The holy apostle Silas was sent by the apostles to the Churches of the gentiles together with Saints Paul and Barnabas. He earnestly fulfilled the office of preaching, full of the grace of God. (Acts 15:22) The holy apostle Silvanus helped both Peter and Paul (I Peter 5:12; II Corinthians 1:19), and became the first bishop of Salonica. Crescens was a fellow-worker with St. Paul (II Tim. 4:10) and then bishop in Galatia and missionary in Gaul. Epaenetus is mentioned by Paul (Rom. 16:7) and became bishop of Carthage.
Let us praise the apostles Silas, Silvanus, and their companions. They overcame the deceits of idolatry and taught the pagans for the faith. They pray unceasingly for those who keep their memory.
O Silas and Silvanus, you were two disciples of the Lord, two vines in the Lord’s vineyard producing clusters of virtue like grapes. You poured out for us the wine of salvation that fills the hearts of the faithful with joy and makes them celebrate your honorable memory. Obtain for us the remission of sins and transgressions.
2 Corinthians 2:14 – 3:3
Brothers and sisters: Thanks be to God, who unfailingly leads us on in Christ’s triumphal train, and employs us to diffuse the fragrance of his knowledge everywhere! We are an aroma of Christ for God’s sake, both among those who are being saved and those on the way to destruction; to the latter an odor dealing death, to the former a breath bringing life. For such a mission as this, is anyone really qualified? We at least are not like so many who trade on the word of God. We speak in Christ’s name, pure in motivation, conscious of having been sent by God and of standing in his presence.
Am I beginning to speak well of myself again? Or do I need letters of recommendation to you or from you as others might? You are my letter, known and read by all men, written on your hearts. Clearly you are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart.
Matthew 23: 23-28
The Lord said: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You pay tithes on mint and herbs and seeds while neglecting the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and good faith. It is these you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
“Blind guides! You strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, and leave the inside filled with loot and lust! Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup so that its outside may be clean. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful to look at on the outside but inside full of filth and dead men’s bones. Thus you present to view a holy exterior while hypocrisy and evil fill you within.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Monday, July 29 –
