The Hieromartyr Methodius, bishop of Patara (Lycia in Asia Minor), was distinguished for his genuine monastic humility. Calmly and with mildness he instructed his flock, but he firmly defended the purity of Orthodoxy and he energetically contended against heresies, especially the widespread heresy of the Origenists. He left behind a rich literary legacy: works in defense of Christianity against paganism, explications of Orthodox dogmas against the heresy of Origen, moral discourses, and explanations of Holy Scripture. St. Methodius was arrested by pagans, steadfastly confessed before them his faith in Christ, and he was sentenced to death by beheading in the year 312.
Your blood cries out from the earth like that of Abel, O wise saint, for you preached the Incarnation with fearsome boldness. You shamed the lies of Origen, O father Methodius, and now you have been admitted to the court of heaven. Beg Christ our God to save our souls.
You were a priest and a mystic of the Holy Trinity. You preached divine decrees which surpass comprehension. You are strength for the faithful, O Methodius. You prevailed against evil plots, becoming a martyred priest in your blood for the faith. As you stand before Christ, pray for our salvation.
Romans 5:17 thru 6:2
Brothers and sisters: If death began its reign through one man because of his offense, much more shall those who receive the overflowing grace and gift of justice live and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ.
To sum up, then: just as a single offense brought condemnation to all men, a single righteous act brought all men acquittal and life. Just as through one man’s disobedience all became sinners, so through one man’s obedience all shall become just.
The law came in order to increase offenses; but despite the increase of sin, grace has far surpassed it, so that, as sin reigned through death, grace may reign by way of justice leading to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What, then, are we to say? “Let us continue in sin that grace may abound?” Certainly not! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?
Matthew 9: 14-17
At the time the disciples of John came to Jesus with the objection, “Why is it that while we and the Pharisees fast, your disciples do not?” Jesus said to them: “How can wedding guests go in mourning so long as the groom is with them? When the day comes that the groom is taken away, then they will fast. Nobody sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; the very thing he has used to cover the hole will pull, and the rip only get worse. People do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and in that way both are preserved.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Thursday, June 19 –
