'Daily Bread'
Thursday, September 12, 2024
“Children, I beseech you to correct your hearts and thoughts, so that you may be pleasing to God. Consider that although we may reckon ourselves to be righteous and frequently succeed in deceiving men, we can conceal nothing from God. Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of our souls and to guard the purity of our bodies with all fervor. Ye are the temple of God, says the divine Apostle Paul; If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”
+ St. Nicholas of Myra, The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints
by St. Demetrius of Rostov
Daily Scripture Reading
Philippians 2:5-11 (Epistle, Theotokos)
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28 (Gospel, Theotokos)
38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Venerable Bassian of Tiksnensk, Vologda
Saint Bassian of Tiksnensk [Totemsk] (in the world Basil) was a peasant from the village of Strelitsa (by other accounts, from the village of Burtsevo), near the city of Totma, and he was by trade a tailor. Leaving his family, he became a monk under Saint Theodosius of Totemsk in the Sumorinsk monastery at the River Sukhona, where he spent several years in works and obediences.
In 1594, the monk resettled not far from Totma, at the River Tiksna, near a church named for Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. At first he lived at the church portico, but then he made himself a cell near the church. The monk visited at each divine service. For thirty years he wore chains on his body: on his shoulders a heavy chain, on his loins an iron belt, and on his head beneath his head covering an iron cap.
Saint Ia was among the Christian prisoners who were deported to Bet-Houzae in Persia. She was well-instructed in the faith, and love moved her to make the word of God known to the women of the place. But the husbands, suspecting that she was trying to persuade their wives to flee matrimony, denounced her. King Shapur ordered two of his magi to seize the Saint and torture her until she would worship fire and water. As Ia valiantly confessed Christ, she was stripped, her limbs were torn asunder with ropes, and she was flogged mercilessly by five tormentors. Covered in wounds, she was thrown into prison. Two months later, when she was again questioned, she said, "I shall remain steadfast in the grace that has been given to me; nothing in the world will make me give up the true God in exchange for your vain idols." For this answer, she was beaten with forty rose-bush stems full of thorns until the shreds of her flesh covered the ground.
Yearning for solitude, the monk admitted no one to his cell, except his spiritual Father. He lived by the alms which they put by his small window. Saint Bassian died on September 12, 1624. Only at burial was it discovered how much he had humbled his flesh.
At the place of Saint Bassian’s ascetic struggles a monastery was established in honor of the Icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands. Veneration of Saint Bassian began in the year 1647, when during a deadly plague, many received healing at his tomb. The Life of the monk was written in the year 1745 by the igumen Joseph.
The Pain that Leads to Joy
The ‘forgive me’ which comes from a heart in pain over a mistake breaks down the hard wall of remoteness, of animosity, and unites that which was divided. This is why it’s neither easy nor painless. Because the easy and painless ‘forgive me’, expressed as a formula for restoring relations on a superficial level, isn’t capable of breaking down walls.
There’s ‘forgive me’ to God and to other people, to our neighbor. In reality, it’s one and the same, since according to the Fathers, ‘if you sin against your brother or sister, it’s as if you sin against God’. Or, as Abba Apollo puts it: ‘If you’ve seen your brother or sister, you’ve seen God’. The excuse that ‘Things are fine between us and God’ and that our relationship with other people is entirely different, seems like an attempt to silence our conscience, which is crying out the truth.
Of course, sin, as estrangement from God’s grace, as abandonment of his presence, as dissolute ways of life at odds with his will, creates turmoil within those who have experienced his peace and his joy. In the same way as quarrels, suspicions, clashes and accusations among people we love and are close to create tumult, sorrow and anger in our heart and mind.
In reality, there’s no other way of finding peace and of filling our being with the joy of heaven than by seeing our own responsibility, acknowledging that the other person is right and asking for forgiveness. Just as we accept before God that we’re not who we ought to be as his children and that we don’t live as Christians.
The ‘forgive me’ which is said to God from the heart is based on humility. Egotistical and complacent people don’t seek forgiveness, or, if they do, it’s so that they feel comfortable with themselves or to show they can behave in a superior fashion. But these patterns of behavior don’t produce inexpressible joy, because they don’t come from our inner depths, with pain and without excuses.
The tears which may accompany the apology is an expression of the recognition of the sorry state into which we’ve fallen. This is why this weeping is redemptive, renovative, like ‘a baptism of tears’.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 9/9: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 9/10: no services or events
Wednesday 9/11: no services or events
Thursday 9/12: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 9/13: Vigil for the Exaltation of the Precious Cross 6:30 p.m.
Saturday 9/14: Festal Liturgy for Exaltation 9:15 a.m., Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 9/15: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m., Church Picnic
