[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

Mon Feb 25 05:00:13 CST 2008

Scripture Readings and Saints for Mon Feb 25 2008

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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1 John 2:18-3:10  (Epistle)
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.
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.
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.
1 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.
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.
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.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2

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Mark 11:1-11  (Gospel)
1 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.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2

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------ SAINTS/FEASTS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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St Tarasius the Archbishop of Constantinople
Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople was of illustrious
lineage. He was born and raised in Constantinople, where he received a
fine education. He was rapidly promoted at the court of the emperor
Constantine VI Porphyrogenitos (780-797) and Constantine's mother, the
holy Empress Irene (August 7), and the saint attained the rank of
senator.
During these times the Church was agitated by the turmoil of the
Iconoclast disturbances. The holy Patriarch Paul (August 30) although
he had formerly supported Iconoclasm, later repented and resigned his
office. He withdrew to a monastery, where he took the schema. When the
holy Empress Irene and her son the emperor came to him, St Paul told
them that the most worthy successor to him would be St Tarasius (who
at this time was still a layman).
Tarasius refused for a long time, not considering himself worthy of
such high office, but he then gave in to the common accord on the
condition, that an Ecumenical Council be convened to address the
Iconoclast heresy.
Proceeding through all the clerical ranks in a short while, St
Tarasius was elevated to the patriarchal throne in the year 784. In
the year 787 the Seventh Ecumenical Council was convened in the city
of Nicea, with Patriarch Tarasius presiding, and 367 bishops
attending. The veneration of holy icons was confirmed at the council.
Those bishops who repented of their iconoclasm, were again received by
the Church.
St Tarasius wisely governed the Church for twenty-two years. He led a
strict ascetic life. He spent all his money on God-pleasing ends,
feeding and giving comfort to the aged, to the impoverished, to widows
and orphans, and on Holy Pascha he set out a meal for them, and he
served them himself.
The holy Patriarch fearlessly denounced the emperor Constantine
Porphyrigenitos when he slandered his spouse, the empress Maria, the
granddaughter of St Philaretos the Merciful (December 1), so that he
could send Maria to a monastery, thus freeing him to marry his own
kinswoman. St Tarasius resolutely refused to dissolve the marriage of
the emperor, for which the saint fell into disgrace. Soon, however,
Constantine was deposed by his own mother, the Empress Irene.
St Tarasius died in the year 806. Before his death, devils examined
his life from the time of his youth, and they tried to get the saint
to admit to sins that he had not committed. "I am innocent of that of
which you accuse me," replied the saint, "and you falsely slander me.
You have no power over me at all."
Mourned by the Church, the saint was buried in a monastery he built on
the Bosphorus. Many miracles took place at his tomb.
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