From dynamispublications.org, rongolini.com, antiochan.org, biblegateway.com:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Great Lent, Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Sabinos the Egyptian (+303 or 304)
Scriptural Readings:
Genesis 4:16-26 (3/16-3/29) Wednesday of the Second Week of Great Lent
Beyond Eden-III ~ Secularism Revealed: Genesis 4:16-26, especially vs. 16: “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod opposite Eden.” This passage describes the history of Cain and his descendants, those we may well call ‘the first secularists.’ Cain and his family disclose what becomes of human life devoid of all thought of the Lord God. We see the heart of secular man: having a spirit, but deformed, his existence organized around the material and psychological dimensions of life, in whom the passions reign over the spirit.
God curses Cain, casting him out “...from the face of the ground” (Gn 4:12-14), and estranged from a rooted life tilling the soil (see Gn. 4:2), he learns what it means to be “...hidden from [God’s] presence” (vs. 14). His rootlessness is emphasized in Hebrew in which “Nod” literally means, ‘the land of wandering’ (vs. 16). Wandering takes him “...out from the presence of the Lord” (vs. 16). Thus, God is effectively removed from his thoughts. He lives solely for the ‘seculum,’ the material world. From physical existence he fashions a community based on the immediate. Saint Augustine describes Cain as one, who in heart and will, “...belonged to the city of man,” and, therefore, “it is recorded of Cain that he built a city,” a man-centered construct to replace life in communion with God. Thus, secularism is life devoid of relationship with God.
The Apostle Paul teaches that when men exchange “...the truth of God for the lie,” and worship and serve “...the creature rather than the Creator,” they become “...futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts [are] darkened” (Rom. 1:25,21). Still, in God’s mercy, the darkening of men’s hearts does not totally destroy the human spirit. Also, the Lord leaves in place His gifts for the just and the unjust (Mt. 5:45). Artistic capacity remains in the hearts of all men. Hence, the descendants of Cain turned their spiritual capacity to inventing and fashioning the various elements of material culture - the husbandry of livestock, the development of music and instruments, and the mastery of metal work in bronze and iron artistry (Gn. 4:20-22).
But compare these talented, worldly craftsmen with the godly artisans who were filled “...with the divine Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and in every manner of workmanship” (Ex. 31:3). The mysteries of faith and the beauty of worship are rightly expressed only by those whom God chooses, ordains, and inspires. For this reason, vestment making, iconography, Church music, and other forms of Orthodox craftsmanship are conducted under the protection of canonical definition, prayer, and fasting, so that God is honored in all things.
Secularism leads men to greater indulgence of the passions. Cain’s descendant, Lamech, provides two examples of this - in his sexual lust and his anger. God ordained monogamy as the basis for human marriages (Gn. 2:24). However Lamech, in a materialist spirit, takes two wives (Gn. 4:19). No ills appear to follow from his bigamy, but Scripture reveals numerous other cases where multiple wives and indulgence of the sexual passions bring great grief.
Lamech also exhibits a man fully under the sway of the passion of anger - greater than his grandfather, Cain, who killed one man. In Lamech the passion of anger becomes far more violent and sinister. He wildly boasts of wholesale revenge, announcing every intention to indulge in blood-feud and multiple murder (vss. 23,24). His ethics are founded on unrestrained passion and self-indulgence. He epitomizes the spirit of the secularist ideologies that promote terror, genocide, mass-murder, war, and violence in order to achieve their vaunted ‘ideals.’
Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Isaiah 5:16-25
Isaiah 5:16-25 (King James Version)
16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Proverbs 5:15-6:3
Proverbs 5:15-6:3 (King James Version)
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Proverbs 6
1My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
2Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
3Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
The Synaxarion:
March 16
Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Sabinos the Egyptian (+303 or 304)
Saint Sabinos was a native of Egypt. Under the threat of persecution he had left his home, parents, riches, and all the goods of the world in order to hide with some other Christians outside of the city in a small retreat. The idolaters arrested many Christians, but they particularly looked for Sabinos and were grieved not being able to find him. A beggar, who had gone in search of food close by the Saint, presented himself and said to them: "What will you give me if I deliver Sabinos to you?" They gave him two coins, followed him, and were able to seize the Saint in his hiding place. They bound him and led him to the President, who asked him: "Why did you despise the order of the Emperors and great gods and adore an unknown God?" The Saint answered: "I rather announce a God that you yourself must confess." Then after many tortures the Saint was thrown into the river where he was drowned.
Fifth Class Feast.
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Great Lent, Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Sabinos the Egyptian (+303 or 304)
Scriptural Readings:
Genesis 4:16-26 (3/16-3/29) Wednesday of the Second Week of Great Lent
Beyond Eden-III ~ Secularism Revealed: Genesis 4:16-26, especially vs. 16: “Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod opposite Eden.” This passage describes the history of Cain and his descendants, those we may well call ‘the first secularists.’ Cain and his family disclose what becomes of human life devoid of all thought of the Lord God. We see the heart of secular man: having a spirit, but deformed, his existence organized around the material and psychological dimensions of life, in whom the passions reign over the spirit.
God curses Cain, casting him out “...from the face of the ground” (Gn 4:12-14), and estranged from a rooted life tilling the soil (see Gn. 4:2), he learns what it means to be “...hidden from [God’s] presence” (vs. 14). His rootlessness is emphasized in Hebrew in which “Nod” literally means, ‘the land of wandering’ (vs. 16). Wandering takes him “...out from the presence of the Lord” (vs. 16). Thus, God is effectively removed from his thoughts. He lives solely for the ‘seculum,’ the material world. From physical existence he fashions a community based on the immediate. Saint Augustine describes Cain as one, who in heart and will, “...belonged to the city of man,” and, therefore, “it is recorded of Cain that he built a city,” a man-centered construct to replace life in communion with God. Thus, secularism is life devoid of relationship with God.
The Apostle Paul teaches that when men exchange “...the truth of God for the lie,” and worship and serve “...the creature rather than the Creator,” they become “...futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts [are] darkened” (Rom. 1:25,21). Still, in God’s mercy, the darkening of men’s hearts does not totally destroy the human spirit. Also, the Lord leaves in place His gifts for the just and the unjust (Mt. 5:45). Artistic capacity remains in the hearts of all men. Hence, the descendants of Cain turned their spiritual capacity to inventing and fashioning the various elements of material culture - the husbandry of livestock, the development of music and instruments, and the mastery of metal work in bronze and iron artistry (Gn. 4:20-22).
But compare these talented, worldly craftsmen with the godly artisans who were filled “...with the divine Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and in every manner of workmanship” (Ex. 31:3). The mysteries of faith and the beauty of worship are rightly expressed only by those whom God chooses, ordains, and inspires. For this reason, vestment making, iconography, Church music, and other forms of Orthodox craftsmanship are conducted under the protection of canonical definition, prayer, and fasting, so that God is honored in all things.
Secularism leads men to greater indulgence of the passions. Cain’s descendant, Lamech, provides two examples of this - in his sexual lust and his anger. God ordained monogamy as the basis for human marriages (Gn. 2:24). However Lamech, in a materialist spirit, takes two wives (Gn. 4:19). No ills appear to follow from his bigamy, but Scripture reveals numerous other cases where multiple wives and indulgence of the sexual passions bring great grief.
Lamech also exhibits a man fully under the sway of the passion of anger - greater than his grandfather, Cain, who killed one man. In Lamech the passion of anger becomes far more violent and sinister. He wildly boasts of wholesale revenge, announcing every intention to indulge in blood-feud and multiple murder (vss. 23,24). His ethics are founded on unrestrained passion and self-indulgence. He epitomizes the spirit of the secularist ideologies that promote terror, genocide, mass-murder, war, and violence in order to achieve their vaunted ‘ideals.’
Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Isaiah 5:16-25
Isaiah 5:16-25 (King James Version)
16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Proverbs 5:15-6:3
Proverbs 5:15-6:3 (King James Version)
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Proverbs 6
1My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
2Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
3Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
The Synaxarion:
March 16
Memory of the holy Hieromartyr Sabinos the Egyptian (+303 or 304)
Saint Sabinos was a native of Egypt. Under the threat of persecution he had left his home, parents, riches, and all the goods of the world in order to hide with some other Christians outside of the city in a small retreat. The idolaters arrested many Christians, but they particularly looked for Sabinos and were grieved not being able to find him. A beggar, who had gone in search of food close by the Saint, presented himself and said to them: "What will you give me if I deliver Sabinos to you?" They gave him two coins, followed him, and were able to seize the Saint in his hiding place. They bound him and led him to the President, who asked him: "Why did you despise the order of the Emperors and great gods and adore an unknown God?" The Saint answered: "I rather announce a God that you yourself must confess." Then after many tortures the Saint was thrown into the river where he was drowned.
Fifth Class Feast.
No comments:
Post a Comment