Monday

Acts 12:12-17; John 8:42-51

What means, do you think, did the Lord use to explain to the Jews the reason for their not believing in Him? The means He used was to tell them the truth. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not (John 8:45). The lie, as it is said, turned into their flesh and blood, and made them incapable of receiving the truth. Why do people not believe today? For the same reason-the Lord speaks the truth, and therefore they do not believe. But how can this be? Are they not all learned, and do they not talk only about the truth? They have many words, but no works. The weaving of their schemes is like the spinning of a spider's web, but they do not notice the flimsiness of it. The principles of their systems are groundless, and their conclusions cannot be proved, but they are satisfied with them nevertheless. There is now such a demand for hypotheses that it seems that they alone make up the entire content of their minds, and this is reputed to be the sphere of immutable truth. So their mind has gone rotten, and its taste has been ruined! How can it contain the truth? And so they do not believe the Lord, Who speaks only the truth.

-From St. Theophan the Recluse 

Summer old testament reading challenge

If you're looking for some reading to do this summer, sign up for our Old Testament reading challenge. A great way to get exposed to some of the great stories of the Old Testament.

Monday

Acts 10:1-16; John 6:56-69

When the Lord presented His teaching about the Mystery of His Body and Blood, setting it forth as a necessary condition for contact with Himself and as a source of true life, then many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him (John: 6:66). Such an act of God's boundless mercy toward us seemed too miraculous to them, and their disinclination toward the miraculous tore them from the Lord. The Lord saw this, and although He was prepared to be crucified for the salvation of every person. He did not consider it possible to diminish or annul the miracle. It is so crucial in the economy of our salvation! Albeit with regret, He allowed them to depart from Him into the darkness of unbelief and destruction, and said to them and to the chosen twelve as well, Will ye also go away? (John 6:67). This showed that He was ready to let them go also, if they could not yield before that which was miraculous. So it is that to flee from the miraculous is to flee from the Lord and Savior; and one who turns away from the miraculous is as one who is perishing. May those who are horrified by even the mention of the miraculous heed this! Even they will come across a miracle which they will not be able to thwart: death, and after death, judgement. But whether this inability to thwart it will serve them unto salvation, only God knows. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Monday

Acts 6:8-7:5, 47-60; John 4:46-54

St. Stephen says: The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands... What house will ye build Me? saith the Lord, or, what is the place of My rest? (Acts 7:48-49). Only the temple in the heart, not made with hands, can contain God, as the Lord said: If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 14:23). How this is accomplished is unfathomable to us, but it is true because it is obvious that then it is God Who worth in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Do not deliberate about it, just give your heart to the Lord, and He Himself will make of it a temple for Himself-but give it unsparingly. If there are parts which are not given, then an integral temple cannot be made from the heart, for one thing will be decayed, another broken-and what will result, if anything results, will be a temple with holes or without a roof, or without doors. It is not possible to live in such a temple: the Lord will not dwell in it. It will only seem that it is a temple, but in reality it will just be a pile of material. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse 

The Bright Resurrection of Christ

Acts 1:1-8, John 1:1-17

Pascha, the Lord's Pascha! The Lord has led us from death to life by means of His Resurrection. And "the angels in heaven hymn" this Resurrection, having seen in the countenance of the Lord and Redeemer the brightness of the deified human nature in the glory foreordained for it. All who truly believe in Him and cleave to Him with all their soul are changed into His image by the power of His Resurrection. Glory, O Lord, to Thy most glorious Resurrection! The angels hymn, rejoicing with us and foreseeing the filling of their assembly. Vouchsafe us also with pure hearts, O Lord, to glorify Thee resurrected, seeing in Thy Resurrection the cutting off of our consuming decay, the sowing of a most bright new life, and the dawn of future eternal glory, into which Thou hast gone before us by Thy Resurrection for our sake. The tongues not only of men but also of angels have insufficient strength to express Thine unspeakable mercy toward us, O most gloriously resurrected Lord!

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Praise God! He has given us new life by dying on the cross for us and taking away all the sins of the world. The ultimate sacrifice it truly is. His Resurrection gives us eternal life. Glory be to God! We are no longer broken and wretched, the cross has made us clean of our iniquities and sorrows. Simply put, it was more than enough. More than life itself, we receive our purpose, our calling, and our meaning through Christ our Lord and Savior. Jesus dying on the cross is love in action. It is the reason we are here, breathing, and alive on this earth. 

Written by Jackie Loupakos