AL MASEEH KAM! Thursday April 18/May 1 ns 2025 • St. John, Disciple of St. Gregory the Decapolite; St. Athanasía of Ǽgina; Acts 4:23-31; St. John 5:24-30 ~ CHRIST IS EVERYTHING by St. John Chrysostomos

C H R I S T

I S

R I S E N !

St. John, Disciple of

St. Gregory the Decapolite

At the time of the Iconoclastic heresy, Emperor Leo the Armenian subjected John to torture along with his teacher Gregory and St. Joseph the Hymnographer. When Gregory departed this life, John became the abbot of the Decapolis Monastery in Constantinople. Having become abbot, he intensified his ascetical efforts for the sake of the kingdom of God. He died peacefully about the year 820 A.D. Following his death, St. Joseph buried him with honors next to the grave of St. Gregory.

St. Athanasía of Ǽgina

✥Acts 4:23-31 KJV

23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

✥Saint John 5:24-30 KJV

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall NOT come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Excerpt from the Commentary

on the Gospel of
St. Matthew (24:16-31, Homily 76)

by St. John Chrysostomos

Christ is Everything

I am your father,

I am your brother,

I am your bridegroom,

I am your home,

I am your sustenance,

I am your clothing,

I am your root,

I am your foundation,

Everything you want, I am.

You have need for nothing.

I will work for you,

I have come to serve

and not be served.

I am your friend,

I am your members,

I am the head,

I am your brother,

I am your sister,

I am your mother,

I am all things.

Only abide in Me.

I have died for you.

I have been rejected for you.

I have been placed on the Cross for you,

I have been placed in the Tomb for you,

Above, I am before the Father for you,

Below, upon the Earth,

I intercede for you before the Father.

You are everything to Me:

My brother,

My co-heir,

My friend,

My member.

What more do you want?

A S C E T I C A L   H O M I L I E S

by Saint Isaac the Syrian

Prayer offered up at night possesses a great power, more so than the prayer of the daytime. Therefore all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of the body and the sweetness of sleep and repelling corporeal nature.

There is nothing which even Satan fears so much as prayer that is offered during vigilance at night. And even if it is offered with distraction, it does not return empty, unless perhaps that which is asked for is unsuitable.

For unless those who travel on the road go forward day by day, shortening their journey -- and, on the contrary, should they stand in one place -- the road before them will never diminish and they will never arrive at their destination. 

So it is with us also.

If we do not constrain ourselves little by little, we shall never have the strength to abstain from bodily things so as to gaze toward God.

A  M U T U A L   E X C H A N G E

by Saint Isaac the Syrian

 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent.
St. John 17:3 KJV

At the time of prayer, when a person's mind is collected and all the senses are brought into harmony, an encounter between God and the person praying takes place. This explains why all spiritual gifts and all mystical visions have been given to the saints at the time of prayer, It was during prayer that an angel appeared to Zacharias and announced the conception of John the Baptist; it was during prayer of the sixth hour that Peter beheld the divine vision; it was while Cornelius the Centurion prayed that an angel appeared to him.

Once a year, when the High Priest, during the dread time of prayer, entered the Holy of Holies and cast himself down upon his face . . . he heard the oracles of God through an awesome and ineffable revelation. O how awesome was the mystery which was ministered in this ceremony! So also at the time of prayer were all the visions and revelations made manifest to the saints. For what other time is so holy, and by its sanctity so apt for the reception of gifts, as the time of prayer, wherein a man converses with God? At this time, when we make our petitions and our supplications to God, and we speak with Him, a human being forcefully gathers together all the movements and deliberations of his soul and converses with God alone, and his heart is abundantly filled with God.

PRAYERS BY THE LAKE

A SOUL THAT LOVES GOD

by St. Nicolai Velimirovitch

You are the only event of my life, O lamp of my soul. When a child scurries to the arms of his mother, events do not exist for him. When a bride races to meet her bridegroom, she does not see the flowers in the meadow, nor does she hear the rumbling of the storm, nor does she smell the fragrance of the cypresses or sense the mood of the wild animals--she sees only the face of her bridegroom; she hears only the music from his lips; she smells only his soul. 

When love goes to meet love, no events overtake it. Time and space make way for love. Aimless wanderers and loveless people have events and have history. Love has no history, and history has no love.

ARE YOU EAGER FOR CHRIST OR LUKEWARM?

{Ed.}

As the period of increased Prayer and Fasting brought us to the Resurrection, have we resurrected a little so we can gaze upon Christ, or are we back to the

"same old, same old" carnal, temporary pursuits?

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16 KJV

Are you are eager  to have this or that, to go here and there, veracious for just about anything in Creation and yet minimally attentive (lukewarm) that the Creator of all things wants you to enjoy them with restraint but yet, at the same time, forsake this life entirely because He wants ALL OF YOUR YOUR BEING, ALL OF YOUR HEART?  You can indeed gain much from this mortal, temporary life but for how long and at what cost? Are you willing to lose Jesus Christ, Who is Himself, Paradise without end? 

There WILL be those who will hear from Christ:  

"I never knew you!" 

In fact, they never knew Him.  

If our love for Christ, is confirmed in us by Him, then we need not fear.

Ask yourself:  Do you believe Him when He says that all of the hairs of your head are numbered?  Do you believe He knew every thought you would have before He made you?   And, the same for all the people and all of Creation, who are and have gone before and will come after us?

Be honest, can any transient mind, a mind still inclined to hate, war, ambition, even begin to grasp such a God exists?

Furthermore, ask yourself, did He make this life a desert, void of joy etc.?  No!  Like a mother who pacifies and indulges her child while pushing it to walk on its own, our most merciful and loving God gives us innumerable delights in this brief life but is He not clear about what He expects from us in return?

Well, are you eager for Him? Or are you like those who live in a fantasy, a dream with little to no thought about your judgement date; the time of which you have no say. 

Is this life anything more than ultra real tangible dream, confirmed when we wake from it after death? Yes, but only one thing needful!!

It is an opportunity to PLEASE CHRIST GOD! An opportunity to avoid suffering the consequences from DISPLEASING CHRIST GOD!

And lets ask ourselves:  How hard was it for God to incarnate?  How hard to resurrect from the dead?   Was it something He "needed" to do? Did He not call all things into being without even breathing or a thought? Did He need help to do so and from where would it come?

As the Great Andrew of Crete calls: Arise my soul! Why are you sleeping?  The Holy Trinity has NO needs.  Nevertheless, we know with certainty that He did so in order for us to believe that we, WE, who are temporarily carnal, can live, die to this life, resurrect and our immortal souls ascend with Him into PARADISE/LIFE ETERNAL !  

If we are not eager for Him with all our heart then what value a life of death?  Many individuals, even "religions", fast just as strictly and some even more frequently for who? for what? for peace? for health? for a god who is not God? -Christ is the Prince of Peace, there is no peace without Him. He IS Truth, the Life and the Resurrection. 

Who does the following describe?

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 

St Matthew 15:8 KJV

NEXT WEEKEND