The Morning Offering

NEW YORK: December 15, 2012  Statement from the Office of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, in connection with the Attack on the Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

Dear brethren, sisters and children! 

With horror I followed the tragedy that unfolded yesterday in a school in the state of Connecticut, during which a murderer spared neither children nor even his own mother; and I hasten to express unto all my deepest sympathy amid your common sorrow.  I am praying for the repose of the children and those who suffered with them, and for their bereaved parents, relatives, classmates, teachers and friends.  May the Lord give His people strength and bless their hearts with His heavenly peace.  May Jesus Christ our God bless the self-sacrificing teachers who saved the terrified children and showed them an example of Christian love.  With all my soul I desire that the consolation of Christ and help from heaven be granted you! 

With this statement, I call upon the rectors of our parishes and the superiors of our monasteries to insert the following petition in the Reiterate Litany of the Divine Liturgy:

"To Thee, O Lord, Who art in heaven, we raise up the eyes of our soul, and lift our hands, and sigh from the depths of our heart, and praying with our speech we cry out: give rest to the blest infants and to those who suffered with them in the present trouble and sorrow: hearken to those who weep and are pained, and await Thy consolation, asking Thy goodness; we ask Thy mercy and seek to obtain grace before Thee, and we knock upon Thy doors: open to us the doors of Thine abundant kindness, and abandon us not to the end, for Thy name's sake. Let us say: Lord, hearken soon and have mercy upon all."

Yesterday's tragedy again reminds us that we must cherish the sacred gift of life and one another, following the commandments of God, and thus bring forth the light of Christ in this fallen world, rendering it less dark. 

With love in the Lord and a request for your prayers,

+Hilarion,
Metropolitan of New York & Eastern America,
First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad.

15 December 2012

Sunday December 16, 2012 / December 3, 2012
28^th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone three.
Nativity (St. Philip's Fast). Fish Allowed
Prophet Zephaniah (Sophonias) (635 B.C.).
Venerable Sabbas, abbot of Zvenigorod, disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1406).
New Hieromartyr Andrew priest (1920).
New Hieromartyr Nicholas priest (1930).
St. Gregory confessor (1960).
Venerable Theodulus, eparch of Constantinople (440).
Venerable John the Silent of St. Sabbas' monastery (558).
Hieromartyr Theodore, archbishop of Alexandria (606).
Venarable Gregory of Cherniksk (Romania).
New Hieromartyr Gabriel, bishop of Ganos (1659) (Greek).
St. Birinus, bishop of Dorchester (649-650) (Celtic & British).
New Martyr Angelos of Chios (1813) (Greek).
Venerable Cosmas of St. Anne's Skete, Mt. Athos.
St. Sola, Anglo-Saxon missionary priest under St. Bobiface (790-794) (Germany).
St. Nicetius, bishop of Lyons (Gaul).
St. Lucius, king of Britain who requested missionaries for his people in A.D. 187.
Martyrs Agapius, Seleucus and Mamas (Greek).
 

You can read the life of the saint in green, by click on the name.

THANK YOU, to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.

With love in Christ,  
Abbot Tryphon

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

Colossians 1:12-18

¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Luke 18:18-27

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler

¹⁸ Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
¹⁹ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
²¹ And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
²² So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
²³ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

With God All Things Are Possible

²⁴ And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
²⁶ And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”
²⁷ But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”