Reflection on the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophan the Recluse)

 Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew

Matthew 22:2-14

By St. Theophan the Recluse  

 

A king arranges a wedding for his son, he sends once for those who were bidden, sends twice, but because of earthly cares they do not come—one was busy at home, another with business. A new invitation was made in other spheres, and the wedding chamber was furnished with guests. Among them was found one not dressed for a wedding, who was therefore cast out. The meaning of this parable is clear: The wedding is the Kingdom of Heaven, the invitation is the preaching of the Gospels, those who refused are those who did not believe at all, and the one who was not dressed for a wedding believed, but did not live according to faith. 

 

Each of us must figure out for ourselves which category we belong to. That we are bidden is clear, but are we believers? Indeed it is possible to even be among believers, under their common name, and completely lack faith. One does not think at all about faith, as if it did not exist; another knows something or other about it and from it, and is satisfied; another interprets the faith in a distorted way; another relates to it with complete animosity. All are reckoned to be among the Christians, although they have absolutely nothing which is Christian. 

 

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew Resource Page

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew

 

Matthew 22:2-14   

 

Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew: Gospel Reading 

 

Gospel Commentary for the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophylact of Ochrid) 

 

Reflection on the Fourteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Theophan the Recluse) 

 

 

Fourteenth Sunday After of Pentecost 

 

2 Corinthians 1:21-24; 2:1-4 

 

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Epistle Reading 

 

Holy Prophet Zechariah, Father of John the Forerunner, in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Zechariah, whose feast we celebrate today, is a Hebrew name meaning “he who remembers the Lord.” He is distinct from the Prophet Zechariah who belongs to the group of the twelve so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. He too is characterized as a prophet because he truly possessed the prophetic gift, and the matters concerning him are recorded by the Evangelist Luke, who relates that during the period of his priestly service in the Temple, as a priest, he received a vision of the Archangel Gabriel, who announced to him beforehand the birth of his son John, despite all the logical obstacles: his own old age, and the old age and barrenness of his wife Elizabeth. Because of his disbelief, the archangel “punished” him with muteness, which was removed with the birth of John, an event that led Zechariah to hymns and glorifications, as well as to a prophecy concerning his child. His end was martyric, as is also noted in the New Testament: namely, his countrymen killed him, according to their well-known custom, between the Temple and the altar.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 5

The Month of September

Day 5

6. To What Terrible Crimes Apostasy from the Faith Can Lead a Person

(The Sufferings of the Holy Martyrs Urban, Theodore, Medimnos, and those with them; and of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus. September 5, Menaion)

To Parishioners Living Among the Old Believers

It is known that, in general, all the Old Believers have no love for Orthodox Christians, and almost all of them seek to do them harm. But it is also known that those who are distinguished by a particular hatred of the Orthodox are not those who were born and raised in the schism, but those who themselves abandoned Orthodoxy and entered into it because of their own foolish convictions. Why is this latter the case? Why, brethren, do those among the Old Believers who themselves departed from the Orthodox Church into schism show particular hatred toward you? Know that this is because the devil draws especially close to those who have apostatized from Orthodoxy; he takes away from them all love for their neighbors and fills them with every kind of malice. And with such malice, naturally, they become capable of every kind of crime, and in fact they commit such crimes. It is not difficult to prove this truth.

An Account of a 19th century English Traveler to Crete Regarding Saint Anthimos Kourouklis

Robert Pashley (1805–1859), the English classical scholar and traveler, visited Crete in 1833–1834 and later published the results of his journey in his two-volume Travels in Crete (Cambridge, 1837). The work remains an important nineteenth-century firsthand account of the island, combining observations of its geography, antiquities, villages, monasteries, customs, and inhabitants with information gathered from local sources. In the following passage from the second volume, Pashley records his thoughts on Saint Anthimos Kourouklis, the Blind Ascetic of Kefallonia (+ 1782), providing a valuable contemporary glimpse into nineteenth-century Cretan life, as well as how he viewed the oral legends of a holy elder he heard from a local. Following this description, he goes on at some length describing another "holy elder" who he actually saw with his own eyes.

Saint Babylas of Antioch in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Great Fathers of the Church, such as the thrice-great Saint John Chrysostom, not only concerned themselves with Saint Babylas and his three spiritual children, but also wrote important discourses in order to emphasize their holy example and their fervent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the culmination of which was the offering of their blood for His sake and, consequently, their glorious entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Among these discourses is that of the holy hymnographer Theophanes, who, referring to the Holy Bishop Babylas, emphasizes what is usually stressed when speaking of holy hieromartyrs: the Saint was both the one who offers the sacrifice and the one who is offered as the sacrifice. The one who offers the sacrifice, because as a high priest he ministered Jesus Christ in the Divine Liturgy; the one who is offered as the sacrifice, because he was called by grace to offer his own life precisely for the sake of his faith. The verses of the Synaxarion are very expressive: 

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 4

 

The Month of September

Day 4

5. To Schoolchildren: On the Love of God

(From the Life of the Holy Hieromartyr Babylas. September 4, Menaion)

You know, children, that the benefits bestowed upon us by God are great and beyond number. You know that God gives us life; that He sends the holy Angels to guard us; that He gives us the earth as our dwelling place; the sun, moon, and stars to give us light; the air, water, plants, and animals, so that we may have everything necessary and beneficial for life; that He has revealed His will to us, so that we may fulfill it and be pleasing to Him; that He has granted us the saving Mysteries, so that by making use of them we may be cleansed from our sins, draw near to Him, and receive salvation and eternal life in Him. You know that everything good which we possess, beginning with life itself, we have from God, and that, as the word of God says, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Thus, you know all these things. But why, I ask, have you been given this knowledge? Do not forget that it has been given so that, seeing and knowing the boundless love of God for you, you yourselves might repay God with love and thanksgiving. Our Savior also calls you to such love. He says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength—this is the first commandment!” (Mk. 12:30) Yes, do not forget, children, that the first commandment for you, your first duty, must consist in loving God, your Creator and Benefactor; and, as you see, not simply loving Him, but loving Him, according to the word of the Savior, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. But what, you may ask, does this latter mean? What does it mean to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? The following example will give you the answer.

Orthodox Resistance to Nazism: The Church of Czechoslovakia and the Martyrdom of Bishop Gorazd

By Archimandrite Athenagoras Soupourtzis,
Professor of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law, Volyn Academy of Theology

On June 18, 1942, exactly 84 years ago, hundreds of SS men surrounded an Orthodox church in Prague.

The battle that followed lasted for hours. None of the seven resistance fighters hiding in the crypt surrendered.

The story that led to that day, and the ethos of the Church that defined it, deserves to be brought back to memory.

When resistance against Nazism is discussed, historical memory usually turns to the military operations of the Allies, the resistance movements, and the governments that continued the struggle from exile.

Far less well known is the contribution of certain ecclesiastical communities, which chose to defend human dignity at the cost even of the lives of their pastors.

Perhaps the most characteristic example is the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios

The Civil Registry Death Record of Saint Nektarios:
The Celebration of the Translation of His Relics and the Construction of His Church on Aegina

Estia, 
Friday, November 9, 2018

By Eleutherios G. Skiadas

“A Saint Among Us” was the common sentiment and customary expression of the faithful when, in 1961, the Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized Metropolitan Nektarios of Pentapolis, known in the world as Anastasios Kefalas (October 1, 1846 – November 9, 1920). And rightly so, since many were still living who had known him, had conversed with him, and had heard his teachings or spiritual counsel. Moreover, the fact that the likeness of a Saint had been preserved in photographs was an additional reason for the strange feelings this evoked.

Yet long before the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it was the faithful themselves — the people bearing the name of Christ — who had already accorded him the honors of a saint. Apart from Aegina, where he ended his earthly life and left behind blessed memories, his reputation had spread throughout the entire country. For this reason, at the initiative of the people of Aegina, he was already being commemorated as a Saint during the 1940s and 1950s. In Athens, on the very day of his repose, services were held at the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries in Thissio and at the Church of Saint Eleutherios in Pedion tou Areos.