Sunday

1 Corinthinan 8: But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Saint Focus: Saint Focus: The Feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste is commemorated on Saturday. These soldiers after other tortures were placed in a freezing lake and a warm bathhouse constructed on the shore in an attempt to get them to deny the faith. One eventually did and died after he left the lake. A guard later saw 39 crowns above the soldiers and discovered the water was very warm through the power of God. He then entered the lake in faith and was given the 40th crown. Most of our lives are spent in the man-made, temporary comfortable structures, physical and mental, of this world. In doing so we loose the greater reward of Christ, the living water.

Monday

**This week from the Prologue of St Nikolai

God desires that all men be saved; that is why He descended into hades to save those who had lived on earth before His coming. For, had He not descended into hades, an enormous number of righteous souls would have perished forever. Moreover, had He not descended into hades, the main habitat of malice against God and the human race, hades would have remained undestroyed. There were two reasons that motivated Christ, the Giver of Life, to descend into hades in the Spirit: first, to destroy the nest of the powers of hades and, second, to bring from hades to heaven the souls of the ancestors, prophets and righteous men and women who had fulfilled the Old Law of God and had thus pleased God. Before Satan had done exulting at the sight of Christ humiliated and lifeless on the Cross, Christ appeared alive and almighty in the midst of hades, the primary abode of Satan. What unexpected and dreadful news for Satan! For three years Satan had woven snares against Christ on earth, and in three days, behold, Christ destroyed Satan’s kingdomand carried away the most precious booty, in the form of a throng of righteous souls.

Tuesday

He who glorifies God, God also glorifies. This is clearly and abundantly shown in the lives of the saints. St. Joseph the Hymnographer indeed glorified God in works, in sufferings and in hymns. God glorified him both in this life and after death. During his life, St. Nicholas appeared to him in prison and freed him. When St. Joseph wondered if he should compose a canon to the Apostle Bartholomew, this apostle appeared to him in radiant vestments and told Joseph that it was well-pleasing to God that he compose this canon. When St. Joseph died, a citizen of Constantinople learned of the glory by which God glorified His saint. This man had come into the Church of St. Theodore the Phanariot to beseech the saint to reveal to him where one of his escaped servants had hidden. (Because St. Theodore was known among the people as a saint who reveals where something is that had been lost or stolen, he was called the Phanariot, which means the Revealer.) For three days and three nights this man prayed, and when he received no response from the saint he was ready to leave. Just then, St. Theodore appeared to him in a vision, saying: “Why do you become angry, O man? Joseph the Hymnographer’s soul was being separated from his body and we were with him. When he died this night, all of us whom he glorified in hymns translated his soul to the heavens and placed it before the face of God. That is why I was tardy in appearing to you.”

Wednesday

Thus spoke the Lord to the wicked Jews about the temple of His body (John 2: 21). But since it is not given to the wicked to understand anything, so also the Jews did not understand and mocked Him. The Lord did not rebuke them for that, but that which He spoke occurred. The Jews destroyed His body, but He restored it again and raised it in glory and power. The wicked punished God with destruction, but God reprimanded the wicked by restoration. It is satisfying to the wicked ones to be able to show their power by killing, but for God there is joy in showing His power by giving life. There is nothing as short-lived as the triumph of evil nor anything as lasting as the triumph of truth. Destroy this temple. The Lord referred to His body as the Church. Destroyed, that Church was crowded into a dark tomb, and a heavy stone prevented light from penetrating to it. But that Church was not in need of the light of the sun. It had its own light, its own Sun of Righteousness, Who shone from within. A gentle heavenly hand removed the stone from the tomb and the Lord resurrected in glory and in power. That which once happened to the All-pure Body of Christ occurred many times later to the Church of the holy ones on earth. The enemies of the Church cruelly persecuted and tormented it, demolished it and buried it in darkness. But the Church, after such bruises and confinement, resurrected again with greater glory and power. Just as the Church of His Body resurrected, so at the end of time the Church of His holy ones will resurrect in fullness and perfection.

Thursday

“Live as though you were not of this world and you will have peace.” Thus spoke St. Anthony to his disciples. An amazing lesson but truthful. We bring about greater misfortunes and uneasiness upon ourselves when we desire to associate and identify ourselves with this world as much as possible. The more a person retreats from this world, the more often he contemplates this world as existing without him, and the deeper he immerses himself in reflecting upon his unworthiness in this world, the closer he will stand to God and the deeper will be the spiritual peace he will have. I die daily, says St. Paul (I Corinthians 15: 31), that is, every day I feel that I am not in this world. That is why he daily felt like a heavenly citizen in the spirit. When the torturer Faustinus asked St. Theodulus, “Is not life better than a violent death?” St. Theodulus replied, “Indeed, I think that life is better than death. Because of this, I have decided to abhor this mortal and temporal life on earth, that I may be a partaker of life eternal.”

Friday

These are words of the inspired seer of mysteries— glowing, prophetic words. David speaks these words about Christ the Lord, about His soul and about His body, i.e., about that which is human in Him. That these words of David pertain to the resurrected Christ was witnessed by the Apostle Peter in his first sermon immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 27). For, the apostle says, the patriarch David …is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day (Acts 2: 29). It is not possible that those words refer to David, although David speaks as though they are from him and refer to him; but rather those words refer to a descendant of David according to the flesh. The body of David is decomposed, as are the bodies of his other descendants. Christ, therefore, is David’s descendant in the flesh Who did not remain in hades and Whose body did not see corruption. He [David] seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ (Acts 2: 31). Truly, a glowing prophecy! Truly, a wondrous foresight! Before the Resurrection of the Lord, these words must have sounded unintelligible and irrational for all the Jewish interpreters of the Psalms! When the seal on the tomb is removed, then the seal of the many totally obscure and unclear prophecies is also removed. Christ resurrects and the mysteries become known. The seal of the tomb is removed not only  from His body but also from the countless words and visions of the prophets. Christ resurrects and the prophetic words are also resurrected. Descending into hades, the Lord brought the heavenly light to the souls of the righteous fathers and prophets. By His Resurrection, He brought their words and visions to the light of understanding and truth. Christ resurrects and all that is good, righteous and truthful, before and after the Resurrection morning, is also resurrected.

Saturday

It is said about an ancient orator that he labored day and night to perfect himself in the art of oratory. Someone said to him: “Demosthenes does not want you to be the chief orator.” To which he immediately retorted: “Neither will I allow him to be the only one.” If you cannot be a first-class saint like St. Anthony, do not shrug your shoulders and say: “Nothing can come of me!” Increase your efforts and double your talent. In My Father’s house are many mansions, said the Lord (John 14: 2). If you merit to settle in the least of these dwelling places, you will be more glorious and more fortunate than all of the rulers who have ever existed on earth. To each according to his own talent. You will not be a St. Anthony, but neither will St. Anthony, alone, occupy the Kingdom of God.