Friday Marh 8/21 ns 2025 † 3rd Salutations • St. Theophylact the Confessor, Bishop of Nicomedia ~ Great Lent Fast day ~ Sixth Hour: Pr. Is. 13:2-13 Vespers: Gen. 8:4-21; Prov. 10:31-11:12 ~ "MAKE GOOD USE OF PAIN" by Elder Symeon

 Friday March 8/21 ns 2025

~ Great Lent Fast day ~

The 3rd Salutations

St. Theophylact the Confessor,

Bishop of Nicomedia

W hen the emperor's advisor Tarásios, as a layman, was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, then with him and from him, many of his friends, admirers, and others of the laity received the monastic tonsure.  Among them was Theophylact. Tarásios appointed him Bishop of Nicomedia.  As a bishop, Theophylact was a good shepherd to his entrusted flock and proved to be exceptionally filled with compassion toward the less fortunate and indigent. 

After the death of St. Tarásios, the Patriarchal Throne was occupied by Nicephorus and shortly after that, the Imperial Throne was occupied by Leo the Armenian, who was an Iconoclast and, as such, raised up a absolute storm in the Church of Christ. Even though Iconoclasm had been anathematized by the Seventh Ecumenical Council [Nicaea, 783 A.D.], nevertheless, Emperor Leo re-instated it and by this wanted to supplant Orthodoxy.   Saint Theophylact opposed the emperor to his face and, when the emperor would not yield, Theophylact said to him, "O emperor, violent injury will unexpectedly befall you, and you will not find anyone who will save you from it." Because of these words and by the order of the emperor, Theophylact was ousted from his position and banished into exile, where he spent thirty years undergoing many hardships and insults and, where, in the end, he rendered his soul to the Lord about the year 845 A.D.

Holy Prophet Isaiah 13:2-13
King James Version

2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:

8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Genesis 8:4-21
King James Version

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

Proverbs 10:31-11:12
King James Version

31 The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

11 A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.

9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

12 He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

"MAKE GOOD USE OF PAIN"

by Elder Symeon, Abbot of the
Holy Trinity Monastery
in Panorama, Thessaloniki

How good it would have been if we did not let pain go to waste! One way or another we will suffer. But our whole torture and struggle will go down the drain, unless we make good use of pain, unless we exploit it. We make good use of pain, we exploit pain when we take the correct stance.

There comes a time when someone feels the great good which comes out of pain and –no matter how strange it may seem– he says: “Nothing else benefits humanity as much as pain”.

When we talk about pain, we generally mean sickness and the overall physical decline of man and death. If it hadn’t been for these, we would have been like brutal beasts. Society would have been a jungle. But thanks to them, we get tamer.

A Christian is capable of making such good use of every pain, so that he can constantly be in paradise.
Know this: When pain will have completed the work it is supposed to do, God takes away. It is not difficult at all for God to remove whichever pain.

When we suffer, when a pain insists, let us think like that: “God wants something good to come out of this in me; and I act as if I do not get it. And all I do is moan and groan.”

Let there be no complaint, no rebellion, no kicking about. If possible, whichever pain you have, deal with it by saying these words: “Let it be blessed, my God. Whatever You want.” 

This way our pain won’t get wasted, but will be exploited to the full. We will take advantage of it, and the great good which saves will come to our hearts.

When God visits you with sorrows, say: “Thank you, my God. As I had absolutely no intention to embrace a few ugly things, a few pains, and truly follow your path, you caught up with me and gave me a few. How can I thank you enough?”

Thanks God!

Mr. Maamari responded to most everything in broken

English with "Thanks God".  He walked from work @ 2 mi. (near Mercy Hosp) for services each night, (Vespers was served 6 nights per week at that time and whenever asked if he would like a ride home, he would respond:  "I am home."