'Daily Bread'
Monday, October 14, 2024
“One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life.”
+ St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III.4
Daily Scripture Reading
Ephesians 1:22-2:3 (Epistle)
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Luke 9:18-22 (Gospel)
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Venerable Nicholas Sviatosha Prince of Chernigov, and Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
Saint Nicholas Sviatosha, Prince of Chernigov, and Wonderworker of the Kiev Caves, Near Caves, was a great-grandson of Great Prince Yaroslav the Wise and son of Prince David Svyatoslavich of Chernigov (+ 1123). Nicholas was the Prince of Lutsk, and he had a wife and children (his daughter was later married to the Novgorod prince Saint Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11).
On February 17, 1106 the holy prince left his family and was tonsured at the Kiev Caves monastery. Nicholas Sviatosha carried out his obediences with great humility. For three years he worked in the kitchen, for which he chopped wood and carried water. For the next three years, he was gatekeeper at the monastery. The saint had a garden around his cell. Out of his own means he built at the monastery the temple of the Holy Trinity and the infirmary church in the name of Saint Nicholas, his patron saint.
Saint Nicholas was the first of the Russian princes to accept monasticism, patiently enduring the reproaches of his brothers for his decision to lead a life of humble obedience. The saint’s doctor, Peter, pointed out to the royal ascetic that such exploits of obedience had injured his health. But suddenly the doctor himself fell sick, and was healed only by the prayer of Saint Nicholas. Then Peter himself was tonsured.
After he had progressed through various obediences, Saint Nicholas took upon himself the vow of silence. When the saint received money, he used it to beautify the church and to procure books (because he loved reading), or he distributed it to the poor. Saint Nicholas was a zealous peacemaker; in 1142 he reconciled the Prince of Chernigov with the Great Prince Vsevolod.
Soon after the death of the saint, his brother Prince Izyaslav fell grievously ill. The igumen of the monastery sent the sick man the saint’s hairshirt. Izyaslav put it on and was healed.
The Joy of Giving and Serving Others
Jesus Christ once said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Some may raise their eyebrows at such a saying, thinking that they would much rather receive than give. Yet, one of the great secrets to a happy, meaningful life is the joy that comes through giving and serving others. How many of us feel great when we have given a special gift to someone else? How many of us have tasted the utter joy when we do something for another person expecting nothing in return?
I have been blessed throughout my life to have experienced this type of joy in a variety of contexts. After I graduated from Penn State, I went on my first mission trip to East Africa and lived in a village in northern Kenya for one month. It changed the direction of my life living in this African village trying to serve the people there in some simple way.
I was so inspired by the people I met, who themselves displayed such a spirit of sacrifice and generosity. I returned to Kenya the following year and lived in Western Kenya assisting my Kenyan counterpart in overseeing the building of a medical clinic, a mission center, and several churches. I discovered the joy of serving others.
This experience actually led me to change directions in my profession and to become a Greek Orthodox priest. The center of the ministry that Presbytera Faith and I have had over the past 28 years has been trying to serve other.
After Pres. Faith and I married, we moved to post-communist Albania, which in the early 1990s was considered one of the poorest countries in the world – devastated not only economically by a broken, corrupt communist system but desperately poor spiritually as the only country in the world where no religion was allowed for 24 years. We went there to live among these hospitable people trying to serve them in whatever way we could. We lived there ten years sacrificing the comforts of an American life yet discovering the beauty of another culture and people which reaffirmed to us the utter joy of living sacrificially and giving of ourselves to serve a people during challenging and sometimes desperate times.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 10/14: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 10/15: no services or events
Wednesday 10/16: no services or events
Thursday 10/17: Matins 8:30 a.m.; Men’s group 7:00pm
Friday 10/18: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 10/19: Catechumen Class 4:30 pm; Choir Rehearsal 5:00 pm; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 10/20: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m.
