The Morning Offering

Bishops

 A servant cannot be greater than his Master

The Sovereign Lord of the Universe came down to earth as a humble servant. He Who sits upon the seraphim, was born to us in a stable. The King of kings came as the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for His sheep. We who serve as His priests and bishops can be true to our vocation, only if we serve in all humility, love, and gentleness. The bishop or priest who would set himself up as lord over his people, betrays the Lord Whom he serves. Any priest or bishop who lords over his people as though he were their superior, rather than their servant, betrays the standard of the office, as set in the earliest of times. 

The bishop is to be both servant to his people and father to his flock. He represents Christ in the midst of his diocese and must be compassionate, sweet, longsuffering, humble, and kindhearted. He must be available to his people. The bishop must be humble, lest he fall into the trap of seeing this sacred office as his divine right to lord over those under him.

Orthodoxy does not have lord bishops [prince prelates as bishops], but monks who are consecrated to serve as archpastors and fathers to their people. The western medieval imagery of lord bishops has never had a place in Orthodoxy, and our best bishops have been men of holiness, humility and simplicity. The love and respect shown to these bishops is the same as the love shown to fathers by their children. As Christ in their midst, the bishops rule over their flocks, not by tyranny and fear, but by love and holiness of life. They serve as archetypes of the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for his flock.

The honor we show our bishops is honor that is shown to Christ Himself, just as when we kiss icons, our love and honor are passed on to the archetype. We call our bishops Lord in the Liturgy, not because they are princely overlords, but because they are Christ in our midst. We love and honor them, because they, like Christ, first loved us. And the love and honor we show them (as icons of Christ) are passed on to the prototype, Christ Himself.

Just as bishops serve as Christ among us, so too the priests serve as the presence of the bishop among his people. They must also be humble and holy servants of their people. They must be loving fathers in the midst of their congregations, knowing that they represent the bishop and therefore Christ Himself. The love of Christ must be visible in the fatherly humility of the priest for his people, and he must lead his people in showing love and respect for their bishop. Priests must support their bishops, realizing the heavy apostolic burden that rests upon their shoulders. The priest must pray for his bishop, support his bishop, and love his bishop, even as his own father.

Keeping these biblical images of priest and bishop, the Church is able to keep Her focus on Christ and is protected from becoming like the worldly governments and institutions that surround Her. The Church, in Her wisdom, knows that the world does not need another worldly institution but rather the saving power of a hospital for the soul. The world is in terrible decline and desperate for the example of the selfless service and sacrificial love that only the Church can offer.

The world needs Christ, not simply another institution, and the Church can not be Her intended self without her bishops and priests becoming simple, humble, holy servants. The Church's clergy must serve in imitation of the Lord, in all humility and love. If we priests and bishops are to be true to our vocation, we must remember, "a servant cannot be greater than his Master (John 13:16)".

Love in Christ,

Abbot Tryphon

 

Monday March 4, 2013 / February 19, 2013
Week of the Prodigal Son. Tone six.

Apostles Archippus and Philemon of the Seventy, and Martyr Apphia (1st c.).
St. Theodore of Sanaxar Monastery (1791).
New Martyr Demetrius(1942).
Martyrs Maximus, Theodotus, Hesychius, and Asclepiodotus of Adrianopolis (305-311).
Venerables Eugene and Macarius, presbyters, confessors at Antioch (363).
Venerable Dositheus of Palestine (6th c.), disciple of St. Abba Dorotheus.
Venerable Rabulas of Samosata (530).
Venerable Conon, abbot in Palestine (555).
New Hieromartyr Nicetas of Epirus (1809).
Venerable Philothea, nun-martyr, of Athens (1589) (Greek).
St. Mesrop the Translator of Armenia (439).

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

1 John 2:18-3:10

Deceptions of the Last Hour

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
²² Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ²⁹ If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

⁴ Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸ He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The Imperative of Love

¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

Mark 11:1-11

The Triumphal Entry

11 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; ² and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. ³ And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”
⁴ So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. ⁵ But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”
⁶ And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
¹⁰ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David
That comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”

¹¹ And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

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