Thursday August 14 / 27 ns 2026 Holy Prophet Micah • ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHICH IS WITHIN from St. Nikolai Velimirovich

 For whosoever shall do the will of God,

the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother

DORMTION FAST
FAST DAY

Today we honor

The Holy Prophet Micah

Micah was of the tribe of Judah and from the village of Morasth for which he is called the "Morasthite." He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Hosea and the Jewish kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Micah rebuked the vices of his people and rebuked the false prophets who prophesied "of wine and of strong drink" (Micah 2:11). He foretold the destruction of Samaria. He also foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, which will come because their leaders accept bribes, the priests teach for lucre and its prophets tell fortunes for money. "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become as heaps" (Micah 3:12).

But, of all his prophecies, the most important prophecy is that of the Messiah, especially the place of His birth. He mentioned Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

It is not known exactly whether this prophet was slain by the Jews or whether he died a peaceful death. "Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah saying, Thus said the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the Lord and besought the Lord and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls" (Jeremiah 26:18-19). However, it is known that he was buried in his village and his relics were found, together with the relics of the Prophet Habakkuk, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great according to a mysterious revelation, which Bishop Zevin of Eleutheropolis received.

2 Corinthians 10:7-18

King James Version

7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:

9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.

17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

Saint Mark 3:28-35

King James Version

28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD WHICH IS WITHIN

"The Kingdom of God is within you" (St. Luke 17:21).

All that belongs to God carries the seal of immortality. And, the Kingdom of God is immortal. If we desire to breathe the air of immortality, we must enter within ourselves, within our hearts, within the Kingdom of God. Outside of ourselves is the air of time, the air of transitoriness and decay in which the soul breathes with difficulty. {in other words; this temporary life}

Why do men love to reside for a long, long time in a foreign land? Why do they rarely and reluctantly enter into their own home? 

The kingdom of nature is the sensual kingdom; hence, a foreign kingdom in comparison to our soul which represents our inner kingdom. Whenever we think about the world, we think about that which is foreign land. Whenever we converse about the sensual world, we converse about a foreign land. Living by the senses, we are similar to a man who rushes around all day to the homes of strangers, and only at night, returns to his own home to sleep. And so, we dedicate our vigilance to death and our sleep to immortality! We come to ourselves; we return to ourselves only in sleep. But, even our sleep is dreaming of our reality, i.e., even when we are in our own home, in an unconscious state, we dream of foreign homes: Our dreams are sensual, for our consciousness is sensual. And so, we are in a foreign land; we are strangers in reality and in dreams. We are constantly outside ourselves. The Lord wants to return us to ourselves, in His home and to His homeland. For us, the Kingdom of God is within us: outside of ourselves is a foreign land. In order to escape from a foreign land and find our true home, in which we directly encounter God, we must enter within ourselves, into our hearts. There is the King, there also is the Kingdom.

O Lord, King of the angels and saints, show us the riches and the light of Your Kingdom within us. That we may love Your kingdom more than we love the foreign land of the sensual, the kingdom of change and transitoriness.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

+

Ceaseless prayer

and you're already there.

 

Wednesday August 13 / 26 ns 2026 • Apodosis of the Transfiguration • Tr. Rel. of St. Máximos the Confessor; Sts. Dorótheos and Dosítheos; St. Tíkhon of Zadónsk, the Wonder-Worker ~ ~ St. Maximos the Confessor: The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself . . . ~~~ FREE WILL IS NOT LOST Paradise Now

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

have mercy on me a sinner

Rejoice, love vanquishing every desire..
Rejoice, unwedded Bride

Love makes everything.... yes, everything 

DORMTION FAST

FAST DAY

Apodosis of the Transfiguration 

• Tr. Rel. of St. Máximos the Confessor 

Sts. Dorótheos and Dosítheos

St. Tíkhon of Zadónsk,

the Wonder-Worker

A mighty spiritual giant, who was broken by nothing and by no one, whose image does not fade with the ages, Venerable Maximos the Confessor is a faithful indicator, even till now, of how one may follow after Christ by that path by which Saint Maximos so faithfully followed the Lord.

Saint Maximos was born at the end of the sixth century in Constantinople of noble parents and received an excellent philosophical and theological education. Under the Emperor Heraclius (610-641), he was among the imperial counsellors. Seeing the spread of the heresy of the Monothelites, with which even the Emperor himself was infected, (the Monothelites rejected a human will in Jesus Christ, whereby they diminished the significance of His sufferings on the Cross; the Monothelites incorrectly thought that the human nature of Jesus Christ was swallowed up and annihilated by His Divine nature), he left the imperial palace and joined the monks in the Chrysopolis Monastery. Subsequently, Venerable Maximos became the superior of this monastery.

A profound theologian of his time and a strict defender of Orthodoxy, Maximos very ably and successfully demonstrated the incorrectness of the Monothelite heresy, for which he was subjected to persecutions many times by the enemies of the Church.

Venerable Maximos's arguments in behalf of Orthodoxy were so powerful that after a public debate on the faith with Pyrrhus, the Monothelite Patriarch of Constantinople, the latter renounced the heresy in 645.

Venerable Maximos was sent into exile several times and each time would again be called back to Constantinople. The heretics often passed from admonitions and promises to threats, abuse and the beating of Venerable Maximos.

On one occasion, Saint Maximos was called back to Constantinople, where the imperial grandees, Troilus and Sergius, again subjected him to interrogation. They began to accuse Saint Maximos of pride for esteeming himself as the only Orthodox who is being saved and for considering all others to be heretics who are perishing.

To this, the Saint replied: “When all the people in Babylon were worshipping the golden idol, the Three Holy Youths did not condemn anyone to perdition. They did not concern themselves with what others were doing, but took care only for themselves, so as not to fall away from true piety. In precisely the same way, Daniel also, when cast into the den, did not condemn any of those who, in fulfilling the law of Darius, did not want to pray to God; but he bore in mind his duty, and desired rather to die than to sin and be tormented by his conscience for transgressing God’s Law.
God forbid that I, too, should condemn anyone, or say that I alone am being saved. However, I would sooner agree to die than, having apostatized in any way from the right faith, endure the torments of my conscience.”

Then Troilus and Sergius began to point out to Saint Maximos that already the whole Christian world recognized the Monothelite Patriarch of Constantinople as legitimate, that all the Eastern Patriarchs and their locum tenens were in communion with him, and that the plenipotentiary (diplomat - having full power to take independent action) representatives of the Roman Pope will serve with the Patriarch and commune with him. Thus, he is the only one remaining in the whole world who does not recognize the Patriarch.

The Saint answered: “If even the whole universe should begin to commune with the Patriarch, I will not commune with him. For I know from the writings of the holy Apostle Paul that the Holy Spirit will give over to anathema even the angels, if they should begin to preach any other gospel, introducing anything new.”

 

Subsequently, they cut off his right hand and tongue . . .

Venerable Maximos remained unshaken in his religious convictions. Finally, they cut off his right hand and tongue, so that he could not proclaim or defend the truth either by word or by pen. Then they dispatched him to confinement in Lazov (a region of Mingrelia) in the Caucasus. Here, Venerable Maximos died on the 13th of August 662, knowing in advance of his end.

By God's Providence, the severed right hand of Saint Maximos has been kept as a great treasure in the Monastery of Saint Paul on the Holy Mountain Athos since the 12th Century. It was the only known relic of Saint Maximos until the 2010 discovery of his relics in his grave in Georgia which were authenticated in 2015.

Venerable Maximos wrote many theological works in defense of Orthodoxy. Especially valuable are his instructions on the spiritual and contemplative life, some of which were included in the “Philokalia” (a collection of patristic instructions on prayer and the ascetic life). In these ascetical instructions, the spiritual profundity and perceptiveness of Saint Maximos’s thought is revealed. Also, an explanation of the Divine Liturgy that has a great theological significance has come down to us from him.

Sts. Dorótheos and Dosítheos

St. Tíkhon of Zadónsk, the Wonder-Worker

2 Corinthians 9:12-10:7
King James Version

12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

10 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

Saint Mark 3:20-27
King James Version

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

St. Maximos the Confessor: The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself . . .

“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.”

FREE WILL IS NOT LOST

Paradise Now

Free will is a gift from God. It allows one to make choices. But far beyond the choices we make and have made, it allows us the freedom to exchange it for God’s Will. In doing so entirely and completely, for God and for God alone, our will is miraculously, by our Father's love for us, not lost but retained. Once this occurs faith is fulfilled Illumination, Theosis .

 '...I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father Who hath sent me.'

Tuesday August 12 / 25 ns 2026 • Holy Martyrs Phótios and Aníketos • 2 QUOTES FROM: St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Wonderworker . .

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

have mercy on me a sinner

Pure one, fill my heart with rejoicing unto plenitude, and grant thine undefiled felicity, since thou didst give birth unto Him Who is the cause of joy.

Love changes everything.... yes, everything 

DORMTION FAST

FAST DAY

Today we honor

The Holy Martyrs
Phótios and Aníketos

Entrance to the Cave Church of the
Holy Martyrs Phótios and Aníketos





Emperor Diocletian once visited the city of Nicomedia with the evil intention to completely exterminate the Christians. But when he began his merciless torture of Christians, St. Aníketos, one of the high ranking officials of the city, boldly confessed before the emperor his faith in Christ the Lord, God incarnate in the flesh for our salvation. Along with this, Aníketos also denounced the idols as deaf and dumb stones and the worship of which is unworthy of a rational man. The emperor ordered his tongue to be severed but Aníketos, by the power of God, continued to speak. They then released a lion against him but the lion cuddled around him. At that moment the temple of Hercules collapsed. Phótios, a kinsman of Aníketos, seeing the miracles and endurance of Aníketos, kissed him, declared himself a Christian and cried out to the emperor: " O idolater, be ashamed, your gods are nothingness!" The emperor then ordered that Aníketos immediately be beheaded. However, the executioner, raising his hand against holy Phótios, struck himself with the sword and died.

After prolonged tortures, both Aníketos and Phótios were cast into prison where they languished for three years. Then they were brought out, a fire was lighted in an enormous furnace and they cast them into the fire. Many other Christians, men, women and children, willingly followed them into the fire. From the fire was heard the prayer of the Christians who were praising God for the death of martyrdom. They all suffered about the year 305 A.D. "Saint Aníketos and Saint Phótios are invoked in the prayers in the Holy Mystery of Anointing with [Holy Unction] and in the Blessing of Water."

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
King James Version

16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.

18 And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;

19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

20 Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:

21 Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.

23 Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.

24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.

9 For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

Saint Mark 3:13-21
King James Version

13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,

15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;

17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:

18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,

19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Wonderworker:

“If we want, Christian, to have our heart filled with divine love we must first empty them of the love of this world, its frivolous and sinful customs and then turn our hearts to the one God, our only good and happiness and eternal beatitude.

“Let thy mind fast from vain thoughts; let thy memory fast from remembering evil; let thy will fast from evil desire; let thine eyes fast from bad sights: turn away thine eyes that thou mayest not see vanity; let thine ears fast from vile songs and slanderous whispers; let thy tongue fast from slander, condemnation, blasphemy, falsehood, deception, foul language and every idle and rotten word; let thy hands fast from killing and from stealing another’s goods; let thy legs fast from going to evil deeds: Turn away from evil, and do good.”

Many "Orthodox" think that fasting from meat, fish, dairy and eggs defines fasting in the Orthodox Church. If you question your definition of fasting, consider reading St. Tikhon again.