24th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — — Tone 7. Prophet Obadiah (Abdia—9th c. B.C.). Martyr Barlaam of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (ca. 304).
Tone 7 Troparion (Resurrection)
By Your Cross You destroyed death. To the thief You opened Paradise. For the Myrrhbearers You changed weeping into joy. And You commanded Your disciples, O Christ God, to proclaim that You are risen,// granting the world great mercy.
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. Barlaam)
Armed with youthful fervor, you endured martyrdom in old age and glorified Christ You offered Him your right hand as a whole burnt offering and your holy soul as a blameless sacrifice.// Intercede that all that be granted forgiveness, Great-martyr Barlaam.
Tone 7 Kontakion (Resurrection)
The dominion of death can no longer hold men captive, for Christ descended, shattering and destroying its powers. Hell is bound, while the Prophets rejoice and cry: “The Savior has come to those in faith;// enter, you faithful, into the Resurrection!”
Tone 3 Kontakion (St. Nicholas)
You proved yourself to be 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. Barlaam)
Though weak with old age you vanquished the Evil One in your mighty contest, O Barlaam. You endured the rack like one without a body, and steadfastly endured the burning of your hand.// Therefore, God the Word has crowned you with a crown of glory.
Tone 6 Kontakion (Steadfast Protectress)
Steadfast Protectress of Christians, Constant Advocate before the Creator; despise not the cry of us sinners, but in your goodness come speedily to help us who call on you in faith. Hasten to hear our petition and to intercede for us, O Theotokos, for you always protect those who honor you!
Tone 7 Prokeimenon (Resurrection)
The Lord shall give strength to His people. / The Lord shall bless His people with peace. (Ps. 28:11)
V. Offer to the Lord, O you sons of God! Offer young rams to the Lord! (Ps. 28:1a)
Ephesians 2:14-22 (Epistle)
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Tone 7
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High. (Ps. 91:1)
V. To declare Your mercy in the morning, and Your truth by night. (Ps. 91:2a)
Luke 12:16-21 (Gospel)
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Reflection from The Prologue
Does the Lord’s command about ceaseless prayer that men ought always to pray (Luke 18:1), apply only to monks or to all Christians in general? If it applied only to monks, the Apostle Paul would not have written to the Christians in Thessalonica to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17). The Apostle repeats the Lord’s command, word for word, and issues it to all Christians without distinction, whether monks or laymen. St. Gregory Palamas lived a life of asceticism for some time as a young hieromonk in a monastery in Berea. The elder Job, a well-known ascetic whom everyone respected, lived in that monastery. It happened that, in elder Job’s presence, St. Gregory quoted the Apostle’s words, asserting that ceaseless prayer is the obligation of every Christian and not just for monks. However, elder Job replied that ceaseless prayer is the obligation of the monk only, and not for every Christian. Gregory, as the younger of the two, yielded and withdrew in silence. When Job returned to his cell and stood at prayer, an angel in great heavenly glory appeared to him and said: “O Elder, do not doubt the truthfulness of Gregory’s words; he spoke correctly and you should think likewise and pass it on to others.” Thus, both the Apostle and the angel confirmed the commandment that all Christians must pray to God without ceasing. Not only without ceasing in church, but also without ceasing in every place and at all times, and especially in your heart. For if God does not for a moment tire of giving us good things, how can we tire of thanking Him for these good things? When He thinks of us without ceasing, why do we not think of Him without ceasing?
Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid (pp. 1802-1803). Sebastian Press Publishing House.
On Christ’s Dwelling in the Hearts of the Faithful: (also from the Prologue)
… that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye [may be] rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17)
With faith, Christ comes into the heart, and with Christ comes love. Thus man is rooted and grounded in love. First then, there is faith; then with faith comes Christ’s presence in the heart; then with Christ’s presence, the presence of love; and with love, all ineffable goodness. In a few words, the Apostle delineates the whole ladder of perfection. The beginning is faith and the end is love; and faith and love are joined in a living, undivided unity by the Living Lord Jesus Christ’s presence in the heart. By strengthening faith, we further abolish the distance between ourselves and the Lord Jesus Christ. The stronger one’s faith, the closer one is to Christ. Ultimately, one’s heart is filled with Christ and cannot be separated from Christ, just as one’s lung cannot be separated from the air. Then a man may, with tears of joy, communicate with Christ by the prayer of the heart—“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner”—and the heart is imperceptibly filled with light and ardent love. In this way, love is united with faith and hope; and when they are united, the boundaries between them are lost, so that man cannot even think of determining of how far faith goes, and where hope and love begin. When the living Christ dwells in a man, then he no longer perceives faith, hope or love in himself, nor does he name them. Instead, he sees only Christ and names only Him. This is just like a fruit-grower in autumn who considers the ripe fruit on the tree, and speaks no more of blossoms and leaves but of fruit, ripe fruit. O Lord Jesus Christ, supreme height of all our endeavors and the destination of all our travels, draw near to us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
— Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid.
Prepare, O Bethlehem
Beginning of Advent and the Forefeast
Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. (Isaiah 40:3) EVERY GREAT FEAST of the Orthodox Church is preceded by a period of preparation. One of the longest and richest periods is Advent. But what does it mean to prepare? For many, the preparation for Christmas is hectic—shopping for presents, making decorations, mailing cards, attending Christmas parties, and so forth. But in the midst of this mad rush, where is our spiritual preparation? The Church invites us to prepare for Christmas through prayer and worship and the hymns of the season. But these hymns are not just songs of praise; they are rich with profound—if, at times, obscure—biblical references. This is especially true of the hymns that dominate the entire season of Advent: the Katavasias of Christmas. Through them the Church invites us to study the Old Testament, for one theme that unmistakably permeates Advent is how the Nativity of Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecies about the Birth of the Messiah. Thus the Church’s liturgical life fulfills a twofold purpose: to worship and adore Christ, “Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man” (Nicene Creed); and to rediscover and contemplate the divine revelation in the Old and New Testaments.
But there is yet more to Advent than this. Our preparation for Christmas with the Old Testament is not an intellectual exercise, not a mere study of Scripture by which we affirm biblical truth. Rather, it is a spiritual preparation that challenges us to change our lives as a result of this divine revelation, to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). We are invited to be changed by our worship and our hearing of the word of God.
We are to prepare with faith and works, with contemplation and action, with prayer and charity. We must increase our talent of grace and not neglect the virtues God has given us (Matt. 25:14–30). If our joy is not a truly spiritual joy that softens our hearts and wakes us up from our spiritual slumber, then it is the joy of the world and not of Christ. It is not enough to celebrate Christmas.
We need to be changed and shaped by what we are celebrating.
If our spiritual life is no better in spite of all our praying, fasting, and church services, then we have not yet begun to fully respond to the significance of Advent and of the Nativity. The Church’s invitation to prepare for the Nativity is above all a command to us to open the gates of repentance, that Christ may enter our very being and be born anew in our hearts, and to offer our virtues to the newborn King. Instead of gold, we offer charity; instead of frankincense, prayer; instead of myrrh, repentance. Then, like the song of the angels and the adoration of the shepherds, our worship will be pure and our love without pretense.
— Papavassiliou, Vassilios. Meditations for Advent; Preparing for Christ’s Birth. Ancient Faith Publishing.
“If however, a man could come to the altar but does not, it is impossible for him to receive the sanctification which the sacrament brings; this is not because he does not come, but because he could come and will not; for this shows his soul is void of the good dispositions required for the sacrament.”
— St. Nicholas Cabasilas: Commentary of the Divine Liturgy.
