[Readingsandsaints] Readings and saints

Tue May 15 05:00:35 CDT 2007

Scripture Readings and Saints for Tue May 15 2007

----------------------------------------------------
------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------

Acts 17:19-28
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we
know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we
want to know what these things mean.
21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their
time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your
worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN
GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I
proclaim to you:
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of
heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything,
since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all
the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and
the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might
grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of
your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
Scripture Reading 1 of 4

-----------------------------

2 Corinthians 4:6-15  (Saint)
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of
the power may be of God and not of us.
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that
the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is
written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and
therefore speak,
14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up
with Jesus, and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread
through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of
God.
Scripture Reading 2 of 4

-----------------------------

John 12:19-36
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you
are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!"
20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at
the feast.
21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and
asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told
Jesus.
23 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of
Man should be glorified.
24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into
the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces
much grain.
25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My
servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
27 Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me
from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
28 Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying,
"I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had
thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."
30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me,
but for your sake.
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will
be cast out.
32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to
Myself.
33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
34 The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the
Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be
lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"
35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with
you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who
walks in darkness does not know where he is going.
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become
sons of light. These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden
from them.
Scripture Reading 3 of 4

-----------------------------

Luke 14:25-35  (Saint)
25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,
26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he
cannot be My disciple.
27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My
disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down
first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-
29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit
down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet
him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a
delegation and asks conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot
be My disciple.
34 Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be
seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw
it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Scripture Reading 4 of 4

----------------------------------------------------
------ SAINTS/FEASTS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

Venerable Pachomius the Great, Founder of Coenobitic
Monasticism
St Pachomius the Great was both a model of desert dwelling, and with
Sts Anthony the Great (January 17), Macarius the Great (January 19),
and Euthymius the Great (January 20), a founder of the cenobitic
monastic life in Egypt.
St Pachomius was born in the third century in the Thebaid (Upper
Egypt). His parents were pagans who gave him an excellent secular
education. From his youth he had a good character, and he was prudent
and sensible.
When Pachomius reached the age of twenty, he was called up to serve in
the army of the emperor Constantine (apparently, in the year 315).
They put the new conscripts in a city prison guarded by soldiers. The
local Christians fed the soldiers and took care of them.
When the young man learned that these people acted this way because of
their love for God, fulfilling His commandment to love their neighbor,
this made a deep impression upon his pure soul. Pachomius vowed to
become a Christian. Pachomius returned from the army after the
victory, received holy Baptism, moved to the lonely settlement of
Shenesit, and began to lead a strict ascetic life. Realizing the need
for spiritual guidance, he turned to the desert-dweller Palamon. He
was accepted by the Elder, and he began to follow the example of his
instructor in monastic struggles.
Once, after ten years of asceticism, St Pachomius made his way through
the desert, and halted at the ruins of the former village of
Tabennisi. Here he heard a Voice ordering him to start a monastery at
this place. Pachomius told the Elder Palamon of this, and they both
regarded the words as a command from God.
They went to Tabennisi and built a small monastic cell. The holy Elder
Palamon blessed the foundations of the monastery and predicted its
future glory. But soon Palamon departed to the Lord. An angel of God
then appeared to St Pachomius in the form of a schemamonk and gave him
a Rule of monastic life. Soon his older brother John came and settled
there with him.
St Pachomius endured many temptations and assaults from the Enemy of
the race of man, but he resisted all temptations by his prayer and
endurance.
Gradually, followers began to gather around St Pachomius. Their
teacher impressed everyone by his love for work, which enabled him to
accomplish all kinds of monastic tasks. He cultivated a garden, he
conversed with those seeking guidance, and he tended to the sick.
St Pachomius introduced a monastic Rule of cenobitic life, giving
everyone the same food and attire. The monks of the monastery
fulfilled the obediences assigned them for the common good of the
monastery. Among the various obediences was copying books. The monks
were not allowed to possess their own money nor to accept anything
from their relatives. St Pachomius considered that an obedience
fulfilled with zeal was greater than fasting or prayer. He also
demanded from the monks an exact observance of the monastic Rule, and
he chastized slackers.
His sister Maria came to see St Pachomius, but the strict ascetic
refused to see her. Through the gate keeper, he blessed her to enter
upon the path of monastic life, promising his help with this. Maria
wept, but did as her brother had ordered. The Tabennisi monks built
her a hut on the opposite side of the River Nile. Nuns also began to
gather around Maria. Soon a women's monastery was formed with a strict
monastic Rule provided by St Pachomius.
The number of monks at the monastery grew quickly, and it became
necessary to build seven more monasteries in the vicinity. The number
of monks reached 7,000, all under the guidance of St Pachomius, who
visited all the monasteries and administered them. At the same time St
Pachomius remained a deeply humble monk, who was always ready to
comply with and accept the words of each brother.
Severe and strict towards himself, St Pachomius had great kindness and
condescension toward the deficiencies of spiritually immature monks.
One of the monks was eager for martyrdom, but St Pachomius turned him
from this desire and instructed him to fulfill his monastic obedience,
taming his pride, and training him in humility.
Once, a monk did not heed his advice and left the monastery. He was
set upon by brigands, who threatened him with death and forced him to
offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Filled with despair, the monk
returned to the monastery. St Pachomius ordered him to pray intensely
night and day, keep a strict fast and live in complete solitude. The
monk followed his advice, and this saved his soul from despair.
The saint taught his spiritual children to avoid judging others, and
he himself feared to judge anyone even in thought.
St Pachomius cared for the sick monks with special love. He visited
them, he cheered the disheartened, he urged them to be thankful to
God, and put their hope in His holy will. He relaxed the fasting rule
for the sick, if this would help them recover their health. Once, in
the saint's absence, the cook did not prepare any cooked food for the
monks, assuming that the brethren loved to fast. Instead of fulfilling
his obedience, the cook plaited 500 mats, something which St Pachomius
had not told him to do. In punishment for his disobedience, all the
mats prepared by the cook were burned.
St Pachomius always taught the monks to rely only upon God's help and
mercy. It happened that there was a shortage of grain at the
monastery. The saint spent the whole night in prayer, and in the
morning a large quantity of bread was sent to the monastery from the
city, at no charge. The Lord granted St Pachomius the gift of
wonderworking and healing the sick.
The Lord revealed to him the future of monasticism. The saint learned
that future monks would not have such zeal in their struggles as the
first generation had, and they would not have experienced guides.
Prostrating himself upon the ground, St Pachomius wept bitterly,
calling out to the Lord and imploring mercy for them. He heard a Voice
answer, "Pachomius, be mindful of the mercy of God. The monks of the
future shall receive a reward, since they too shall have occasion to
suffer the life burdensome for the monk."
Toward the end of his life St Pachomius fell ill from a pestilence
that afflicted the region. His closest disciple, St Theodore (May 17),
tended to him with filial love. St Pachomius died around the year 348
at the age of fifty-three, and was buried on a hill near the
monastery.
_________________________________________________________________
St Isaiah the Bishop and Wonderworker of Rostov
No information available at this time.
_________________________________________________________________
Blessed Crown Prince Demetrius of Uglich and Moscow
No information available at this time.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Isaiah the Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
Saint Isaiah was one of the saints of the Kiev Caves who struggled
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He was known for his
quietness and his unflagging toil, for which he is named a
"lover-of-labor."
The holy ascetic died in the year 1115, and his relics are in the Near
Caves of the Kiev Caves Lavra. The commemoration of St Isaiah is on
May 15, September 28, and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Pachomius the Abbot of Nerekhta
Saint Pachomius of Nerekhta, in the world James, was born into the
family of a priest at Vladimir on the Klyazma. He was sent to school
at the age of seven, since from childhood he knew the Holy Scriptures
very well. Finding the bustle of the perishing world burdensome, he
was tonsured at the Vladimir Nativity monastery, fulfilling various
obediences without complaint.
Yearning for the solitary wilderness life, the ascetic secretly left
the monastery and went to the outskirts of Nerekhta. Here, at the
River Gridenka, he found a suitable place for a monastery, a raised
semi-island in the deep forest. The saint asked the people around
Nerekhta to establish and build a monastery in the vicinity of
Sypanovo, on the Kostroma frontier. The people of Nerekhta happily
consented and helped in the construction of the monastery.
St Pachomius painted an icon of the Holy Trinity, and after singing a
Molieben he carried it to the place where he was to build the church
in the Name of the Holy Trinity. After the church was completed, St
Pachomius organized the new monastery, which soon began to attract
monks.
At the newly-formed monastery the monks had to cultivate the land
themselves and feed themselves by the toil of their own hands. The
saint set an example for the brethren in this matter.
He died in 1384, advanced in age, and he was buried in the Trinity
church he built. One of his disciples, Irenarchus, painted an icon of
the saint, and later a crypt was built for his holy relics. The dates
of commemoration for St Pachomius are on May 15, his Name Day, and on
March 23, the day of his repose.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Silvanus of Nerekhta
No information available at this time.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Euphrosynus the Abbot and Wonderworker of Pskov
St Euphrosynus of Pskov, in the world Eleazar, was born in about the
year 1386 in the village of Videlebo, near Pskov, the same village
where St Nicander of Pskov (September 24) had also been born. His
parents wanted Eleazar to marry, but secretly he withdrew to the
Snetogorsk monastery (on the Snyatni hill, now in Pskov itself) and
there accepted tonsure.
Around the year 1425, searching for a place where he might devote
himself to more intense prayer, St Euphrosynus with the blessing of
the abbot moved to a solitary cell at the River Tolva, not far from
Pskov. But concern for the salvation of his neighbor impelled the
saint to abandon his wilderness dwelling, and he began to receive
everyone who was in need of an experienced Elder and guide. St
Euphrosynus blessed those coming to him to live according to a skete
rule, compiled by himself.
The Rule of St Euphrosynus presents a rather generalized advice for
monks about proceeding on the monastic path, "how it befits monks to
dwell." He does not address the strict regulation of all aspects of
monastic life, as did, for example, the Rule of St Joseph of
Volokolamsk; there is nothing at all in it concerning the order of
divine services.
In 1447 at the request of the brethren, St Euphrosynus built a church
in honor of the Three Holy Hierarchs Basil the Great, Gregory the
Theologian and John Chrysostom, who appeared to him, and also in honor
of St Onuphrius the Great (June 12). The monastery later received the
name Spaso-Eleazarov. Out of humility and his love for the solitary
life, the saint did not wish to be igumen, but instead nominated his
disciple Ignatius for this office. He then went to live in the forest
near a lake.
St Euphrosynus died at the advanced age of ninety-five, on May 15,
1481. At his crypt, by order of Archbishop Gennadius of Novgorod, was
placed an icon painted by his disciple Ignatius while the saint was
still alive. Also included was the last testament of the saint to the
brethren on a piece of parchment, stamped with the lead seal of
Archbishop Theophilus of Novgorod. This is one of very few surviving
wills written by an ascetic in his own hand.
St Euphrosynus, the originator of Pskov wilderness life, taught many
famed disciples, who also established monasteries, and planted the
seeds of monasticism throughout the lands of Pskov. Among the
disciples of St Euphrosynus were the skete Elders Sava of Krypetsk
(August 28; St Dositheus of Verkhneostrov (October 8); St Onuphrius of
Malsk (June 12); St Joachim of Opochsk (September 9); St Hilarion of
Gdovsk (October 21); St Chariton of Kudinsk, founder and igumen of a
monastery at Lake Kudina near Toroptsa; and the locally venerated
brothers from Pskov Ignatius, Charalampos and Pamphilius, buried at
the Spaso-Eleazar monastery.
_________________________________________________________________
Venerable Serapion of Pskov
Saint Serapion of Pskov was born at Yuriev (now Tartu), which then was
under the rule of Germans, who sought to stamp out Orthodoxy. His
parents were parishioners of a Russian church in the name of St.
Nicholas.
St. Serapion was well versed in the Holy Scripture, and more than once
he entered into the defense of Orthodoxy. When they wanted to convert
him by force to the foreign faith, he departed to the Tolvsk
wilderness, not far from Pskov, where the Pskov ascetic monk
Euphrosynus (May 15) began his prayerful work.
Under his nurturing, St. Serapion began to acquire the wisdom of
wilderness life. But soon he happened to undergo temptations. Without
a blessing, he wanted to leave his guide and to live an ascetic life
in complete solitude. But the Lord brought the inexperienced novice to
his senses: after he seriously hurt his leg, he repented of his
self-will and disobedience and returned to the Elder.
After he received the Great Schema, he dwelt constantly with St.
Euphrosynus for 55 years, strictly keeping the vow of silence.
Brethren began gradually to gather around St. Euphrosynus, for which
the Elder built a temple in the name of the Three Hierarchs and gave a
skete rule.
St. Serapion zealously fulfilled everything commanded of him and was a
role model for the monks. The monk so strictly fulfilled the monastic
vow of uncovetousness, that a copyist of his life called him "an
unburied corpse." He bore every insult with extraordinary humility,
always blaming himself alone, and he himself asked forgiveness of his
insulter. The monk deeply sensed the power of communal prayers and he
said that "the order of the twelve Psalms" sung alone in the cell
cannot equal one "Lord, have mercy" sung in church.
St. Serapion died on September 8, 1480, on the Feast of the Nativity
of the Most Holy Theotokos. Since the day of repose of St. Serapion
coincides with one of the twelve Great Feasts, his commemoration is on
September 7. A Troparion and Kontakion were composed for the saint.
St. Euphrosynus himself committed the body of his disciple to the
earth. By his fervent deeds he had transformed himself into mere
"bones, covered by skin." St. Serapion was not separated from his
spiritual Father even after death: their holy relics were placed
beside each other. A common service was composed to Sts Euphrosynus
and Serapion (15 May), wherein St. Serapion is glorified as the first
co-ascetic, "companion and friend" of St. Euphrosynus.
St Serapion is also commemorated on September 7.
_________________________________________________________________
St Achilles the Bishop of Larissa
Saint Achilles, Bishop of Larissa, lived during the fourth century,
during the reign of St Constantine the Great. Glorified for his
holiness of life and erudition, he was made Bishop of Larissa in
Thessaly.
St Achilles participated in the First Ecumenical Council, where he
boldly denounced the heretic Arius. In his city he strove to promote
Christianity, destroyed idolatrous pagan temples, and he built and
adorned churches.
St Achilles had the gift of healing sickness, especially demonic
possession, and he worked many miracles. The saint died peacefully in
about the year 330. His relics have been in Prespa, Bulgaria (now the
village of Akhila, renamed in honor of the saint) since 978.
_________________________________________________________________