10th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 1. Afterfeast of the Dormition. Martyr Myron, Presbyter, of Cyzicus (254).
Tone 1 Troparion (Resurrection)
When the stone had been sealed by the Jews, while the soldiers were guarding Your most pure body, You rose on the third day, O Savior, granting life to the world. The powers of heaven therefore cried to You, O Giver of Life: “Glory to Your Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your Kingdom!// Glory to Your dispensation, O Lover of mankind!”
Tone 1 Troparion (Feast)
In giving birth you preserved your virginity. In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You were translated to life O Mother of Life,// and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death.
Tone 4 Troparion (St. Nicholas)
The truth of your deeds has revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of meekness and a teacher of self-control; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you.// O Father Bishop Nicholas, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Tone 4 Troparion (St. Myron)
Your holy martyr Myron, O Lord, through his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God. For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries, and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.// Through his intercession, save our souls!
Tone 1 Kontakion (Resurrection)
As God, You rose from the tomb in glory, raising the world with Yourself. Human nature praises You as God, for death has vanished. Adam exults, O Master! Eve rejoices, for she is freed from bondage and cries to You:// “You are the Giver of Resurrection to all, O Christ!”
Tone 3 Kontakion (St. Nicholas)
You proved yourself to be a holy priest, O Nicholas. You served God in Myra and lived the gospel of Christ. You offered your life for your people, And rescued the innocent from death. Therefore God has glorified you as a trustworthy guide of things divine.
Tone 2 Kontakion (St. Myron)
From childhood you longed for Christ, all glorious one, keeping His divine commandments and running to Him with all your being, all-honored Myron. Now you zealously pray with the Angels, asking remission of sins// for those who celebrate your memory.
Tone 2 Kontakion (Feast)
Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions. For being the Mother of Life,// she was translated to life by the One Who dwelt in her virginal womb.
1 Corinthians 4:9-16 (Epistle)
For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
Tone 1
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. God gives vengeance unto me, and subdues people under me. (Ps. 17:48)
V. He magnifies the salvation of the King and deals mercifully with David, His anointed, and his seed forever. (Ps. 17:51)
Tone 8
V. Arise, O Lord, into Your rest, You and the Ark of Your sanctification! (Ps. 131:8)
Matthew 17:14-23 (Gospel)
And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.
Martyr Myron the Presbyter of Cyzicus
The Holy Martyr Myron was a presbyter in Achaia (Greece) and lived during the third century. He suffered in the year 250 under the emperor Decius (249-251). The presbyter was gentle and kind to people, but he was also courageous in the defense of his spiritual children.
On the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy. The local governor Antipater came into the church with soldiers so as to arrest those praying there and to subject them to torture. Saint Myron began to plead for his flock, accusing the governor of cruelty, and for this the saint was delivered over to be tortured.
They took Saint Myron and struck his body with iron rods. They then threw the presbyter into a red-hot oven, but the Lord preserved the martyr, but about 150 men standing nearby were scorched by the fire. The governor then began to insist that the martyr worship idols. Saint Myron firmly refused to do this, so Antipater ordered the leather thongs to be cut from his skin. Saint Myron took one of the leather thongs and threw it in the face of his tormentor.
Falling into a rage, Antipater gave orders to strike Saint Myron all over his stripped body, and then to give the martyr to wild beasts to be eaten. The beasts would not touch him, however. Seeing himself defeated, Antipater in his blind rage committed suicide. They then took Saint Myron to the city of Cyzicus, where he was beheaded by the sword.
From The Art of Salvation
If we remain watchful, we will avoid criticizing others. As soon as the sin of criticism appears, watchfulness should prevent the thought of criticism from progressing, just as Abba Paphnutios did. As a result, we will avoid the sin of judging and criticizing with our tongue, and our name will be written in the book of eternal life. When one manages to keep both his internal and external tongue clean, in order to fulfill the commandment of God, this is proof that he has found salvation. Spiritual attentiveness illuminates our path.
One road lit by watchfulness is also the road leading to Holy Confession. Attentiveness advises man to settle his debt with God. Man, led by the light of watchfulness to this great mystery, discards his entire debt and the filth of sin. He enters into this spiritual bath and comes out entirely clean. Our soul must be filled with joy every time we are permitted to be immersed in this bath. We should rejoice and thank our Lord for leaving this bath on the earth, for leaving the authority to “bind and loose” (cf. Jn. 20:23)—because whatever is loosened by the spiritual father is loosened by God as well. Everything that is forgiven by God’s representative is forgiven by the Lord also.
When a person judges himself down here, he will not be judged in the supreme and frightful courthouse above. It is a huge blessing when man has the opportunity to confess. Those of you who have had the good fortune of receiving this spiritual bath and who continually cleanse your soul (each time it becomes dirty) through this divine sacrament must feel an immense joy, because the gates of Paradise always remain open for you. And if death comes, there is no need to worry: “I was prepared, and I was not troubled” (Ps. 118:60). When man is prepared, he is not disturbed when death approaches. He is certain that God, Who conveyed this authority of forgiveness to His priests, cannot be lying.
Each time this sacrament of the Church is administered, we witness God’s word in practice. When a person confesses voluntarily, with humility and self-knowledge, he feels happiness, alleviation, and jubilation within his soul. This is a clear indication that his sins have been forgiven. And once our sins have been forgiven, then all our fear, uneasiness, and uncertainty concerning the other life vanishes.
We must ceaselessly thank God. Our thanksgiving should never stop because we have the ability to purify ourselves as often as we wish. Whenever we realize that we have sinned, we should immediately turn our mind to God: “I have sinned, O Lord. Forgive me.” As soon as we say, “I have sinned, O Lord, forgive me,” God responds, “My child, you are forgiven: forgiven by the power of the law—provided that you proceed to implement the law.” The law is implemented under the priest’s epitrachelion. This is where all of man’s sinfulness comes to an end. This is how easy forgiveness is!
It is a shame for man to have forgiveness so easily and readily accessible and yet, on account of egotism alone, not to want to receive it: not to want to open the gates of Paradise and to proceed toward the eternal glory of God. Some people ask: “Will God actually condemn man on account of one sin? This is unjust. Where is God’s love? Isn’t God a loving father?” Yes, of course He is a loving father. But why do you turn your back on Him when He continuously calls you at every moment to be forgiven? Why do you reject His mercy? Why do you deny His embrace and run away from Him? Why do you jump into the embrace of the devil and not God’s? Does perhaps God ask you for money or property or slavery or something else that you do not have, which prevents you from proceeding to cast off your debt? No!
— Ephraim, Elder. The Art of Salvation
Homily from St. Nikolai on the Spirit-bearing Divine Child
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2)
The Holy Spirit of God does not separate from the Father, nor does He separate from the Son; nor does the Father separate from the Son and the Spirit; nor does the Son separate from the Father and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit prophesied about the Son through the prophets; the Holy Spirit overshadowed the All-holy Virgin and prepared her for the birth of the Son of God; the Holy Spirit stood inseparably over the Son during the entire time of His dwelling in the world in the body.
The spirit of wisdom—this is the vision of heavenly mysteries; the spirit of understanding—this is the comprehension of the ties of the visible and invisible worlds; the spirit of counsel—this is the separation of good from evil; the spirit of power—this is the authority over created nature; the spirit of knowledge—this is the knowledge of the essence of created beings; the spirit of the fear of the Lord—this is the recognition of the divine power over both worlds, and submission to the will of God. Who, at any time among men, has had this fullness of riches of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? No one but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit distributes His gifts freely, and gives them to men, some to this one, and some to another. But the whole of the undivided fullness of His gifts shines only in the Son of God. Why did the Lord Jesus need to have the fear of God when He Himself is God? As God, He did not have the fear of God; but as a man, He had the fear of God as an example for us. Just as He fasted, watched and labored as a man for the sake of teaching men, so He feared God as a man, for the sake of teaching men. What is more curable for men infected with sin than the fear of God? He, as One Who was healthy, had to take unto Himself the medicine for sin so that He could encourage us, who are sick, to take that medicine. Does not a parent do the same thing, with sick children who are afraid to take the prescribed medicine? O Triune and Eternal God—before Whom all the heavenly hosts bow down, singing the wondrous hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth—receive our worship also, and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
-Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid
Sunday Bulletin August 10, 2025