The Morning Offering

American Orthodox Monasticism

Interior of Protection of the Holy Virgin Monastery Church

In Support of an American Monastery

Many who read my postings assume that the monastery is supported by the Diocese. This is not the case. We rarely receive funds from either the Diocese or parishes within the diocese and are therefore almost totally dependent upon the income from our coffee sales (which are down), as well as the generosity of our benefactors and pilgrims.

These are difficult times for all of us and monastic communities are suffering along with the rest of the country. As an American monastery doing services in English, we rarely get Russian visitors from the Seattle area, and therefore must depend on non-Orthodox visitors, and members of other jurisdictions for support. 

If you find value in the life we lead and the postings I place before you, each and every day, would you consider making a donation towards the support of our monastery? The need is great now more than ever. Coffee sales are down and donations are down. The mortgage, food, fuel, insurance and other living expenses are up. Not a secure place to be when the bank still owns our property.


You may visit our website or my blog to donate through PayPal, or you may send a check to the following address:

Mailing address:
All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420

Website:
http://www.vashonmonks.com

Blog:
http://morningoffering.blogspot.com/

May God bless you for your benevolent and loving support of American monasticism.


Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

All-Merciful Saviour Monastery, Vashon Island, WA

Wednesday July 20, 2011 / July 7, 2011

6^th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

Venerable Thomas of Mt. Maleon (10th c.). Venerable Acacius of Sinai, who is mentioned in The Ladder (6th c.). New Hieromartyr Paul priest (1918). Venerable Eudocia, in monasticism Euphrosyne, grand-duchess of Moscow (1407). Uncovering of the relics (2001) of Venerable Gerasimus, abbot of Boldino. Martyrs Peregrinus, Lucian, Pompeius, Hesychius, Pappias, Saturninus, and Germanus, of Dyrrachium in Macedonia. Martyrs Epictetus, presbyter, and Astion in Scythia (290). Martyr Evangelus, Bishop of Tomi (Constanta) in Rumania. Martyr Cyriaca (Domnica or Nedelja) of Nicomedia (289). Translation (1654) of the Icon of the Mother of God "Vlaherensk" to Russia. St. Hedda, bishop of the West Saxons (705) (Celtic & British). St. Willibald, bishop of Eichstatt (786) (Celtic & British). St. Maelruin of Tallaght (792) (Celtic & British). St. Pantaenus the Confessor of Alexandria (203). Hieromartyr Eustace (Greek). Martyr Polycarp the New (Greek).

The Scripture Readings for the Day:

1 Corinthians 2:9-3:8

⁹ But as it is written:


      “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
      Nor have entered into the heart of man
      The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

 ¹⁰ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹ For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
¹³ These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ¹⁶ For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3

 Sectarianism Is Carnal

 

 ¹ And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Watering, Working, Warning

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Matthew 13:31-36

 

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³² which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven

³³ Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and the Parables

³⁴ All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, ³⁵ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:


      “ I will open My mouth in parables;
       I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

The Parable of the Tares Explained

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”