Friday, January 20, 2012

Eternity
Eternity is a very long time


God reveals Himself to us if we seek Him out, and only remains invisible to us if we refuse, out of pride and self absorption, to let Him enter our lives. If you desire the knowledge that is yours for the asking, simply make it known, and God will open the way for you. Do not let the distractions of this world, and the material pleasures that are of a transitory nature, keep you from casting your eyes towards God.

It is sad how many people spend their lives in pursuit of material pleasures, job success, and entertainment, but give little thought to those things that are of eternal importance. What we do in this life does have an impact on what we will face when we stand before the Lord. When we are called to give an account for ourselves, it will not be enough to explain to God that we lived in a great house, raised good children, gave time to the charity of our choice, but did nothing to further our relationship with Him.

Eternity is a very long time, whereas, this life we have been given is a very short time. Lest we waste it, we must bring our focus back to what really matters. Dinner and a movie with friends is a tragic waste of time, if we have not given equal time to God. If you are feeling spiritually dry, you can only look to yourself to find the reason. God has done His part, you must do yours.

Love and blessings,
Abbot Tryphon

click on photo to enlarge

Friday January 20, 2012 / January 7, 2012
32nd Week after Pentecost. Tone six.
Fast. Fish Allowed
Afterfeast of the Theophany. Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John.
Martyr Paphnutius (1938).
New Hieromartyr Basil, priest (1939).
Martyr John (1940).
Martyr John (1942).
New Martyr Athanasius of Attalia and Smyrna (1700) (Greek).
St. Cedd, bishop of Lastingham (664) (Celtic & British).
St. Brannock (Brynach) of Braunton (6th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Kentigerna, hermitess of Loch Lomond.





I wish to thank those of you who have been contributing towards the principle of our mortgage ($250,000.00). For those of you who can't donate due to the depressed economy, please remember to pray for the monastery. It would be such a great blessing if we were able to retire the mortgage debt altogether.

Donations can be made directly to the monastery through PayPal, or you may send donations to:


All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420 USA


click on photo to enlarge
  Acts 19:1-8
Paul at Ephesus
 1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 Now the men were about twelve in all.
8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.


John 1:29-34



The Lamb of God
   
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The PodCast is always different than the blog article.



1 comment:

  1. Abbot,

    Your photos are wonderful. You should consider selling postcards with your favorites. Thank you for all your words and images...these signposts to Christ are helping to Light my way.

    ReplyDelete