There were two occasions when the monks and hermits of Sinai and Raitho were murdered by the barbarians. The first took place in 312 when forty Fathers were killed at Mt. Sinai, and thirty-nine were slain at Raitho the same day. The second massacre occurred nearly a hundred years later.
God of our father, You always deal with us in Your kindness. Take not Your mercy away from us; but through their prayer guide our life in peace.
You fled the fury of the world and found for yourselves a calm haven. You were crowned with martyrs’ blood by the yoke of fasting; for this you have been admitted into the company of martyrs and monks.
James 3:11 – 4:6
Brothers and sisters: Does a spring gush forth fresh water and foul from the same outlet? A fig tree, brothers and sisters, cannot produce olives, or a grapevine figs; no more can a brackish source yield fresh water.
If one of you is wise and understanding, let him show this in practice through a humility filled with good sense. Should you instead nurse bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, at least refrain from arrogant and false claims against the truth. Wisdom like this does not come from above. It is earthbound, a kind of animal, even devilish, cunning. Where there are jealousy and strife, there also are inconstancy and all kinds of vile behavior. Wisdom from above, by contrast, is first of all innocent. It is peaceable, lenient, docile, rich in sympathy, and kindly in deeds that are its fruits, impartial and sincere. The harvest of justice is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.
Where do the conflicts and disputes among you originate? Is it not your inner cravings that make you war within your members? What you desire you do not obtain, and so you resort to murder. You envy and you cannot acquire, so you quarrel and fight. You do not obtain because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly, with a view to squandering what you receive on your pleasures. O you unfaithful ones, are you not aware that love of the world is enmity to God? A man is marked out as God’s enemy if he chooses to be the world’s friend. Do you suppose it is to no purpose that Scripture says, “The spirit he has implanted in us tends toward jealousy”? Yet he bestows a greater gift, for the sake of which it is written, “God resists the proud but bestows his favor on the lowly.”
Mark 11: 22-25
The Lord said to his disciples, “Put your trust in God. I solemnly assure you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no inner doubts but believes that what he says will happen, shall have it done for him. I give you my word, if you are ready to believe that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, it shall be done for you. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your faults.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Tuesday, January 13 –
