'Daily Bread'
Thursday, October 31, 2024
“Miracles are not impossible from a logical standpoint, and right reason does not deny them. Natural laws do not have the claim to be the only ones, nor are they threatened with being overturned by the appearance of other laws, supernatural ones, which also are conducive to the development and furtherance of creation… Miracles are a consequence of the Creator’s love for his creatures.”
— St. Nektarios of Aegina
Daily Scripture Readings
Philippians 1:20-27 (Epistle)
20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith,
26 that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,
Luke 11:47-12:1 (Gospel)
47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.
49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’
50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
53 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,
54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.
1 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Hieromartyr Archpriest John Kochurov (1917)
The Life of Saint John Kochurov, Hieromartyr, Missionary in America, First Clergy Martyr of the Russian Revolution.
On October 31, 1917, in Tsarskoye Selo, a bright new chapter, full of earthly grief and heavenly joy, was opened in the history of sanctity in the Russian Church: the holiness of the New-Martyrs of the twentieth century. The opening of this chapter is linked to the name of the Russian Orthodox shepherd who became one of the first to give his soul for his flock during this twentieth century of fighters against God: Archpriest John Kochurov.
Father John Kochurov was born on July 13, 1871, in the village of Bigildino-Surky of the district of Danky in the Ryazan region, to a pious family of many children. His parents were the priest Alexander Kochurov and his wife Anna. Father Alexander Kochurov served almost all his life in the Church of Theophany in Bigildino-Surky village in the Diocese of Ryazan from the moment of his ordination on March 2, 1857, and having combined all those years of service in the parish with the fulfillment of his obligations as a teacher of the God’s Law in the Bigildin’s public school, imprinted in the consciences of his sons, and particularly in that of John, the most spiritually sensitive of them, a radiant image of the parish priest, full of deep humility and high inspiration.1
Fr. John’s upbringing, being based on the remarkable traditions of many generations of the clergy and bound with the people’s natural following after Orthodox piety, foretold his setting out on the path of preparation for pastoral service. Father John’s study — initially at Danky Theological School and afterwards at Ryazan Theological Seminary — was marked not only with outstanding success in the mastery of theological and secular disciplines, but with remarkable examples of Church piety which he demonstrated during a time when the everyday life of a provincial theological school was not always spotless in the moral sense.
The future Father John successfully graduated in 1891 from the Theological Seminary in Ryazan. Having passed the entrance exams for the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, he became a student at one of the best theological schools in Russia.2
During the period of Fr. John’s study at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, his propensity to regard theological education as a preparation primarily for future service as a parish priest became clearly defined, while at the same time, Fr. John already during his student days coupled the possibility of his service as a parish priest with that of missionary activity, in which he saw the embodiment of the ideal of the Orthodox pastor. After his graduation from Saint Petersburg Theological Academy with the distinction of a true student, Fr. John was sent, in accordance with his long desire for missionary service, to the Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska.3
St. Nektarios: A Prayer to the Immaculate Virgin
A Prayer To the Immaculate Virgin
Take away from me, O Virgin, the fetters of sin,
of my lusts and other transgressions:
the terrible carelessness and the overcaring,
the evil curiosity and the talkativeness,
the useless incontinence and the haughtiness,
the negligence, the drunkenness and the lack of mercy,
the bad desires, the terrible impurity,
the extravagance, the darkness,
the great insensitivity.
Take away the tendency to say jokes,
the enjoyment, the prodigality.
The laughter of immorality and every evil.
Give me, O maiden, fasting,
carefulness, vigilance and perfect obedience.
Give me carefulness in all
and acute discernment,
silence, order and holy patience.
Grant to me, O Lady, eagerness to work
and to attain my perfection,
and zeal for virtues and exercise.
Keep, O most-holy One,
my soul, my heart and my mind
in holiness and guard it in virginity.
— St. Nektarios
Translated by Nikolaos S. Hatzinikolaou
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 10/28: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 10/29: no services or events
Wednesday 10/30: no services or events
Thursday 10/231: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 11/1: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 11/2: Catechumen class 4:30; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 11/28: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m.
