Rejoice Bride Unwedded
Friday
May 23 / June 5 ns 2026
~ No Fasting ~
until
Monday May 26/June 8 ns
Monday May 26/June 8 ns
Saint Michael, Bishop of Synnáda,
the Confessor
Michael, this holy and learned hierarch, dedicated himself to the service of Christ from early childhood. Together with St. Theophylact of Nicomedia, he lived a life of asceticism.
At one time during a period of drought, these two saints, by their prayers, brought forth abundant rain on the earth. Because of his ascetical and chaste life from his early youth, he was chosen and consecrated bishop of Synnáda by Patriarch Tarásios. He participated in the Seventh Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 783 A.D.]. At the request of the emperor, he went to Caliph Harun-al-Rashid to conduct negotiations for peace. During the reign of the nefarious Leo the Armenian, Michael was removed from his episcopal throne because of his veneration of icons and was banished into exile, where in misery and poverty and, remaining faithful to Orthodoxy, died in the year 818 A.D. and took up habitation in the kingdom of Christ the King.
Romans 2:14-28 KJV
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
Saint Matthew 5:33-41 KJV
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Little Foxes
St. Hesychios the Priest
Just as a child, young and guileless, delights in seeing a conjuror and in his innocence follows him about, so our soul, simple and good because created thus by its Master, delights in the delusive provocations of the devil. Once deceived it pursues something sinister as though it were good, just as a dove is lured away by the enemy of her children. In this way its thoughts become entwined in the fantasy provoked by the devil. Then, seeking to contrive some means through which it can actually attain what attracts it, the soul assents to the provocation and, to its own condemnation, turns this unlawful mental fantasy into a concrete, action by means of the body.
Such is the cunning of the evil one, and with these arrows he poisons every soul. It is therefore not safe to allow these thoughts to enter the heart in order to increase the intellect's experience of warfare, especially to start with, when the soul still greatly enjoys these demonic provocations and delights in pursuing them. But as soon as we perceive them, we should counter-attack and repulse them. Once the intellect has matured in this excellent activity, it is disciplined and perceptive. From then on it is unceasingly engaged in the battle of perceiving in their true light these 'little foxes', as the Prophet calls them (S. of S. 2:15), and it easily lays hold of them. Only when we have such knowledge and experience should we admit them and censure them.
Its not what you know
claims that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km or 621,371,192,237,333,900 miles across and it is just one galaxy of the @ 2 trillion galaxies that Harvard and MIT claim make up the universe.
That being considered as somewhat accurate, if one is the greatest pantologist that ever lived, possessing a universe of accurate facts, including trivia, from astrophysics to alphabet blocks, how would he feel about himself and what he thinks he knows if he became acquainted with one who is truly omniscient?
ANECDOTE
In an attempt at humility, Bob once said: "I know nothing." To which he received the following response: That in fact Bob, is the problem. Bob smiled feeling he had achieved some collaboration.
No Bob, the problem is that you do in fact know something and only when we are totally empty in soul, mind, spirit and house, and yes completely detached from desire for them, we have created an invitation to become He who is not only omniscient but also omnipresent and omnipotent.
I know the meaning of omniscient but I can't wrap my mind around it, said Bob
That's because it is beyond mind, beyond acquisition! It can only be revealed and only by our Creator, Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.
If we wish God's gifts for loving and obeying Him, then we must stop rewarding our hearts with more and more quantities of temporary things, things that we must leave here when He calls us from this so-called ‘life’.
Does He not give in excess even without our asking? Yet, does He not clearly command that our hearts must exclusively belong to Him?
