[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Wed Aug 8 05:00:13 CDT 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Wed Aug 8 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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2 Corinthians 3:4-11
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as
being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of
the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at
the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory
was passing away,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of
righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
because of the glory that excels.
11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more
glorious.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Matthew 23:29-39
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build
the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of
those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.
33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of
hell?
34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some
of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge
in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of
Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing!
38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;
39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord
The hymns at Vespers today speak of the sun appearing dim compared to
the divine light of the Transfiguration. In His compassion for
humanity, Christ took on mortal flesh, yet Peter, James and John saw
the radiance of His glory. The incarnate Lord "made Adam's darkened
image to shine again" when He appeared on earth "arrayed in the
original beauty of the Image (Genesis 1:26).
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St Emilian the Confessor, Bishop of Cyzicus
Saint Emilian, Bishop of Cyzikus, lived during the reign of the
Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was summoned
together with other bishops to the court of the emperor, who
insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration of holy
icons. St Emilian was the first to tell the emperor firmly that the
question of the veneration of holy icons ought to be discussed and
decided only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at
the imperial court. In the year 815 he was sent to prison for the
Orthodox Faith, where he died as a confessor.
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Venerable Gregory the Iconographer of the Kiev Near Caves
St Gregory, Iconographer of the Caves, was a colleague of St Alypius
of the Caves (August 17). In the "Accounts of the holy Iconographers"
it says that he painted many wonderworking icons throughout the
Russian Land.
In the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Service of the Synaxis of the
Kiev Caves Monastics, Venerated in the Near Caves (September 28), St
Gregory is called a "Byzantine." This probably means that he was among
the number of iconographers who had come from Constantinople to Kiev
to embellish the Great Church of the monastery, dedicated in honor of
the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
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Translation of the relics of the Venerable Zosimas of Solovki
The Transfer of the Relics of Sts Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki
took place on August 8, 1566, on the third day of the altar-feast of
the Solovki monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The relics
of the saints were transferred into a chapel of the Transfiguration
cathedral, built in their honor.
Beekeepers pray to these saints for an increase of bees.
The Life of St Zosimas is found under April 17; the Life of St
Sabbatius on September 27.
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Translation of the relics of the Venerable Sabbatius of
Solovki
The Transfer of the Relics of Sts Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki
took place on August 8, 1566, on the third day of the altar-feast of
the Solovki monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The relics
of the saints were transferred into a chapel of the Transfiguration
cathedral, built in their honor.
Beekeepers pray to these saints for an increase of bees.
The Life of St Zosimas is found under April 17; the Life of St
Sabbatius on September 27.
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St Myron the Wonderworker and Bishop of Crete
Saint Myron, Bishop of Crete, a wonderworker, in his youth was a
family man, and worked as a farmer. He was known for his goodness, and
he assisted everyone who turned to him for help. Once, thieves burst
in upon his threshing floor, and St Myron himself helped them lift a
sack of grain upon their shoulders. By his generosity the saint so
shamed the thieves, that in future they began to lead honorable lives.
Out of profound respect for the saint, the Cretan people urged him to
accept ordination to the priesthood in his native city of Raucia, and
afterwards they chose him Bishop of Crete.
Wisely ruling his flock, St Myron received from the Lord the gift of
wonderworking. At the time of a flood on the River Triton, the saint
stopped its flow and went upon it as upon dry land, and then he sent a
man back to the river with his staff to command the river to resume
its course. St Myron fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 100, around
the year 350.
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Martyr Eleutherius of Constantinople
The Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonides were cast into a fire at a
youthful age during one of the persecutions against Christians.
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Martyr Leonidas of Constantinople
The Martyrs Eleutherius and Leonides were cast into a fire at a
youthful age during one of the persecutions against Christians.
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Martyred Infants at Constantinople, With Eleutherius and
Leonidas
No information available at this time.
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Venerable Gregory of Sinai, Mt. Athos
Saint Gregory of Sinai was born around the year 1268 in the seacoast
village of Clazomenia near the city of Smyrna (Asia Minor), of rich
parents. In about the year 1290, he was taken into captivity by the
Hagarenes and sent off to Laodicea.
After gaining his freedom, the saint arrived on the island of Cyprus,
where he was tonsured a monk. He set off afterwards to Mount Sinai and
there assumed the great schema. Having fulfilled his obediences of
cook and baker, and then as copyist, surpassing all in reading and
knowledge of Scriptural and patristic books.
The strictness of his life (fasting, vigil, psalmody, standing at
prayer) brought some to astonishment and others to envy. Departing the
monastery, the monk visited Jerusalem. For some time he lived on the
island of Crete, and afterwards he visited Mt. Athos with its
monasteries and ascetics. In this way, he acquired the experience of
many centuries of the monastic life from the ancient monasteries. Only
after this did St Gregory the Sinaite settle himself in a solitary
place for "hesychia" [stillness doing the Jesus Prayer], a cell for
silence and the unhindered pursuit of mental prayer, combined with
hard work.
The precious legacy of St Gregory is in his teaching about the inner
life, 15 texts "On Stillness," and 137 texts "On Commandments and
Doctrines," where he says that "trying to comprehend the commandments
through study and reading without fulfilling them, is like mistaking a
shadow of something for its reality" ("On Commandments and Doctrines,"
section 22).
He is renowned also as a remarkable hymnographer ("It is Truly Meet"
is ascribed to him), and a canon to the Most Holy Trinity read at
Sunday Vigil, and a canon to the Holy Cross. In a book of canons (from
the year 1407) of St Cyril of White Lake (June 9) is found the "Canon
of Supplication to the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of Gregory the
Sinaite."
Because of his concern for the spreading of monasticism, the saint
founded several cells on Athos, and also four monasteries in Thrace.
St Gregory the Sinaite died in the year 1310 (some historians suggest
the year 1346) at his so-called "Concealed" ("Parariseia") monastery,
founded on Mt. Paroria on the west coast of the Black Sea for the
strict followers of his life.
St Gregory is also commemorated on November 27 (his repose), February
11, and April 6.
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Second Translation of the relics of the Venerable Zosimas of
Solovki
No information available at this time.
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Second Translation of the relics of the Venerable Sabbatius
of Solovki
No information available at this time.
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Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314
to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his
diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there
traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to
Yaroslavl. Having stopped with the approach of night 7 versts distant
from Yaroslavl, at the right bank of the Volga River there flows
opposite into it the River Tolga.
At midnight, when everyone was asleep, the saint awoke and saw a
bright light illuminating the area. The light proceeded from a fiery
column on the other bank of the river, to which there stretched a
bridge. Taking up his staff, the saint went across to the other bank,
and having approached the fiery column, he beheld on it the icon of
the Most Holy Theotokos, suspended in the air. Astonished at the
miracle, the saint prayed for a long time, and when he went back, he
forgot to take his staff.
The next day, after serving Matins, when St Prochorus was preparing to
continue his journey by boat, they began to search for his staff, but
they were not able to find it anywhere. The saint then remembered that
he had forgotten his staff on the other side of the river, where he
had gone across on the miraculous bridge. He then revealed what had
occurred, and sent servants across on a boat to the other shore. They
came back and reported that in the forest they had seen an icon of the
Mother of God suspended in the branches of a tree, next to his
bishop's staff.
The saint quickly crossed over with all his retinue to the opposite
shore, and he recognized the icon that had appeared to him. Then after
fervent prayer before the icon, they cleared the forest at that place,
and put down the foundations of a church. When the people of Yaroslavl
learned of this, they came out to the indicated spot. By midday the
church was already built, and in the evening the saint consecrated it
in honor of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos,
and having installed the icon there he established a Feast on the day
of its appearance. St Prochorus later built the Tolga monastery near
this church. St Prochorus died on September 7, 1328.
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated on July
18.
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St Euthymius the Elder of the St John the Baptist Monastery
Saint Euthymius was abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in
the Davit-Gareji Wilderness. In the chronicles of the monastery he is
commemorated as a man of many labors.
According to the 19th-century historian Prince John Bagrationi,
Euthymius was a philosopher and theologian and an outstanding
preacher. He dedicated his life to improving the monastery and rebuilt
the nearby village of Khashmi, which had been utterly razed by
Dagestani thieves. In Khashmi he constructed a mill and planted a
vineyard with a rare variety of grapes. He adorned the monastery and
expanded the estate surrounding the complex. At his instruction, a
great number of theological works were translated, and many rare books
were recopied. St. Euthymius instructed several of his pupils in
philosophy and theology as well.
After receiving a commission from Bishop Saba of Ninotsminda, St.
Euthymius composed an Akathist hymn to St. Nino the Equal
to-the-Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia.
In 1797 the black plague broke out in Tbilisi and residents fled from
the city. Like true guardian angels, monastics and hermits abandoned
their isolated cells and arrived to minister to the sick and the
suffering. As he had in so many other worthy endeavors, St. Euthymius
served as the leader and inspiration behind these works of mercy.
The pious Euthymius reposed peacefully in the year 1804.
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New Martyr Triandaphyllus of Stara Zagora
The New Martyr Triandaphyllus, a native of Zagora, Magnesia (in
Thessaly), was beheaded by the Turks at Constantinople in the year
1680 for his refusal to reject Christ and accept Islam. He was only
fifteen years old when he received the crown of victory from Christ.
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Venerable Zosimas of Tuman
No information available at this time.
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10 Egyptian Ascetics
On this day we also commemorate Ten Egyptian Ascetics who died at sea,
and Two Martyrs of Tyre, who were dragged over the ground.
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2 Martyrs of Tyre
On this day we also commemorate Ten Egyptian Ascetics who died at sea,
and Two Martyrs of Tyre, who were dragged over the ground.
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