Saturday June 7/20 ns 2026 Holy Hieromartyr Theódotos of Ancyra, St. Paḯsios (Panagés) Basiás of Cephallenia ~ Fish, wine, and olive oil are permitted today ~ Rom. 3:28-4:3; St. Matt. 7:24-8:4 ~ QUOTE: On Watchfulness and Holiness

Rejoice, unwedded Bride

Saturday June 7/20 ns 2026

Fish, W & O are permitted today

Holy Hieromartyr Theódotos of Ancyra,

St. Paḯsios (Panagés) Basiás of Cephallenia

Holy Hieromartyr Theódotos was secretly a Christian and, as such, helped the Church and honorably buried the bodies of the holy martyrs. Thus, he buried the bodies of seven maidens who suffered for Christ. When the pagans found out about him, they subjected him to tortures and killed him.

Romans 3:28-4:3 KJV

28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

4 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.


Saint Matthew 7:24-8:4 KJV

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

8 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

If a man does not carry out the will and law of God ‘in his inward parts’, that is, in his heart, he will not be able to carry them out easily in the outward sphere of the senses either. 

The careless and unwatchful man will say to God: 'I do not want to know Thy ways' (Job 21:14. LXX), obviously because he lacks Divine Illumination. But he who participates in that light will be confident and steadfast in matters that concern God.

Just as salt seasons our bread and other food and keeps certain meats from spoiling for quite a time, so the spiritual sweetness and marvelous working which result from the guarding of the intellect effect something similar. For in a Divine manner they season and sweeten both the inner and the outer self, driving away the stench of evil thoughts and keeping us continually in communion with good thoughts.

Many of our thoughts come from demonic provocation, and from these derive our evil outward actions. If with the help of Jesus we instantly quell the thought, we will avoid its corresponding outward action. We will enrich ourselves with the sweetness of divine knowledge and so will find God, Who is everywhere. Holding the mirror of the intellect firmly towards God, we will be illumined constantly as pure glass is by the sun. Then the intellect,
having reached the term of its desires, will in Him cease from all other contemplation.

Because every thought enters the heart in the form of a mental image of some sensible object, the blessed light of the Divinity will illumine the heart only when the heart is completely empty of everything and so free from all form. Indeed, this light reveals itself to the pure intellect in the measure to which the intellect is purged of all concepts.

The more closely attentive you are to your mind, the greater the longing with which you will pray to Jesus; and the more carelessly you examine your mind, the farther you will separate yourself from Him. 

Just as close attentiveness brilliantly illumines the mind, so the lapse from watchfulness and from the sweet invocation Jesus will darken it completely. All this happens naturally, not in any other way; and you will experience it if you test it out in practice. For there is no virtue - least of all this blessed light-generating activity - which cannot be learnt from experience.

To invoke Jesus continually with a sweet longing is to fill the heart in its great attentiveness with joy and tranquility. But it is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Himself God, cause and creator of all blessings, who completely purifies the heart; for it is written: 'I am God who makes peace' (cf. Isa. 45:7).

Ceaseless Prayer

And you’re already there.

Friday June 6/19ns 2026 St. Hilarion the New, Abbot of the Dalmáton Monastery ~ Fast day ~ Rom. 9:6-19; St. Matt. 10:32-36, 11:1 ~ QUOTE: A Hymn for the Evening ~BLOGGER: Reward

Rejoice, Restoration of fallen Adam;

Hilarion was the abbot of the Dalmáton monastery in Constantinople. He was a disciple of Gregory of Decapolis and an imitator of the life of Hilarion the Great whose name he took.
Hilarion was powerful in prayer, persevering and courageous in suffering. He suffered much for the sake of icons at the time of the evil iconoclastic emperors, Leo the Armenian and others. Later, the Emperor Leo was slain by his own soldiers in the same church and on the same spot where he first ridiculed holy icons and from which he removed the first icon.

St. Hilarion was then released from prison but only for a short time. Again, he was tortured and detained in prison until the reign of the right-believing Empress Theodora. Hilarion was clairvoyant and a discerner. He saw the angels of God as they were taking the soul of St. Theodore the Studite to heaven. Pleasing God, he fell asleep and entered the Kingdom of God in the year 845 A.D. in his seventieth year.

Romans 9:6-19 KJV

6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Saint Matthew 10:32-36, 11:1 KJV

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

11:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

A Hymn for the Evening 

by St. Ephraem of Nisibis

In the time of evening

Let praise be given to Thee 

From the united tongues

Of the children of men. Thou hast given the daytime

For business and labor, 

And that we may provide 

All useful things. Behold all who are oppressed 

With heavy toil 

Return Thee their thanks 

Because Thou dost give them repose. Who is the being 

That will not worship Thee, 

Because Thou carest so much 

For our humanity? Thou hast set up the lights of heaven, 

With appointed seasons in the evening, 

That Thou mayest reprove him 

Who is never satisfied, With the bodily strength 

Of his fellow creatures 

Who labor for him freely 

Through all the day. To the hungry and thirsty — 

To those who labor and are fatigued

The evening comes, 

And sets them at liberty. The season of evening 

Hath now arrived. 

And maketh joyful 

The world and its laborers. But he who is not pitiful 

Towards his fellows. 

And he who is avaricious 

Not being satisfied with his work, — The evening despises him 

And treats him with contempt, 

And his oppressive covetousness 

Is not satisfied. 

Blessed be Thy Majesty 

Who from the beginning, 

Hast carefully regarded 

Our human nature. Who hast appointed a returning 

To the children of men, 

And all living creatures

In the time of evening. He hath put a seal upon His Church 

And defendeth her children, 

From the adversary Satan 

And from all his hosts. Let Thy cross become 

A secure passage, 

To Thy flock which is redeemed 

With Thy living blood. Let Thy peace, Lord, be diffused 

Through the four regions of the earth;

And let the wicked one flee away 

From the midst of us. From every tongue 

Of all animated creatures,

And from all places. 

Let praise ascend. And we together with them, 

Will ascribe glory 

To Thee, O Lord, and to the Father, 

And to the Holy Spirit. 

HOLY PROPHET ELIAS MONASTERY 

MOUNT ATHOS

Reward

When our Lord forgives a sin, He replaces our regret with an increase of His love and in doing so, our love and affection for Him increases exponentially.

Thursday June 5/18 n2 2026 Holy Hieromartyr Dorótheos, Bishop of Tyre; Holy Hieromartyr Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz and Enlightener of Germany ~ Fish, wine and olive oil are permitted ~ Rom. 8:22-27; St. Matt. 10:23-31 ~ QUOTES: Repentant Sinners and Smitten ~ BLOGGER: Where do we go from here? / His Voice // Need and Yearn

K e c h a r i t o m e n  e

Thursday

June 5 /18 ns 2026

Dorótheos was Bishop of Tyre from the time of Diocletian to the time of Julian the Apostate under whom he was tortured and suffered for the Orthodox Faith. He lived on earth one hundred seven years and, pleasing God, he took up habitation in life eternal in the year 361 A.D. Dorótheos was a very educated man and wrote many instructive works in Greek and Latin. Especially famous is his Greek-Latin Syntagma.

Romans 8:22-27 KJV

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Saint Matthew 10:23-31 KJV

23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

St. Nikolai Velimirovich: About How God Whitens the Repentant Sinners

“Though your sins be like scarlet, they may be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

O, the boundless mercy of God! In His greatest wrath upon the faithless and ungrateful people, upon the people “laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters” (Isaiah 1:4), as “princes [rulers] of Sodom” (Isaiah 1:10) and upon the people who have become as the “people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10) – in such wrath, the Lord does not abandon mercy but rather calls them to repentance. 

Just as after terrible lightnings, a gentle rain falls. Such is the Lord long-suffering [patient] and full of mercy and “neither will He keep His anger forever” [Psalm 102:9 (103:9)]. Only if sinners cease to commit evil and learn to do good and turn to God with humility and repentance they will become “white as snow.” The Lord is mighty and willing. No one, except Him, is able to cleanse the sinful soul of man from sin and, by cleansing, to whiten it.  Thus, our soul cannot become white, no matter how often we cleanse it by our own effort and labor even with the help of all legal means of the law until we, at last, bring it beneath the feet of God, spread out and opened wide so that the light of God illumines it and whitens it. The Lord condones and even commends all of our labor and effort, i.e., He wants us to bathe our soul in tears, by repentance to constrain it by the pangs of the conscience to press it, to clothe it with good deeds and in the end of ends, He calls us to Him: “Come now,” says the Lord, “and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). That is, I will look at you and I will see if there is Me in you and you will look upon Me as in a mirror and you will see what kind of person you are.

O Lord, slow to anger, have mercy on us before the last wrath of that Dreadful Day.

[Blue colored text indicates the blogger's addition to the PARAGON]

Where do we go from here? 

The answer depends on whether we have a ticket or not.  If we wish to enter Paradise we need a ticket.  And what is the ticket? It's vestment that's not made of cotton wool or silk.  It is the vesture of the soul that the Creator of Christ must see as it stands before Him. It is the vesture of ONE LOVE and that is LOVE for God only.

Into the splendor of Thy Saints how shall I, the unworthy one, enter? For should I dare to enter the bridal chamber, my vesture doth betray me, for it is not a wedding garment; and as one bound, I shall be cast out by the Angels. Cleanse, O Lord, the defilement of my soul, and save me, in Thy love for mankind.

from Orthodox Divine Liturgy

 

His Voice

His voice is infinitely more quiet than a single particle of dust floating in the air; His voice, when heard by the soul, is louder than a trillion galaxies crashing together.
When we wander from Him in pursuit of the temporal - simply YEARN for Him to call you back!

Need & Yearn

The more we need and yearn for the Spirit of the Holy Trinity and orthopraxis, the more we will read the lives of saints, the Holy Epistles & Gospels and the directions on how to stay on course by women and men who have overcome the transient world.