Daily Bread
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
“We suffer because we have no humility and we do not love our brother. From love of our brother comes the love of God. People do not learn humility, and because of their pride cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the whole world suffers.”
St. Silouan the Athonite
Joel 2:12-26
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
Joel 3:12-21
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.
Saint Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza
Saint Porphyrius, Archbishop of Gaza, was born about the year 346 at Thessalonica. His parents were people of substance, and this allowed Saint Porphyrius to receive a fine education. Having the inclination for monastic life, he left his native region at twenty-five years of age and set off for Egypt, where he lived in the Nitrian desert under the guidance of Saint Macarius the Great (January 19). There he also met Saint Jerome (June 15), who was then visiting the Egyptian monasteries. He went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, and to venerate the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord (September 14), then he moved into a cave in the Jordanian wilderness for prayer and ascetic deeds.
After five years, Saint Porphyrius was afflicted with a serious malady of the legs. He decided to go to the holy places of Jerusalem to pray for healing. As he lay half-conscious at the foot of Golgotha, Saint Porphyrius fell into a sort of trance. He beheld Jesus Christ descending from the Cross and saying to him, “Take this Wood and preserve it.”
Coming out of his trance, he found himself healthy and free from pain. Then he gave away all his money to the poor and for the adornment of the churches of God. For a time he supported himself by working as a shoemaker. The words of the Savior were fulfilled when the saint was forty-five years old. The Patriarch of Jerusalem ordained Saint Porphyrius to the holy priesthood and appointed him custodian of the Venerable Wood of the Cross of the Lord.
In 395 the bishop of the city of Gaza (in Palestine) died. The local Christians went to Caesarea to ask Metropolitan John to send them a new bishop who would be able to contend against the pagans, which were predominant in their city and were harassing the Christians there. The Lord inspired the Metropolitan to summon the priest Porphyrius. With fear and trembling the ascetic accepted the office of bishop, and with tears he prostrated himself before the Life-Creating Wood and went to fulfill his new obedience.
In Gaza there were only three Christian churches, but there were a great many pagan temples and idols. During this time there had been a long spell without rain, causing a severe drought. The pagan priests brought offerings to their idols, but the woes did not cease. Saint Porphyrius imposed a fast for all the Christians; he then served an all-night Vigil, followed by a church procession around the city. Immediately the sky covered over with storm clouds, thunder boomed, and abundant rains poured down. Seeing this miracle, many pagans cried out, “Christ is indeed the only true God!” As a result of this, 127 men, thirty-five women and fourteen children were united to the Church through Holy Baptism, and another 110 men soon after this.
The pagans continued to harass the Christians. They passed them over for public office, and burdened them with taxes. Saint Porphyrius and Metropolitan John of Caesarea journeyed to Constantinople to seek redress from the emperor. Saint John Chrysostom (September 14, January 27 and 30) received them and assisted them.
Saints John and Porphyrius were presented to the empress Eudoxia who was expecting a child at that time. “Intercede for us,” said the bishops to the empress, “and the Lord will send you a son, who shall reign during your lifetime”. Eudoxia very much wanted a son, since she had given birth only to daughters. Through the prayer of the saints an heir was born to the imperial family. As a result of this, the emperor issued an edict in 401 ordering the destruction of pagan temples in Gaza and the restoration of privileges to Christians. Moreover, the emperor gave the saints money for the construction of a new church, which was to be built in Gaza on the site of the chief pagan temple.
Saint Porphyrius upheld Christianity in Gaza to the very end of his life, and guarded his flock from the vexatious pagans. Through the prayers of the saint numerous miracles and healings occurred. The holy archpastor guided his flock for twenty-five years, and reposed in 420 at an advanced age.
Lent: the other dimension of life
Fr. Andreas Agathokleous
Amid the turbulence of our life, the deafening noise surrounding us, the long and pointless conversations on the telephone or in person, the stress and uncertainty regarding the state of the world today and tomorrow, the Church offers us the period of time of Great Lent.
What meaning can this period, beginning with Monday in the first week and lasting until Great Saturday, have for all of us who live the modern way of life, with the features we mentioned above?
Because, frankly, unless the Church can offer us a meaning of life which is tangible and consequential- beyond mandates and prohibitions- and unless the time of Great Lent brings another dimension to our frantic life, then it isn’t worth bothering with.
The Church as a way of life is what all of us want in the depths of our heart: peace, respite, completeness and an experience of eternal life. Nevertheless, the inability to attain this is a given, because along with the desire there are also the passions which, as ailments of the soul, confuse and upset us, leading us astray into chaos.
The period of Great Lent, which we’re called upon to experience every year as Christians, becomes the occasion for a taste of another way of life, different from that which we live during the rest of the year. It’s a chance to seek longingly for the kingdom of God, as joy and resurrection.
Through the fast, we know by experience that the strength of the body doesn’t depend entirely on food and that we need God’s grace more than material goods. This is why the fast must be accompanied by prayer. The daily Compline in church, the pre-sanctified liturgies, the Salutations, and the long Sunday liturgies, together with ‘Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me’, privately during the course of the day, make the fast a time of freedom and independence from material things and differentiate it from mere dietary concerns.
It’s clear that such an effort requires a concentration of forces, which is why we’re called upon to ‘be silent’ during the fast; that is to reduce lengthy and idle conversations which diffuse the powers of our soul and exhaust the mind.
God doesn’t ask us to abandon family and occupation in order to meet him. Since we live in the world, we’re called upon to live, outwardly, as everyone else does. But he does invite us to find him within the locus of our heart, telling us that ‘the kingdom of God is within you’.
The descent into the Hades of our self is accompanied by self-knowledge, without which we experience the illusion of self-justification. Self-knowledge leads to humility and to contrition of the heart, which inevitably brings us to search for God’s mercy, through the Jesus prayer. True prayer leads us to a real desire for a change of life, that is repentance. This is reinforced and brought into the Church through the sacrament of confession, which returns us, like the prodigal son, to the table of our Father- the divine eucharist.
This whole internal journey from sin to repentance, from the darkness of the self into the light of Christ, already brings us to Easter, to Pascha [from pesach, which means the Passover] or ‘the passage/crossing over’. So Easter isn’t a feast that interrupts life’s routine, but is rather the transition into a new life. The Lord’s Pascha becomes our own Pascha and his resurrection becomes ours.
May we all indeed enjoy the experience of this journey of suffering and resurrection during this year’s Great Lent and Easter.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 2/24: Matins 8:30 am
Tuesday 2/25: no services or events
Wednesday 2/26: no services or events
Thursday 2/27: Matins 8:30 am
Friday 2/28: Matins 8:30 am
Saturday 3/1: Catechumen Class 4:30 pm; Choir Rehearsal 5 pm; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 3/2: Divine Liturgy 9:15am
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Christ the Savior Orthodox Church is located in Southbury, Connecticut, and is part of the New England Diocese of the Orthodox Church of America.
Mailing address: Christ the Savior Church, 1070 Roxbury Road, Southbury, CT 06488
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Fr. Moses Locke can be reached at frmoseslocke@gmail.com