The Morning Offering

Humankind

Hurricane Ridge (click on photos to enlarge)

Humankind is a Microcosm 
of the Whole Universe

It has been said that humans are a microcosm of the whole universe because we have within ourselves the entire material world and with it all the noetic powers of the cosmos. Created as we were for immortality, it is our fallen nature that has separated us from that which God had intended for us. When we reach out for the healing that comes with living our lives in repentance, and growing in the transformational power of love, we see the order of creation in all its integrity and positive reality.

As we go deeper into this understand of creation, we see that God has blessed the very existence of humanity, whereby the world is a revelation of God (Rom. 1:19-20). The world as cosmos has its own integrity, and is a mystery. The world as cosmos is a positive reality, and is the good work of the good God (Gen. 1), made by God for the existence of humanity.

This world is a revelation of God (Rom. 1:19-20), and its intelligent inhabitants (we humans) see it as cosmos, and come to learn about the Divine wisdom and the Divine energies. This cosmos is a coherent whole because all its elements are united and interrelated in time and space.

The creation of the cosmos is found not only in the fact that it was appointed by God to be the home for living beings. It was made by God to be the context for God's Incarnation and humankind's deification, and to be the beginning of the actualization of the Kingdom of God. The cosmos provides the stage upon which humankind moves from creation to deification, and ultimately, the whole of the creation is destined to become a transfigured world, since the salvation of humankind necessarily involves the salvation of its natural home, the cosmos. 

According to the Church Fathers, "...Let us make man ...(Genesis 1:26)",  shows that the creation of the human being was the result of a Trinitarian act, and that "man was made according to the image and the likeness of God". This is to be understood in terms of Jesus Christ, since he is explicitly identified with it (2 Cor.4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3 ff). It is therefore clear that for mankind to be in the image of God means we are assimilated to Christ. It is by God's grace, and not a matter of nature, because only Christ is by nature God's image as God's eternal and natural offspring, his only begotten Son.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

click on photo to enlarge

Photos: Our dear friends, Archpriest Lawrence and Matushka Ann Margitich, of Saint Seraphim of Sarov Church in Santa Rosa, CA., are staying with us through the weekend. On Friday we took them to Hurricane Ridge, high in the mountains of the Olympic National Park, for a day of hiking. These are my photos of a wonderful day that was concluded in a Victorian tea house in Port Gamble, WA. 

click on photo to enlarge

 
Saturday August 24, 2013 / August 11, 2013
9^th Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast. Food with Oil
Afterfeast of the Transfiguration.
Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Euplus of Catania (304).
Martyrs Basil and Theodore of the Kiev Caves (1098).
Venerable Theodore (in monasticism Theodosius) of the Kiev Caves, prince of Ostrog (1483).
Virgin-martyr Susanna and those with her: Martyrs Gaius, pope of Rome; presbyter Gabinus, his brother and father of Susanna; Maximus, Claudius and his wife, Praepedigna, and their sons Alexander and Cutias (295).
St. Niphon, patriarch of Constantinople (Mt. Athos) (1515).
Venerable Passarion of Palestine.
St. Blaan, bishop of Bute (Dunblane), Scotland (590) (Celtic & British).
Commemoration of the Miracle (1816) of St. Spyridon (348) on Kerkyra (Corfu) with the Hagarenes (Greek).
New Martyrs Anastasius of Asomaton in Asia Minor and Demetrius of Lesbos (1816) (Greek).
St. Taurinus, first bishop of Evreux, Gaul (2nd c.).
St. John, recluse of Svyatogorsk Monastery (1867).
Martyrs Neophytus, Zeno, Gaius, Mark, Macarius, and Gaianus (Greek). You can read the life of the saint in red, by clicking on the name.

THANKS 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

The Scripture Readings for the Day

Romans 14:6-9

⁶ He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Matthew 15:32-39

Feeding the Four Thousand

³² Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
³³ Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”
³⁴ Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”
³⁵ So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. ³⁷ So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. ³⁸ Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.