Sunday<\/p>\n
Luke 16:\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThere was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and<\/span> fared sumptuously every day.<\/span> <\/span> 20\u00a0<\/sup>But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,<\/span> <\/span> 21\u00a0<\/sup>desiring to be fed with<\/span> the crumbs which fell from the rich man\u2019s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.<\/span> <\/span> 22\u00a0<\/sup>So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to<\/span> Abraham\u2019s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.<\/span> <\/span> 23\u00a0<\/sup>And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n 24\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen he cried and said, \u2018Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and<\/span> cool my tongue; for I<\/span> am tormented in this flame.\u2019<\/span> <\/span> 25\u00a0<\/sup>But Abraham said, \u2018Son,<\/span> remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.<\/span> <\/span> 26\u00a0<\/sup>And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n 27\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen he said, \u2018I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father\u2019s house,<\/span> <\/span> 28\u00a0<\/sup>for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.\u2019<\/span> <\/span> 29\u00a0<\/sup>Abraham said to him,<\/span> \u2018They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.\u2019<\/span> <\/span> 30\u00a0<\/sup>And he said, \u2018No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.\u2019<\/span> <\/span> 31\u00a0<\/sup>But he said to him,<\/span> \u2018If they do not hear Moses and the prophets,<\/span> neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Commentary from St John Chrysostom…<\/p>\n He says, Thou received good things in thy life, (as if thy due;) as though he said, If thou hast done any good thing for which a reward might be due, thou hast received all things in that world, living luxuriously, abounding in riches, enjoying the pleasure of prosperous undertakings; but he if he committed any evil has received all, afflicted with poverty, hunger, and the depths of wretchedness. And each of you came hither naked; Lazarus indeed of sin, wherefore he receives his consolation; thou of righteousness, wherefore thou endurest thy inconsolable punishment; and hence it follows, But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Glory to Jesus Christ…Glory forever!<\/p>\n Monday<\/p>\n **St Theophylact on Mark<\/p>\n Mark 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they, beseech Him to put His hand upon him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into the;<\/sub> man\u2019s ears, and He spit, and touched the man\u2019s tongue;;<\/sub> and looking up. to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. = And, straightway , His ears. were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more they proclaimed it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf, to hear, and the dumb to speak.<\/strong><\/p>\n He does not linger in the regions of the Gentiles, but quickly departs from them so that, as I have said, He would not give the Jews grounds to say that He transgressed the law by mixing with Gentiles. And having left the region of Tyre and Sidon, He approaches Galilee, There He heals one that was deaf, who had an impediment of speech, whose affliction was from a demon. The Lord first took him aside, for He Who humbled Himself to the level of our poverty was not vainglorious, and for the most part did not wish to work miracles before the eyes of the many, unless it were for the benefit of those who saw.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n (Continuation of explanation of the healing)<\/p>\n He spat, and touched the man\u2019s tongue, showing that every part of His holy flesh was divine and holy, so that even His spittle loosed the bonds of the tongue. Although spittle seems\u00a0worthless, with the Lord all things are marvelous and divine.6<\/strong> Looking up to heaven, He sighed, for two reasons: first, as if to beseech the Father to have mercy on the man, and thus to teach us, when we are about to work a miracle, to look to God and to beg from Him the power of miracles; and secondly, to show compassion for the misery of fallen human nature, which had been delivered to the devil, to be mocked, and which suffered such afflictions. And when He had healed, the Lord is proclaimed by,, those who had been healed, though He Himself had commanded them to say nothing. We learn from this that when we do good to others, we ought not to ask for applause and acclaim. But when we ourselves have received some good from the hand of another, then we ought to tell it and proclaim those who have done good, though they do not desire it.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Blessed by the name of the Lord from henceforth and forever more.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/p>\n Luke 8:1\u00a0. In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples unto Him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with Me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for some of them came from far. And His disciples answered Him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And He asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and He took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to His disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and He blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken pieces that were left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and He sent them away.<\/strong> Prayer:\u00a0 Christ is in our midst….He is and always shall be.<\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n Explanation of the miraculous feeding continued…<\/p>\n Consider this\u00a0as well, that Christ desires to send no one away hungry, but He wants all to feast sumptuously from His gifts, especially all those who have remained with Him for three days, that is, who have been baptized. Baptism is called \u2018illumination*, and it is performed by means of three immersions; therefore those who stayed with the Lord \u201cthree days\u201d signify those who have been illumined by baptism.\u00a0He takes seven loaves, by which I mean the things of the Spirit, for the number seven is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit perfects and completes all things, and in the number seven both our life\u00a0and this age\u00a0are completed. The newly illumined eat and are satisfied, and they leave the leftover pieces, for they are not able to digest ail divine truths. But when the Lord worked the miracle with five loaves, there were twelve baskets of broken pieces remaining, for there the multitude numbered five thousand, signifying those who are enslaved to the five senses; and this is why they were not able to eat much, but were satisfied by a little, leaving much left over. But here there are seven baskets, and fewer leftovers, because there are four thousand men, signifying those whose spiritual capacity has been enlarged by their practice of the four virtues, and who therefore can digest more and leave less. What they could not eat is contained by the seven baskets, signifying those things which are the most spiritual and profound. We should also learn from the literal account that we ought to stop eating when we have satisfied our need, and not look for anything more. See how the multitude did not take for themselves the leftovers from the loaves after they had eaten and were satisfied. Instead, the disciples gathered up the remainder, just as they had done in the previous miracle with the five loaves. Likewise we ought to satisfy our hunger in moderation.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, Let perpetual light shine upon them.\u00a0 May they rest in peace.<\/p>\n Friday<\/p>\n 10-12. And straightway He entered into a boat with His disciples,\u00a0and came into the region of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, seeking of Hiyi’a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you,\u00a0There shall no sign be given unto this generation, After the miracle with the loaves, He immediately departed to another place, fearing that the multitude, because of this miracle, would cause an uprising and make Him king.<\/strong> The Pharisees ask for a sign from heaven, such as to make the sun or moon stand still, or to send down a lightning bolt, or to change the winds. For they thought that He would not be able to perform a sign from heaven, thinking that it was only by Beelzebub that He was able to work miracles on earth. But the Lord does not grant them their request. For signs from heaven are appointed for another time, namely, at the second coming of Christ, when the powers of the heavens will be shaken and the moon will no longer give out its light. But at the time of His first coming there are no such miracles, but instead everything that He does is full of meekness. Hence \u201cthere shall no sign be given unto this generation,\u201d that is, no sign from heaven.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Give thanks for the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever.<\/p>\n Saturday<\/p>\n Mark 8:13\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And He left them, and entering into the boat again departed to the other side. Now His disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the boat with them more than one loaf. And He charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We have no bread. And Jesus, knowing it, saith unto them, Why reason ye, that ye have no bread? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces took ye up? They say unto Him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces took ye up? And they said, Seven. And He said unto them, How is it that ye do not yet understand?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord leaves the Pharisees because they refuse all correction. One must spend time with those with whom there is hope of correction, but turn away from those who refuse to abandon their wickedness. By divine providence the disciples forget to bring bread with them, so that by means of the Lord\u2019s chastisement they might become better, and come to realize His power. When the Lord told\u00a0them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, to beware of their teachings, the disciples thought that the Lord was forbidding the leavening of bread. Therefore they were rightly rebuked for not under- standing the power of Christ, Who was able to make bread out of what did not exist. The Lord calls the teaching of the Pharisees and Herodians \u201cleaven\u201d because [like sourdough] it was swelled up with itself and full of old corruption. Anyone who has spent his life in corruption, unable to say anything spiritual that might be of sweetness to the listener, may be said to offer leaven, that is, to offer teaching which corrupts others with its moldering evil, and which in time causes others to regret they had followed that teaching. Who were the Herodians? Recently appeared teachers, who said that Herod was the messiah in whom they should believe.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 We adore Thee or Christ and we bless Thee for by the Holy Cross Thou has redeemed the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday Luke 16:\u00a019\u00a0\u201cThere was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20\u00a0But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14954"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14958,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14954\/revisions\/14958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Lord had already worked a similar miracle on a previous occasion,1<\/strong> and now again He works a miracle, for good reason: the multitude had remained with Him for three days, and everyone\u2019s supply of food was exhausted. He did not always perform miracles with food, lest it appear that the multitudes were following Him for the sake of food. He would not have worked this miracle, were it not for the anticipated danger of hunger among the multitude. See how the disciples are still without understanding, not yet having acquired faith in His power which they had seen in His previous miracles. But He does not scold them, thus teaching us also not to give a harsh rebuke to those who are ignorant, but to forgive them their lack of understanding.<\/p>\n