The holy martyr Mammas was born in Paphlagonia to Christian parents who were imprisoned for the name of Christ. He was dumb until the age of five, and his first word was ‘mama,’ and it is from this word that his name derives. At the age of fifteen, he was brought before the emperor Aurelian. The emperor commanded him to blaspheme Christ, and Mammas replied, “I shall not deny my God and King Jesus Christ, either in my heart or with my lips.” Mammas was martyred by a pagan priest in 274.
Our venerable father John the Faster was Patriarch of Constantinople from 582-595, and was the first to use the title “Ecumenical Patriarch.” He was a great faster, intercessor and wonderworker right up to the time of his death. Distinguished for his abstinence and prayer, St. John had such a love for the poor that he refused them nothing from his estate. After his death, his only personal possessions were found to be a wooden spoon, a linen shirt, and an old garnet. His writings on repentance and Confession are well known. After a virtuous life of piety, during which he performed many miracles, St. John reposed in the year 595.
Your martyr Mammas, O Lord our God, in his struggle received an incorruptible crown from You. With Your strength, he brought down the tyrants and broke the cowardly valor of demons. Through his prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
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 John, intercede with Christ our God to save our souls.
O holy Mammas, with the staff God gave to you, lead your people as a flock of life-giving pastures; crush the fierce and invisible enemies beneath the feet of those who honor you; for all those in danger have received you as their fervent intercessor.
You proved yourself a heavenly vessel of abstinence, O blessed John, and a lasting treasure of piety. Your life was radiant with perfect self-control, and you enriched the poor with alms, O venerable father, pray to Christ our God to give great mercy to us.
Galatians 4:28 – 5:10
Brothers and sisters: You are children of the promise, as Isaac was. But just as in those days the son born in nature’s course persecuted the one whose birth was in the realm of the spirit, so do we find it now. What does Scripture say on the point? “Cast out slave girl and son together; for the slave girl’s son shall never be heir on equal terms with the son” of the one born free.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave girl but of a mother who is free.
It was for liberty that Christ freed us. So stand firm, and so not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time! Pay close attention to me, Paul, when I tell you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no use to you! I point out once more to all who receive circumcision that they are bound to the law in its entirety. Any of you who seek your justification in the law have severed yourselves from Christ and fallen from God’s favor! It is in the spirit that we eagerly await the justification we hope for, and only faith can yield it. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor the lack of it counts for anything; only faith, which expresses itself through love.
You were progressing so very well; who diverted you from the path of truth? Such enticement does not come from him who calls you. “A little yeast can affect the entire dough.” I trust that, in the Lord, you will not adopt a different view. May condemnation fall on whoever it is that is unsettling you.
Mark 6:54 – 7:8
At that time as Jesus and the disciples were leaving the boat the people immediately recognized him. The crowds scurried about the adjacent area and began to bring in the sick on bedrolls to the place where they heard he was. Wherever he put in an appearance, in villages, in towns, or at crossroads, they laid the sick in the market places and begged him to let them touch just the tassel of his cloak. All who touched him got well.
The Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. They had observed a few of his disciples eating meals without having purified–that is to say, washed–their hands. The Pharisees, and in fact all Jews, cling to the custom of their ancestors and never eat without scrupulously washing their hands. Moreover, they never eat anything from the market without first sprinkling it. There are many other traditions they observe–for example, the watching of cups and jugs and kettles. So the Pharisees and the scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of our ancestors, but instead take food without purifying their hands?” He said to them: “How accurately Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites when he wrote, ‘This people pays me lip service but their heart is far from me. Empty is the reverence they do me because they teach as dogmas mere human precepts.’ You disregard God’s commandment and cling to what is human tradition.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Sunday, September 1 –
