16th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Afterfeast of the Elevation of the Cross. Sunday after Elevation. Greatmartyr Eustáthios (Eustace) Placidas, his wife, Martyr Theopistes, and their children, Martyrs Agapius and Theopistus, of Rome (ca. 118).
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 1 Troparion (Feast)
O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance! Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries; and by virtue of Your Cross,// preserve Your habitation!
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. Eustathius)
Your holy martyr Eustathius and his wife and sons, O Lord, through their sufferings have received incorruptible crown from You, our God. For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries, and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.// Through their intercession, save our souls!
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. Eustathius)
Having openly imitated the Passion of Christ, and having eagerly drunk of His cup, O Eustathius, you became a partaker and fellow-heir of His glory,// receiving divine forgiveness from on high from the God of all.
Tone 4 Kontakion (Feast)
As You were voluntarily raised upon the Cross for our sake, grant mercy to those who are called by Your Name, O Christ God; make all Orthodox Christians glad by Your power, granting them victories over their adversaries// by bestowing on them the invincible trophy, Your weapon of peace!
Tone 7 Prokeimenon (Sunday After)
Extol the Lord our God: / worship at His footstool for He is holy! (Ps. 98:5)
V. The Lord reigns, let the people tremble! (Ps. 98:1a)
Galatians 2:16-20 (Epistle, Sunday After)
See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
2 Corinthians 6:1-10 (Epistle)
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Tone 1
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. Remember Your congregation, which You have gotten of old! (Ps. 73:2)
V. God is our King before the ages; He has worked salvation in the midst of the earth! (Ps. 73:13)
Mark 8:34-9:1 (Gospel, Sunday After)
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”
Matthew 25:14-30 (Gospel)
For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
On the only Way, Truth and Life
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me (John 14:6)
Brethren, these words were not merely spoken, but were soaked with blood, confirmed by the Resurrection, instilled by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the faithful, and proven again and again by the Church through ages and ages. Of all the treasures on earth, men love life the most—and they love life more than they do truth, even though there is no life without truth. Thus, the highest good is life, but truth is the foundation of life. He who loves life, must also love truth. But where is the way to truth? Our Lord says: I am the Way. He did not say: “I am a way,” so that none would think there is another way to truth besides the Lord Jesus. And He is not only the Way, but also the Truth and the Life, so that none would think that there is some other truth and some other life besides the Lord Jesus. For this He was born as a man, to show men the way; for this He was crucified, to mark the way by His blood. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. This addresses those who deceive themselves by thinking that they can know God and acquire the Kingdom of God without the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord entirely cut off this false hope and desperate self-deception by these words. The apostle who heard and wrote these words in the Gospel, expressed them in his Epistle in this way: Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father (I John 2:23). O Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Source of all blessings—truly Thou art for us the only Way, the only Light, the only Truth, the only Life and Life-giver. We acknowledge Thee before men and angels as our only God and Savior. Have mercy on us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
— Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid
Pain and Suffering in Our Life
The path of life is full of pain, tears, thorns, and nails. Crosses are planted everywhere; uncertainty and sorrow are found all over. Every step is accompanied by a Gethsemane; every uphill road leads to a Golgotha. A spear pierces every person at each moment. If we could wring the earth like a sponge, it would drip blood and tears. “As for man, his days are as the grass; he shall blossom forth as a flower of the field,” remarks the Psalmist (Ps. 102:15). Beautiful things are accompanied by pain; nevertheless, pain in turn leads to joy. Roses produce thorns, and thorns produce roses. The rainbow usually appears after a storm. Before the sky clears up, a downpour must first take place. Man, enlightened by Christian faith and philosophy, possesses the ability to discern and examine things much deeper than what is apparent on the surface. Within pain, one can detect joy and hope, just as Christ’s triumph sprang forth from His painful Passion and Crucifixion. The most impressive statues have received the greatest number of strikes. Great souls owe their grandeur to the heavy blows of pain. Precious works of gold first pass through the fire of the furnace. Pain shakes the very foundations of man’s existence. Pain is like a fiery furnace that burns and scorches; it resembles a downpour and a storm.
The wise Solomon states, “My soul and the ocean never remain calm.” There are times when trials come in succession one after another—sometimes even all at once! The cross becomes very heavy then. Our apprehension peaks. The soul is ready to bend under the unbearable weight. Everything seems dark—pitch black!
Darkness and dead-ends fill the horizon. Saint Gregory the Theologian remarks, “The good moments have passed; difficulties lie ahead visibly and tauntingly. The journey takes place in the darkness of night. There is no light anywhere, and it seems as if Christ is asleep.” Life’s sorrows comprise nails and knives. These nails and knives mercilessly pierce and rip open human hearts. They set hearts ablaze, paralyze them, and destroy them. The only thing that remains during such moments is the cry that is addressed to God in the form of supplication: “Have mercy on me, O Lord … my soul has been greatly distressed … I have grown tired with my sighs … my heart has become like melted wax … Have mercy on me, O Lord, because I am troubled … my life has passed in sorrow, and my years with sighs … I have been forgotten like a person who has died … my tears have become food for me day and night … why are you sad, my soul, and why do you make me unsettled?” (Ps. 22:14; 31:9; 42:3; 42:5). Man is the king of creation; however, his crown is woven with thorns. Man’s journey at times sounds like a joyful song and symphony; other times, most of the time, it sounds like an unceasingly sorrowful and mournful lamentation. Pain constitutes a great and eternal enigma. It has been the topic of study for philosophers, social workers, psychiatrists, and many others. Even so, Christian faith and the law of God provide the most authoritative answer. The answer is twofold. Theologically it is the consequence of the fall, just like all the other evils. It is the result of man’s incorrect use of freedom. It is the fruit of disobedience. Ethically, it is an opportunity and a means to acquire virtue and attain perfection.
“I will always honor God,” pledges Saint Gregory the Theologian, “no matter how many difficulties He allows to confront me. For me, pain constitutes a medicine of salvation.” Saint Basil the Great advises, “Since God is preparing the crown of His Kingdom for us, let illness be a cause for virtue.” Saint John Chrysostom observes, “Sorrows bring us closer to God. When we consider the eternal benefits of sorrows, we will not be distressed.”
— Ephraim, Elder. The Art of Salvation
Sunday Bulletin September 13, 2026