[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Wed Jul 25 05:00:22 CDT 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Wed Jul 25 2007

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1 Corinthians 13:4-14:5
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not
parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,
thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail;
whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is
knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part
will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish
things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I
know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of
these is love.
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may
prophesy.
2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for
no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort
to men.
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies
edifies the church.
5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you
prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with
tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive
edification.
Scripture Reading 1 of 4

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1 Corinthians 14:6-19  (Thursday)
6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what
shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by
knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching?
7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a
sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be
known what is piped or played?
8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for
battle?
9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to
understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be
speaking into the air.
10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and
none of them is without significance.
11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be
a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner
to me.
12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be
for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.
13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may
interpret.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is
unfruitful.
15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I
will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit,
and I will also sing with the understanding.
16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies
the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since
he does not understand what you say?
17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;
19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my
understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words
in a tongue.
Scripture Reading 2 of 4

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Matthew 20:1-16
1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in
the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he
sent them into his vineyard.
3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in
the marketplace,
4 and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is
right I will give you.' So they went.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did
likewise.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing
idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all
day?'
7 They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You
also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.'
8 So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his
steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with
the last to the first.'
9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they
each received a denarius.
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive
more; and they likewise received each a denarius.
11 And when they had received it, they complained against the
landowner,
12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made
them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.'
13 But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no
wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14 'Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last
man the same as to you.
15 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or
is your eye evil because I am good?'
16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called,
but few chosen.
Scripture Reading 3 of 4

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Matthew 20:17-28  (Thursday)
17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside
on the road and said to them,
18 Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be
betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will
condemn Him to death,
19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to
crucify. And the third day He will rise again.
20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons,
kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant
that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the
other on the left, in Your kingdom."
22 But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you
able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able."
23 So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand
and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is
prepared by My Father."
24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the
two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great
exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become
great among you, let him be your servant.
27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many.
Scripture Reading 4 of 4

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Dormition of the Righteous Anna, the Mother of the Most Holy
Theotokos
Saint Anna was the daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary.
She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to
Tradition, she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the
Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.
During the reign of St Justinian the Emperor (527-565), a church was
built in her honor at Deutera. Emperor Justinian II (685-695; 705-711)
restored her church, since St Anna had appeared to his pregnant wife.
It was at this time that her body and maphorion (veil) were
transferred to Constantinople.
St Anna is also commemorated on September 9.
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Holy Woman Olympias (Olympiada) the Deaconess of
Constantinople
Saint Olympias the Deaconess was the daughter of the senator Anicius
Secundus, and by her mother she was the granddaughter of the noted
eparch Eulalios (he is mentioned in the life of St Nicholas). Before
her marriage to Anicius Secundus, Olympias's mother had been married
to the Armenian emperor Arsak and became widowed. When St Olympias was
still very young, her parents betrothed her to a nobleman. The
marriage was supposed to take place when St Olympias reached the age
of maturity. The bridegroom soon died, however, and St Olympias did
not wish to enter into another marriage, preferring a life of
virginity.
After the death of her parents she became the heir to great wealth,
which she began to distribute to all the needy: the poor, the orphaned
and the widowed. She also gave generously to the churches,
monasteries, hospices and shelters for the downtrodden and the
homeless.
Holy Patriarch Nectarius (381-397) appointed St Olympias as a
deaconess. The saint fulfilled her service honorably and without
reproach.
St Olympias provided great assistance to hierarchs coming to
Constantinople: Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, Onesimus of Pontum,
Gregory the Theologian, St Basil the Great's brother Peter of Sebaste,
Epiphanius of Cyprus, and she attended to them all with great love.
She did not regard her wealth as her own but rather God's, and she
distributed not only to good people, but also to their enemies.
St John Chrysostom (November 13) had high regard for St Olympias, and
he showed her good will and spiritual love. When this holy hierarch
was unjustly banished, St Olympias and the other deaconesses were
deeply upset. Leaving the church for the last time, St John Chrysostom
called out to St Olympias and the other deaconesses Pentadia, Proklia
and Salbina. He said that the matters incited against him would come
to an end, but scarcely more would they see him. He asked them not to
abandon the Church, but to continue serving it under his successor.
The holy women, shedding tears, fell down before the saint.
Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria (385-412), had repeatedly benefited
from the generosity of St Olympias, but turned against her for her
devotion to St John Chrysostom.She had also taken in and fed monks,
arriving in Constantinople, whom Patriarch Theophilus had banished
from the Egyptian desert. He levelled unrighteous accusations against
her and attempted to cast doubt on her holy life.
After the banishment of St John Chrysostom, someone set fire to a
large church, and after this a large part of the city burned down.
All the supporters of St John Chrysostom came under suspicion of
arson, and they were summoned for interrogation. They summoned St
Olympias to trial, rigorously interrogating her. They fined her a
large sum of money for the crime of arson, despite her innocence and a
lack of evidence against her. After this the saint left Constantinople
and set out to Kyzikos (on the Sea of Marmara). But her enemies did
not cease their persecution. In the year 405 they sentenced her to
prison at Nicomedia, where the saint underwent much grief and
deprivation. St John Chrysostom wrote to her from his exile, consoling
her in her sorrow. In the year 409 St Olympias entered into eternal
rest.
St Olympias appeared in a dream to the Bishop of Nicomedia and
commanded that her body be placed in a wooden coffin and cast into the
sea. "Wherever the waves carry the coffin, there let my body be
buried," said the saint. The coffin was brought by the waves to a
place named Brokthoi near Constantinople. The inhabitants, informed of
this by God, took the holy relics of St Olympias and placed them in
the church of the holy Apostle Thomas.
Afterwards, during an invasion of enemies, the church was burned, but
the relics were preserved. Under the Patriarch Sergius (610-638), they
were transferred to Constantinople and put in the women's monastery
founded by St Olympias. Miracles and healings occurred from her
relics.
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Virginmartyr Eupraxia of Tabenna
Saint Eupraxia was daughter of the Constantinople dignitary Antigonos,
a kinsman of the holy Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395).
Antigonus and his wife Eupraxia were pious and bestowed generous alms
on the destitute. A daughter was born to them, whom they also named
Eupraxia. Antigonos soon died, and the mother withdrew from the
imperial court. She went with her daughter to Egypt, on the pretext of
inspecting her properties. Near the Thebaid there was a women's
monastery with a strict monastic rule. The life of the inhabitants
attracted the pious widow. She wanted to bestow aid on this monastery,
but the abbess Theophila refused and said that the nuns had fully
devoted themselves to God and that they did not wish the acquisition
of any earthly riches. The abbess consented to accept only candles,
incense and oil.
The younger Eupraxia was seven years old at this time. She liked the
monastic way of life and she decided to remain at the monastery. Her
pious mother did not stand in the way of her daughter's wish. Taking
leave of her daughter at the monastery, Eupraxia asked her daughter to
be humble, never to dwell upon her noble descent, and to serve God and
her sisters.
In a short while the mother died. Having learned of her death, the
emperor St Theodosius sent St Eupraxia the Younger a letter in which
he reminded her that her parents had betrothed her to the son of a
certain senator, intending that she marry him when she reached age
fifteen. The Emperor desired that she honor the commitment made by her
parents. In reply, St Eupraxia wrote to the emperor that she had
already become a bride of Christ, and she requested of the emperor to
dispose of her properties, distributing the proceeds for the use of
the Church and the needy.
St Eupraxia, when she reached the age of maturity, intensified her
ascetic efforts all the more. At first she partook of food once a day,
then after two days, three days, and finally, once a week. She
combined her fasting with the fulfilling of all her monastic
obediences. She toiled humbly in the kitchen, she washed dishes, she
swept the premises and served the sisters with zeal and love. The
sisters also loved the humble Eupraxia. But one of them envied her and
explained away all her efforts as a desire for glory. This sister
began to trouble and to reproach her, but the holy virgin did not
answer her back, and instead humbly asked forgiveness.
The Enemy of the human race caused the saint much misfortune.
Once,while getting water, she fell into the well, and the sisters
pulled her out. Another time, St Eupraxia was chopping wood for the
kitchen, and cut herself on the leg with an axe. When she carried an
armload of wood up the ladder, she stepped on the hem of her garment.
She fell, and a sharp splinter cut her near the eyes. All these woes
St Eupraxia endured with patience, and when they asked her to rest,
she would not consent.
For her efforts, the Lord granted St Eupraxia a gift of wonderworking.
Through her prayers she healed a deaf and dumb crippled child, and she
delivered a demon-possessed woman from infirmity. They began to bring
the sick for healing to the monastery. The holy virgin humbled herself
all the more, counting herself as least among the sisters. Before the
death of St Eupraxia, the abbess had a vision. The holy virgin was
transported into a splendid palace, and stood before the Throne of the
Lord, surrounded by holy angels. The All-Pure Virgin showed St
Eupraxia around the luminous chamber and said that She had made it
ready for her, and that she would come into this habitation after ten
days.
The abbess and the sisters wept bitterly, not wanting to lose St
Eupraxia. The saint herself, in learning about the vision, wept
because she was not prepared for death. , She asked the abbess to pray
that the Lord would grant her one year more for repentance. The abbess
consoled St Eupraxia and said that the Lord would grant her His great
mercy. Suddenly St Eupraxia sensed herself not well, and having
sickened, she soon peacefully died at the age of thirty.
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Venerable Macarius the Abbot of Zheltovod and Unzha
Saint Macarius of Zheltovod and Unzha was born in the year 1349 at
Nizhni-Novgorod into a pious family. At twelve years of age he
secretly left his parents and accepted monastic tonsure at the
Nizhni-Novgorod Caves monastery under St Dionysius (June 26). With all
the intensity of his youthful soul he gave himself over to the work of
salvation. He stood out among among the brethren for his extremely
strict fasting and precise fulfillment of the monastic rule.
The parents of St Macarius only learned three years later where he had
gone. His father went to him and tearfully besought his son merely
that he would come forth and show himself. St Macarius spoke with his
father through a wall, saying that he would see him in the future
life. "Extend your hand, at least," implored the father. The son
fulfilled this small request and the father, having kissed his son's
hand, returned home.
Burdened by fame, the humble Macarius set off for the shores of the
River Volga, and here he pursued asceticism near the waters of Yellow
Lake. Here by firm determination and patience he overcame the abuse of
the Enemy of salvation. Lovers of solitude gathered to St Macarius,
and in 1435 he organized a monastery for them in the Name of the Most
Holy Trinity.
Here also he began to preach Christianity to the surrounding Cheremis
and Chuvash peoples, and he baptized both Mohammedans and pagans in
the lake, which received its name from the saint. When the Kazan
Tatars destroyed the monastery in 1439, they took St Macarius captive.
Out of respect for his piety and charitable love, the Khan released
the saint from captivity and freed nearly 400 Christians with him. But
in return, St Macarius promised not to settle by Yellow Lake.
St Macarius reverently buried those killed at his monastery, and he
went 200 versts to the Galich border. During the time of this
resettlement all those on the way were fed in miraculous manner
through the prayers of the saint. Having arrived at the city of Unzha,
St Macarius set up a cross 15 versts from the city, and built a cell
on the shores of Lake Unzha. Here he founded a new monastery. During
the fifth year of his life at Lake Unzha, St Macarius took sick and
reposed at age 95.
While yet alive, St Macarius was granted a gift: he healed a blind and
demon-afflicted girl. After the death of the monk, many received
healing from his relics. The monks built a temple over his grave, and
established a cenobitic rule at the monastery.
In 1522, Tatars fell upon Unzha and wanted to destroy the silver
reliquary in the Makariev monastery, but they fell blind. In a panic,
they took to flight. Many of them drowned in the Unzha. In 1532,
through the prayers of St Macarius, the city of Soligalich was saved
from the Tatars. In gratitude, the inhabitants built a chapel in the
cathedral church in honor of the saint. More than 50 people received
healing from grievous infirmities through the prayers of St Macarius.
This was certified by a commission sent by Patriarch Philaret in 1619.
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Commemoration of the Holy 165 Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical
Council
The Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II) was held at
Constantinople, under the holy Emperor St Justinian I (527-565) in the
year 553, to determine the Orthodoxy of three dead bishops: Theodore
of Mopsuetia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of Edessa, who had
expressed Nestorian opinions in their writings in the time of the
Third Ecumenical Council (September 9).
These three bishops had not been condemned at the Fourth Ecumenical
Council (July 16), which condemned the Monophysites, and in turn had
been accused by the Monophysites of Nestorianism. Therefore, to
deprive the Monophysites of the possibility of accusing the Orthodox
of sympathy for Nestorianism, and also to dispose the heretical party
towards unity with the followers of the Council of Chalcedon, the
emperor St Justinian issued an edict. In it "the Three Chapters" (the
three deceased bishops) were condemned. But since the edict was issued
on the emperor's initiative, and since it was not acknowledged by
representatives of all the Church (particularly in the West, and in
Africa), a dispute arose about the "Three Chapters." The Fifth
Ecumenical Council was convened to resolve this dispute.
165 bishops attended this Council. Pope Vigilius, though present in
Constantinople, refused to participate in the Council, although he was
asked three times to do so by official deputies in the name of the
gathered bishops and the Emperor himself. The Council opened with St
Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (552-565, 577-582), presiding.
In accordance with the imperial edict, the matter of the "Three
Chapters" was carefully examined in eight prolonged sessions from May
4 to June 2, 553.
Anathema was pronounced against the person and teachings of Theodore
of Mopsuetia. In the case of Theodore and Ibas, the condemnations were
confined only to certain of their writings, while they personally had
been cleared by the Council of Chalcedon, because of their repentance.
Thus, they were spared from the anathema.
This measure was necessary because certain of the proscribed works
contained expressions used by the Nestorians to interpret the
definitions of the Council of Chalcedon for their own ends. But the
leniency of the Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, in a spirit
of moderate economy regarding the persons of Bishops Theodore and
Ibas, instead embittered the Monophysites against the decisions of the
Council. Besides which, the emperor had given the orders to promulgate
the Conciliar decisions together with a decree of excommunication
against Pope Vigilius, for being like-minded with the heretics. The
Pope afterwards concurred with the mind of the Fathers, and signed the
Conciliar definition. The bishops of Istria and all the region of the
Aquilea metropolia, however, remained in schism for more than a
century.
At the Council the Fathers likewise examined the errors of presbyter
Origen, a renowned Church teacher of the third century. His teaching
about the pre-existence of the human soul was condemned. Other
heretics, who did not admit the universal resurrection of the dead,
were also condemned.
It pleased the Lord that the Holy Spirit should inspire the Fathers of
the Council in a further definition of Orthodoxy that preserves the
integrity and dignity both of God and of mankind, without the
distortion of either that occurs within the Nestorian or Monophysite
heresies.
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