The holy confessor Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He was summoned together with the other bishops to the court of the emperor, who insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration of holy icons. St. Emilian was the first to tell the emperor firmly that the question of the veneration of holy icons ought to be discussed and decided only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at the imperial court. In the year 815 he was sent to prison for the Orthodox Faith, where he died as a confessor.
Your life has shown you to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of gentleness, and a teacher of moderation. You acquired greatness through humility and wealth through poverty. O father and bishop Emilian, intercede with Christ our God to save our souls.
The Church recognizes you, O father Emilian, as an advocate of the most Holy Trinity, and she glorifies you with hymns of praise. You even laid down your life as proof of your devotion. For all of this we honor your memory. Deliver your servants from pagan invasions.
1 Corinthians 14: 26-40
Brothers and sisters: When you assemble, one has a psalm, another some instruction to give, still another a revelation to share; one speaks in a tongue, another interprets. All well and good, so long as everything is done with a constructive purpose. If any are going to talk in tongues let it be at most two or three, each in turn, with another to interpret what they are saying. But if there is no one to interpret, there should be silence in the assembly, each one speaking only to himself and to God. Let no more than two or three prophets speak, and let the rest judge the worth of what they say. If another, sitting by, should happen to receive a revelation, the first ones should then keep quiet. You can all speak your prophecies, but one by one, so that all may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of the prophets are under their prophets’ control, since God is a God, not of confusion, but of peace.
According to the rule observed in all the assemblies of believers, women should keep silent in such gatherings. They may not speak. Rather, as the law states, submissiveness is indicated for them. If they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgrace when a woman speaks in the assembly. Did the preaching of God’s word originate with you? Are you the only ones to whom it has come?
If anyone thinks he is a prophet or a man of the Spirit, he should know what I have written you is the Lord’s commandment. If anyone ignores it, he in turn should be ignored. Set your hearts on prophecy, my brethren, and do not forbid those who speak in tongues, but make sure that everything is done properly and in order.
Matthew 21: 12-14, 17-20
At that time, Jesus entered the temple precincts and drove out all those engaged there in buying and selling. He overturned the money-changers’ tables and the stalls of the dove-sellers, saying to them: “Scripture has it, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of thieves.”
The blind and the lame came to him inside the temple area and he cured them.
With that, Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. At dawn, as Jesus was returning to the city, he felt hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the roadside he went over to it, but found nothing there except leaves. He said to it, “Never again shall you produce fruit!”; and it withered up instantly.
The disciples were dumbfounded when they saw this. They asked, “Why did the fig tree wither up so quickly?”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Thursday, August 7 –
