Now we worry about a piece of bread, about a roof over our heads, about our social conditions. And it seems to us that the meaning of life consists of this. But the Church says, Look at the pussy willows: leaves will sprout and later flowers and fruit. So it is even in a Christian soul.

Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko ☦️1893-1978)

The Righteous Samuel (Aug 20/ Sept 2) was a Prophet of God from childhood. He was the fruit of his mother Hannah’s many tearful years of supplication to God for deliverance from a barren womb. Therefore, she called him Samuel, that is, "heard by God." As soon as Hannah had weaned Samuel she brought him to the city of Silom (Shiloh), where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. There she consecrated him to the service of God. Samuel was the last judge of the Israelite people. His judgements were filled with holiness and righteousness.

When Samuel was old, the people asked him for a king, but he was displeased with this, knowing that God Himself was their King. When the people persisted, the Lord commanded him to anoint them a king, saying, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them.”

Samuel anointed Israel’s first king, Saul. But Saul transgressed the command of God repeatedly, so Samuel anointed David. Yet Samuel grieved Saul’s lost kingship so much that the Lord said to him, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?" (I Kings 16:1).

Having lived blamelessly some ninety-eight years as a living example of a God-pleasing life, the holy Prophet reposed in the 11th century before Christ.

"Think of yourself every morning as a newborn miracle, and you will not feel old age."

☦️ St Nikolai Velimirovich

☦️ St Justin Popovich

Angry pagans once forced the Holy Apostle Matthias (Aug 9/ Aug 22) to drink poison. It not only failed to harm him but he went about healing others who had been blinded by the potion.

One of the 70 Apostles, St. Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot of the 12 Apostles.

Using the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Apostle Matthias demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the True God, the long-awaited Messiah. This declaration ensured his martyrdom. The Apostle Matthias received the martyr’s crown after being stoned in the year 63.

☦️ St. Matrona of Moscow

Salvation is nothing less than the Sonship and Theosis (Divinization) of mankind. This is the message of St Irenaeus (130-202) (Aug 23), Bishop of Lugdunum. St Irenaeus is the third link in an unbroken chain of the grace of succession which links, in backward order, to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, to the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, to the Original Pastor, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Thus, he received his schooling from the best.

Through the Incarnation of God, creation becomes co-imaged and co-bodied to the Son of God.

Saint Gregory of Tours credits the preaching of St Irenaeus (130-202) (Aug 23), Bishop of Lugdunum, for transforming all of Lugdunum (Lyons) into a Christian city.

By sharing in the ways of the Apostles,
you became a successor to their throne.
Through the practice of virtue, you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God;
by teaching the word of truth without error,
you defended the Faith, even to the shedding of your blood.
Hieromartyr Irenaeus, entreat Christ God to save our souls."

"Do not adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all."

☦️ St John Chrysostom

“Beneath thy compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble, but rescue us from dangers, only pure one, only blessed one." —earliest known written prayer to the Theokotos, c. 250

"The simple step of a courageous individual is not to partake in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world."

-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“O believers, come, let us go unto the tomb of the Mother of God and embrace it longingly, and with sincerity touch it with our lips and eyes and foreheads of our hearts, and we shall then obtain from that ever-welling fountain the divine gifts of healing that issue abundantly.” (Hymn from the Matins of the Feast)

O heavenly mother, Panagia, intercede for us!

Photo: St Savvas of Kalymnos Orthodox Church, Sydney, Australia

"And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’ " Acts 13:25, from the Epistle reading for the Beheading of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John.

Several years ago something remarkable happened at a church shop in Georgia. An icon of St Gabriel began streaming myrrh abundantly. Many miraculous healings are reported by those who have come from around the world to be anointed with the myrrh.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HllwGcOaefE&fbclid

Have you seen a good Orthodox movie lately? The survival struggles of a Russian Orthodox mission through brutal Nazi occupation is told in a beautifully crafted movie, The Priest. (Russian with English subtitles)

https://youtu.be/zghBLMX972U?si=SqWDwukx3m4fL9Kc

September 1 marks the beginning of the Church Year, when, according to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue to proclaim (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2):

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...” (Luke 4:16-22)

Let us resolve this new year holy and acceptable to the Lord!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

John 1:14☦️

Remembering Fr. Seraphim Rose (reposed Sept 2, 1982)

In high school, he was called “Eugene the Genius”. However, as Hieromonk Damascene notes, when he became Orthodox, he crucified his mind. “‘When I became a Christian, I crucified my mind, and all the sorrows that I have borne have only been a source of joy for me. I've lost nothing and gained everything.’”