishop of Noyon (560) (Neth.).
Translation of the relicts of Hieromartyr Alphege, abbot of Canterbury.
Martyr Callopia (Greek).
Venerable Melania the Elder, of Palladius' Lausiac History (Greek).
Martyr Nicander (Greek).
Martyr Mark (Greek).
New Hieromartyrs Barlaam (1942) and his brother Herman (1937) (Riaschentsov) (1937).
St. Paul the Confessor, of Kaiuma in Constantinople (766).
Priest-martyr Theodore of Kvelta, Georgia (1609) (Georgia).
Synaxis of the Church of the Cross at Mtskheta, Georgia (Georgia).
Venerable Naucratius, brother of St. Basil the Great (4th c.).

Words from the Abbot:

 

Getting to know our hens as been quite an experience. Rhode Island Reds are a particularly friendly breed of chickens and have been popular since the time of the first English colonies on American soil. They lay beautiful brown eggs with the most delicious flavor and deep colored yokes.

I'm usually the one who lets them out of their coop in the early hours of the morning. They are really quite talkative as I'm getting their food out of the shed and making sure they have enough water. The sounds they make during the day are a great addition to the overall ambiance of the monastery.

Our monastery has a large organic vegetable garden and we purchase all our additional food from organic sources. We believe living without chemicals to be much healthier for ourselves and the planet. Raising free range chickens and eating only organic eggs fits in with our overall view of living as good stewards of the earth. We are hoping to soon have solar panels on our property as we further attempt to be an example to the community of sustainable living.

As Christians we should all be concerned with how we impact the earth. Sustainability and simple living is all a part of taking better care of our planet as custodians of what God has given us.

Our hens, like all animals, are God's creatures. They have feelings, as is quite evident to anyone who's raised chickens and should be treated with loving care. I can only image the pain and suffering that "egg factories" inflict on hens that are forced to live an unspeakably horrible life cramped in small cages, treated as egg producing machines, rather than creatures created by a loving God.

It is important we treat all animals with love and respect. Our hens will live out their lives beyond their egg producing years and will never be slaughtered for eating. But if one is going to eat meat he should make sure the animals destined for slaughter are raised with kindness and are not subjected to unnecessary pain and suffering.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photos of the Day:

 

Our Rhode Island Reds are serving the monastery well, with the production of an average nine eggs a day. We have enough that we are now selling them off of our gift shop porch.

Scripture Readings for the Day:

Romans 4:4-12

 

⁴ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
       ⁷ “ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
      And whose sins are covered;
       ⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Matthew 7:15-21

 

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I Never Knew You

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Click photo to enlarge.