Wednesday, June 26, 2024

THE PARAGON Thursday June 14/27 ns 2024 • Prophet Eliséos; St. Methódios the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople • No Fasting • Quote: THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION by Saint Clement of Rome


The Panagia

Heal me, O Pure one, of the sickness

which the passions bring,
and make me worthy of thy guardiancy,
and by thy prayers and intercessions
grant thou health to me.

Today we praise

The Holy Prophet Eliséos
&
Saint Methódios the Confessor,
Patriarch of Constantinople



Eliséos lived nine hundred years before Christ.  When the Lord willed to take the aged Prophet Elijah to Himself, He revealed to him that He had designated Eliséos, the son of Shaphat of the tribe of Reuben from the town of Abel-Meholah, as his successor in the prophetic service. Elijah informed Eliséos of God's will and draped him with his mantle and implored from God the two-fold grace of prophecy for him. Eliséos immediately departed his home and family and followed Elijah. When the Lord took Elijah in a fiery chariot, Eliséos remained to continue the prophetic service with yet a greater power than Elijah.

By his purity and zeal, Eliséos was equal to the greatest prophets and, by the miraculous power that was given to him by God, Eliséos exceeded them all. 

He parted the waters of the Jordan as Moses once parted the Red Sea; the bitter waters in Jericho he made drinkable; 

He brought forth water into the excavated trenches during the war with the Moabites; 

He multiplied the oil in the pots of the poor widow; 

He resurrected the dead son of the Shunammite woman; 

He fed a hundred people with twenty small loaves of bread; 

He healed Commander Naaman of leprosy; 

He invoked leprosy upon his servant Gehazi because of his greed; 

He blinded the entire Syrian army and also forced another army to flee; 

He foretold many events to the people as well as to individuals. 

Eliséos died at a very old age.


No Fasting today


Apostles' Fast Begins

Monday June 18/July 1 ns

+ Saint James 5:10-20 King James Version

10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.


+ Saint Luke 4:22-30 King James Version

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way.



The Hope of Resurrection 
Saint Clement of Rome to the Corinthians

 Take heed, beloved, lest His many kindnesses lead to the condemnation of us all. For thus it must be unless we walk worthy of Him, and with one mind do those things which are good and well-pleasing in His sight. For [the Scripture] says in a certain place, "The Spirit of the Lord is a candle searching the secret parts of the belly."  

Let us reflect how near He is, and that none of the thoughts or reasonings in which we engage are hid from Him. It is right, therefore, that we should not leave the post which His will has assigned us. Let us rather offend those men who are foolish, and inconsiderate, and lifted up, and who glory in the pride of their speech, than [offend] God. Let us reverence the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was given for us; let us esteem those who have the rule over us; let us honour the aged among us; let us train up the young men in the fear of God; let us direct our wives to that which is good. Let them exhibit the lovely habit of purity [in all their conduct]; let them show forth the sincere disposition of meekness; let them make manifest the command which they have of their tongue, by their manner of speaking; let them display their love, not by preferring one to another, but by showing equal affection to all that piously fear God. Let your children be partakers of true Christian training; let them learn of how great avail humility is with God -- how much the spirit of pure affection can prevail with Him -- how excellent and great His fear is, and how it saves all those who walk in it with a pure mind. For He is a Searcher of the thoughts and desires [of the heart]: His breath is in us; and when He pleases, He will take it away.









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