Our venerable mother Macrina was sister of St. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Peter of Sebaste. She was learned in Sacred Scripture and led a solitary life. She provided a wonderful example of those possessing the desire for God, who had forsaken the vanity of the world.
Our venerable father Dios was called the Wonderworker and was an archimandrite in the 5th century. He left his home in Antioch and was ordained in Constantinople and founded a monastery under the Rule of the Akoemeti (i.e., the “Unsleeping”).
You saw your bridegroom die and were struck by the vanity of this world and its fleeting life. Taking purpose in your life, you were betrothed to the Immortal One. You drew his love with fasting and humility. Now your spirit rejoices with the angels, O venerable Macrina.
You loved the good God with all your heart, O Macrina. You shouldered your cross and sincerely followed Him. You found the total remission of your sins in Him.
1 Corinthians 10: 12-22
Brothers and sisters: Let anyone who thinks he is standing upright watch out lest he fall! No test has been sent you that does not come to all men. Besides, God keeps his promise. He will not let you be tested beyond your strength. Along with the test he will give you a way out of it so that you may be able to endure it.
I am telling you, whom I love, to shun the worship of idols, and I address you as one addresses sensible people. You may judge for yourselves what I am saying. Is not the cup of blessing we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, many though we are, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Look at Israel according to the flesh and see if those who eat the sacrifices do not share in the altar! What am I saying – that meat offered to an idol is really offered to that idol, or that an idol is a reality? No, I mean that the Gentiles sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and likewise the table of demons. Do we mean to provoke the Lord to jealous anger? Surely we are not stronger than he!
Matthew 16: 20-24
At that time Jesus strictly ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From then on Jesus [the Messiah] started to indicate to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly there at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and to be put to death, and raised up on the third day. At this, Peter took him aside and began to remonstrate with him. “May you be spared, Master! God forbid that any such thing ever happen to you!” Jesus turned on Peter and said, “Get out of my sight, you satan! You are trying to make me trip and fall. You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s.” Jesus then said to his disciples: “If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Tuesday, July 18 –
