Sunday, July 22, 2018
Tone 7 / Eothinon 8; 8th Sunday after Pentecost & 8th Sunday of Matthew
Today we Commemorate: Mary Magdalene, myrrh-bearer and equal-to-the-Apostles; Virgin-martyr Markella of Chios; Cyril I, Patriarch of Antioch; Cyprian, fool-for-Christ of Suzdal; Cornelius of Pereyaslavl; Wandregisilus of Caux
Today’s Hymns and Readings:
Ordinary Entrance Hymn:
O Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ. Save us, O Son of God, Who art risen from the dead; who sing to Thee. Alleluia.
Resurrectional Apolytikion, Tone 7:
Thou didst shatter death by Thy Cross, Thou didst open paradise to the thief; Thou didst turn the sadness of the ointment-bearing women into joy. And didst bid Thine Apostles proclaim a warning, that Thou hast risen O Christ, granting to the world the Great Mercy.
Apolytikion of St Mary Magdalene, Tone 1:
When Christ God had been born for our sakes from the Virgin, * thou faithfully didst follow Him, keeping His statutes * and heeding His sacred laws, O august Mary Magdalene. * Hence, as we today observe thy holy remembrance, * we receive the loosing of our sins and transgressions * through thy holy prayers for us.
Apolytikion of our Patron St Nicholas, Tone 3:
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, a model of meekness, and a teacher of self-control. Therefore you have won the heights by humility, riches by poverty, Holy Father, Bishop Nicholas, intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Ordinary Kontakion, Tone 2:
O protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the Creator most constant, O despise not the suppliant voices of those who have sinned; but be thou quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession, and speed thou to make supplication, thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
Trisagion
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3x)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, Have mercy on us.
The Epistle
(For the 8th Sunday after Pentecost)
The Lord will give strength to His people.
Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God, ascribe to the Lord honor and glory.
The Reading from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. (1:10-17)
Brethren, I appeal to you, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissension among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispos and Gaius; lest anyone should say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
The Gospel
(For the 8th Sunday of Matthew)
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (14:14-22)
At that time, when Jesus went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to Heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thoughts For the Day
Who indeed was This Virgin and from what sort of parents did She come? Mary, the glory of all, was born of the tribe of David, and from the seed of Joachim. She was descended from Eve, and was the child of Anna. Joachim was a gentle man, pious, raised in God’s law. Living prudently and walking before God he grew old without child: the years of his prime provided no continuation of his lineage. Anna was likewise God-loving, prudent, but barren; she lived in harmony with her husband, but was childless. As much concerned about this, as about the observance of the law of the Lord, she indeed was daily stung by the grief of childlessness and suffered that which is the usual lot of the childless — she grieved, she sorrowed, she was distressed, and impatient at being childless.
Thus, Joachim and his spouse lamented that they had no successor to continue their line; yet the spark of hope was not extinguished in them completely: both intensified their prayer about the granting to them of a child to continue their line. In imitation of the prayer heard of Hannah (1 Kings 1: 10), both without leaving the temple fervently beseeched God that He would undo her sterility and make fruitful her childlessness. And they did not give up on their efforts, until their wish be fulfilled. The Bestower of gifts did not contemn the gift of their hope. The unceasing power came quickly in help to those praying and beseeching God, and it made capable both the one and the other to produce and bear a child. In such manner, from sterile and barren parents, as it were from irrigated trees, was borne for us a most glorious fruition — the all-pure Virgin.
The constraints of infertility were destroyed — prayer, upright manner of life, these rendered them fruitful; the childless begat a Child, and the childless woman was made a happy mother.
+ St. Andrew of Crete, Excerpt from the Sermon on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
“‘And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ [John 14.23]. My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God’s coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend’s eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.”
+ St. Gregory Dialogos, on Pentecost in Be Friends of God
