'Daily Bread'
Monday, July 8, 2024
"The Divine Liturgy is the way we know God and the way God becomes known to us...Every Divine Liturgy is a Theophany. The Body of Christ appears. Every member of the Church is an icon of the Kingdom of God. After the Divine Liturgy we must continue to iconify the Kingdom of God, keeping His commandments. The glory of Christ is for Him to bear His fruit in every member."
+Elder Sophrony of Essex
Daily Scripture Reading
Epistle: Romans 7:1-13
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Gospel: Matthew 9:36-10:8
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
The SITKA Icon of the Mother of God - commemorated July 8
Akathist for Our Lady of Sitka in the St Herman of Alaska Parish in Glen Hills, PA - April, 2024
This is one of the many churches where Vladyka Alexei visited on his travels along the East Coast, around Washington D.C. He brought the Sitka Mother of God Icon with him to help with the fundraising for our beloved priests in Alaska, many of which are struggling financially.
Unique Mount Athos Monastery with Tower and Fortified Courtyard
The Holy Monastery of the Apostles Peter and Paul appears to have already been in existence in 1018, but after many misfortunes it was restored by the Paleologue emperors in the 14th century. In the 16th century it was destroyed by pirates and rebuilt by the Wallachian prince Petros.
The katholikon, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, was built between 1548 and 1563 and frescoed in 1716,1750 and 1763. Of particular interest is the arsenal complex, which was completed in 1534. It is essentially a miniature monastery, with a tower, fortification wall with cannon ports, fortified entrance, courtyard, and storied ranges incorporating a church and refectory. It was soon destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 7/8: Matins 8:30 a.m.; Steward Meeting 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday 7/9: no services
Wednesday 7/10: no services
Thursday 7/11: Matins 8:30 a.m.; Men’s Group 7 p.m.
Friday 7/12: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 7/13: Women’s Group 9 a.m.; Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m.; Great Vespers 6 p.m.
Sunday 7/14: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m.
