Friday May 10/23 ns 2025 ~ Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot, of the Twelve; St. Comgall of Bangor ~ Wine and olive oil are permitted ~ Apostle: I Cor. 4:9-16; St. Luke 6:12-19 ~ THE PIOUS CHANTER RADIATES THE GRACE OF GOD by St. Porphyrios

Simon was one of the Twelve Great Apostles. He was born in Cana of Galilee. The Lord Jesus, with His mother and His disciples, came to his marriage feast. When the wine ran out, the Lord changed water into wine (St. John 2: 1-11). Witnessing this miracle, Simon the groom left his home, parents and bride and followed after Christ.   Simon was called the Zealot because of his great and fiery zeal for the Savior and His Gospel. After receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, Simon went to preach the Gospel in Mauritania in Africa. Because he succeeded to convert many to the Faith of Christ, Simon was tortured and finally crucified, as was his Lord, Who prepared for him a wreath of glory in the immortal kingdom.

☩ 1 Corinthians 4:9-16 KJV

9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised.

11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place;

12 And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:

13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

☩ Saint Luke 6:12-19 KJV

12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,

16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;

18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed.

19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

Quickly hear us O Lord, our spirits have fainted away.

THE PIOUS CHANTER RADIATES

THE GRACE OF GOD

by St. Porphyrios

 

"Byzantine ecclesiastical music is a teaching...it softens the soul of man, and slowly lifts him up to other spiritual worlds with his voice, which sows [spiritual] pleasure and rejoicing and thanksgiving, traveling to another, spiritual world. This is how it is in reality, my children. Do not look where you are hearing this and what they are doing. When you do this slowly, you enter in with such a spiritual form, and thus sense what to do.

"You can be an egotistical chanter, and rock and be pleased with your self and be hollow. You might have the voice that can move others, but he who is truly holy when he chants has something else. He does not have his voice alone. Together with his voice, which radiates with sound waves, he radiates grace with other mystical waves, which reaches the souls of men and moves them even more deeply.

"The hollow “musician” (let us call him), the egotist, has [pride] and is pleased [with this]. The holy musician sends forth waves together with his voice. This is a very great mystery. As a result, if you go to the Holy Mountain, and hear the monks chanting, even if you have a frozen and stony heart, when you hear them, [you say]: “There it is. This musician can [truly move someone]...”