The Morning Offering

The Chief Sign of a Priest

Our beloved friends from Seattle's Ethiopian Cathedral

If a priest is not himself filled with the Holy Spirit he will be unable to share him with others. A priest who is not humble and compassionate, and living in repentance will not be able to impart an authentic faith that is believable. No amount of training and no program of outreach will work if a priest is not living a genuine life in Christ. If he is not an icon of the living Christ, imparting love and compassion to others, his ministry will fall short of God's intent and he will be a priest in name only.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

 

 L-R: Father Gebre Silassie, Abbot Tryphon, Archbishop Loukas, Monk Moses, Bishop Ioannis, Father Alix, and Hieromonk Paul. (Click on photo to enlarge)

Tuesday July 19, 2011 / July 6, 2011

6^th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.

Synaxis of All Saints of Radonezh. Venerable Sisoes the Great of Egypt (429). New Hieromartyr Simon, bishop of Ufa (1921). New Martyr Euthymius (1931). New Martyr Theodore (1943). Venerable Sisoes of the Kiev Caves (13th c.). Uncovering of the relics of Holy Princess Juliana Olshanskaya (1540). Martyrs Marinus and Martha, their children Audifax and Abbacum (Habakkuk), and those with them at Rome: Cyrinus, Valentine the Presbyter, and Asterius (269). Martyrs Isaurus the Deacon, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, Basil, Peregrinus, Rufus, and Rufinus of Apollonia in Macedonia (283-284). St. Cointus (Quintus) of Phrygia, confessor and wonderworker (283). Virgin-martyr Lucy, Martyr Rixius, and those with them at Rome (301): Martyrs Anthony, Lucian, Isidore, Dion, Diodorus, Cutonius, Arnosus, Capicus, Satyrus, and others. "Bororodsko-Ufimsly" Icon of the Mother of God (1621). St. Gleb Vsevolodovich of Kiev (12th c.). Venerable Monenna, foundress of Killeevy Monastery (Ireland) (518) (Celtic & British). Synaxis of the Apostles Archippus, Philemon, and Onesimus (Greek). Martyrs Apollonius, Alexander, and Epimachus (Greek). New monk-martyr Cyril of Hilandar, Mt. Athos, who suffered at Thessalonica (1566). St. Barnabas, elder of the Gethsemane Skete of St. Sergius' Lavra (1906). St. Goar, hieromonk, hermit, and missionary along the Rhine (Germany) (649)..

The Scripture Readings for the Day:

 

1 Corinthians 1

Greeting

 ¹ Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.

² To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Gifts at Corinth

 ⁴ I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, ⁵ that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, ⁶ even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, ⁷ so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matthew 13:24-30

 

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

²⁴ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”