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The pagan Roman emperor Maximian, having arrested a group of Christians in the territory of Nicomedia, began interrogating them by torture, seeking to force them to renounce their faith in the One True God.  Having beaten them severely and tortured them, the Emperor sent them off to prison.  One of the noblemen who witnessed the suffering of the Christians came to them and asked what reward they expected to receive from their God for undergoing such suffering.  The Christians answered that the great and ineffable joys which awaited them in heaven are beyond words and cannot be described because they are so great.  Even the great prophets and apostles who pleased God and who spoke the words of the Holy Spirit could not give words to the marvelous blessings and joys of the heavenly bliss that awaited them saying, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”  This nobleman, Adrian was overcome by the greatness of the blessings of God and went immediately to the scribes who were writing the names of the convicted Christians in the record and proclaimed that he too was a Christian and should be included in the lists.  When the emperor heard of Adrian’s confession of faith, he caused Adrian to be arrested, bound in chains and cast into prison with the others to await their torture and death.

Adrian was married to a woman Natalia who was herself a secret Christian and who longed and prayed for her husband’s enlightenment.  When she heard of his arrest because he had embraced the Christian faith, she rejoiced and immediately went to him in the prison where she encouraged him not to fail in the contest, but to endure to the end, holding fast to his confession of Christ, saying to him, “Do not be swayed by the deceptive discourse of thy kinsfolk and friends, lest they dissuade thee from the faith by their counsels and pay no heed to their delusive words; direct thine eyes only at those holy martyrs who are with thee; heed their words and emulate their patience without wavering. Fear not the ire of the tyrant and his divers torments, for they shall all quickly come to an end, but there shall be an everlasting reward from Christ in Heaven for His servants who suffer for Him.” She also went to the other martyrs and begged them to “watch over this lamb of Christ”, to pray for her husband and to support him in his suffering that he might not fall away from Christ due to human frailty or the fear of torment .

For a moment, let us pause and look at the conversion of the Martyr Adrian to the Christian faith.  He saw the suffering of these martyrs and asked them what they hoped to receive from their God.  He knew well that there was no hope that they would receive any earthly benefits and therefore his question would make no sense in this realm; he must have been considering heavenly rewards.  This is the most powerful draw of the Christian faith, the fact that we are not mortal creatures doomed to die and cease to exist, but that we are immortal and will continue to live after the end of this life.  In order to truly live the Christian life, we must cultivate and nurture that awareness of eternity within ourselves and to focus on the bliss of the life to come.  We know that this life is not the entirety of our existence – in fact it is not even the major component of our eternal existence.  This life is only the preparation for the life beyond the grave.  This awareness then enables us to disengage from the joys and sorrows of this world, to disregard earthly possessions and accomplishments, to turn away from those things which will perish and to look instead to the eternity that we will spend in the presence of God.  This is the state of mind that the Martyr Adrian brought to his conversation with the martyrs.  They responded in the same vein, not even acknowledging their worldly condition, but rather they had their eyes fully engaged on eternity and on their hope to live there in the presence of Christ. 

It is also good to note that the martyrs could not promise anything to Adrian that he could hold on to. There was no promise of wealth or honor, no promise of revenge or recompense. There was no description even of the physical beauties and pleasures of paradise – like that which we find in many of the other religions of the world from Valhalla of the Norse myths to the paradise of the Moslems.  Rather they simply said that the joys and pleasures that they expected to receive were beyond description – “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, …”  There were no physical images that could form even a limited description of heaven in the mind of a man.  Simply to abide in the presence of the One that you love – this is what is given to us as a reward.  And we cannot even begin to comprehend the depths of what that might be.

Now let us turn to the Righteous Natalia, the wife of Adrian.  Although she was a Christian, she kept her belief a secret due to the fear of torments – including the torment of being parted eternally from her beloved husband. But now that Adrian had confessed Christ, she knew that although they might be separated briefly in this world, they would be joined forever in eternity and so she rejoiced and supported her husband in his imprisonment.  Again, we see that Natalia also had the eyes of her soul focused on eternity rather than on this world.  Her greatest fear – to lose her beloved husband – was no longer a fear, for the certainty of his salvation and of her eventual and eternal reunion with him in the next life negated that fear.  What great faith she had – that she would never be separated from the two greatest loves of her life: our Lord Jesus Christ and her husband Adrian – and this faith then carried her on throughout her life.

The original group of martyrs had suffered so greatly that while they waited in prison, their wounds began to fester and gangrene set in.  Many of them could no longer walk.  Adrian was the only uninjured one among them and so began to care for them as he could. Natalia also gathered Christian women around her and they came to the prison and there they washed and bound up the wounds of the prisoners and fed them.  When finally the emperor decided to carry out the punishment of the prisoners, he first brought Adrian before him alone.  When Adrian would not renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, the emperor had him beaten mercilessly, chained and thrown back into prison.  The blessed Natalia witnessed all this and rejoiced in her husbands steadfast confession, seeing in his sufferings not sorrow and loss but heavenly joy and the attainment of great riches of the grace of God. 

When the emperor discovered that the women were coming to care for the wounds of the martyrs, he forbade them to visit the martyrs.  But Natalia and the others cut their hair and donned men’s clothing in order to enter the prison and continue their care for the martyrs. When the emperor heard of this he became very angry and sent torturers to the prison with heavy iron hammers and commanded that the limbs of the prisoners be smashed.  The torturer hit the limbs of Adrian with such great force that they broke off and he finally gave up his soul and died.  The other martyrs died in the same fashion.  While the emperor attempted to destroy the bodies of martyrs by fire, they were miraculously preserved and were taken secretly away by the Christians and sent off to Byzantium.

The blessed Natalia stayed behind and preserved in her home one of the severed arms of her husband as a sacred relic.  After some time there was a prominent military commander who desired to wed the widowed Natalia to which the emperor consented, however, she did not wish for her marriage to the martyr Adrian to be defiled.  Weeping to God in prayer, she was visited by one of the holy martyrs instructing her to flee to Byzantium.  When her flight was discovered the commander attempted to chase the ship on which she sailed, but the pursuers were beset by foul weather while the saint’s ship was given favorable conditions and arrived safely.  Having been greeted by the Christians there, she related all that had occurred.  That night she was visited by her martyred husband Adrian who gently called her to come to him now.  She awoke, told the others of her dream and then lay down again to sleep and when the others came to wake her, they found that she had already surrendered her own soul and was now present with her beloved husband in paradise.

Again we see her focus on eternity in that she recognized that her marriage to her husband was eternal such that even death could not dissolve those bonds.  This is the strength of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony in the Church – it establishes an eternal bond which can be broken only by the most grievous and mortal sins. Not just marriage, but all things in this life have effects on our eternal life.  All that we do, all that we accomplish, all that we acquire in this life is nothing except in the way that it affects us in eternity.  Do we live in poverty and suffering?  If this is the case and we bear our cross with meekness and without complaint, our poverty will become wealth and our suffering will become joy.  Do we live in wealth and plenty?  If this is the case, and we use all that God has given us for the welfare and benefit of His glory, giving alms to the poor, supporting the Church, providing food for the hungry, clothes for the naked, shelter for the homeless without fanfare and calling attention to ourselves, then that will be the means by which we acquire the heavenly riches of God’s grace.  The same kind of relationship applies in all aspects of this life – our suffering, lack and need becomes the means by which we acquire heavenly riches; our respect, good reputation and fame are used only for the glory of God and not to lift ourselves up and so become means by which God bestows his grace on us.

In order to fully live a Christian life, it is necessary for us always to hold heaven before our spiritual eyes and to focus only on the goal of eternity with our Beloved Lord Jesus. To describe our focus on the life to come and the keeping of our sights on what God has promised, St Nicolai (Velimirovich) of Ochrid gives us this image: “You are the only event of my life, O lamp of my soul. When a child scurries to the arms of his mother, events do not exist for him. When a bride races to meet her bridegroom, she does not see the flowers in the meadow, nor does she hear the rumbling of the storm, nor does she smell the fragrance of the cypresses or sense the mood of the wild animals – she sees only the face of her bridegroom; she hears only the music from his lips; she smells only his soul. When love goes to meet love, no events befall it, Time and space make way for love.” “If I were a stone rolling down a mountain, I would not think about the stones against which I was banging, but about the abyss at the bottom of the steep slope. If I were a mountain stream, I would not be thinking about my uneven course, but about the lake that awaited me.”  Let us therefore set our mind and heart on the things above and pursue not those things of this life which will pass away but pursue only Christ who draws us into His eternal presence.

In the gospel reading this morning, a man brings his son to our Lord because the Lord’s disciples had been unable to heal him. He is seeking healing, but he is lacking in faith. It is clear that he was expecting the disciples to have faith enough to perform a miracle, and when he finds them lacking, he moves on to their master. In the gospel according to Saint Mark, our Lord says to this father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes,” to which the man responds with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Our Lord chastises the whole generation of people for their lack of belief, and also the disciples who sought to understand why they were not able to heal the man even though they had been given power over unclean spirits. He tells them that if they have faith as a mustard seed, they could move mountains; nothing would be impossible for them. He then tells them that this kind of demon does not come out except by prayer and fasting.

We are often guilty of thinking of faith, belief, prayer, and fasting as the means by which we obtain the things that we want. If I believe the right things, if I pray the right words, and if I follow the right rules I will be given what I need; or if I’m honest, the things that I most want.  The man asks for the healing of his son, and with the Lord helping his unbelief, his son is made whole again. But this is not the message of the gospel reading this morning. At the end of the gospel, our Lord says, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” Why would our Lord who can walk on water, heal every ailment, every disease, and raise the dead, be subject to crucifixion and death? Why would someone who could prevent such things embrace them?

To begin to understand this, let’s look at the feast that we celebrated this past week. Before her departure from this life into life eternal, the Mother of God spent her time in prayer and fasting and visiting the places where our Lord had spent his time. She was not being simply nostalgic for the past. She was not praying or fasting in order to obtain something that she desires. She was already closer to God than any human being before or since. She carried God in her womb, she nursed Him, she cared for Him as He grew up; she followed Him in His ministry, she stood at the foot of the cross, and met Him at the empty tomb; she gazed into the heavens as He ascended in glory. She did not need help with her unbelief, nor to pray and fast toward a specific goal. Rather, she did these things to draw ever nearer to God.

When a young child feels scared, hurt, or in need of help, they run to their parent because they have faith that the parent can help them. But they also draw near to their parents to experience love, affection, and comfort; or to satisfy a desire for wisdom and understanding. But children need to know that their parents are with them in the dark places, not just in the good moments.

So our Lord enters into the darkest places. He is our helper and protector against all the assaults of the evil one, against all the difficulties of living in this world, because He is there with us in the face of all these things. But we must strive to be with Him in season and out of season.

We tend to think of prayer as something we do at set times, or for specific reasons. Prayer is our lifeline, our very breath. It is something that we are called to do ceaselessly, just like we breathe ceaselessly. The more that we turn to prayer for everything, the more we find that our Lord is there for us through everything.

We tend to fast when and how the calendar says to fast. And when it is not a fasting day, we don’t even guard against gluttony. We live for ourselves unless we’re supposed to give a day over to God. But we are supposed to be learning to live for God always, to let Him be our sustenance so that whether we eat or we don’t eat, we are filled by the grace of God.

We tend to believe in the abstract. I believe that God is a great God, and that he can do great things, but most of the time, He doesn’t. I pray, but I don’t imagine it will do much to change anything, because God has His plans and He’s not likely to change them for me. So we believe in a great, but distant God. We need to spend time looking at all that God does for us, the many ways in which he touches our lives and directs them. These things are happening all the time, but we have to search them out. Every breath, every beat of your heart is a gift from God. All of your family and friends are gifts, the job you have, the house you live in, the car you drive, they are all part of God’s provision for you, so thank Him for them. When we thank Him for everything, we start to see that He is truly caring for us all the time, even without us asking for it. We start to see the life that He is making for us, and we learn from Him how we ought to pray.

We can’t live a Christian life in a self-centered way in which God is a minor player. We must live for Him, and in Him, and through Him. We must take every opportunity to draw closer to Him, even if we are already close to Him. When we draw closer to Him, and are comforted by His presence, we know that evil cannot come near to us, that harm will not come to us, and that we will be provided for. 

In the epistle this morning, Saint Paul says, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” Our Lord went to His voluntary Passion, that He might be there with His apostles in theirs.  They could be fools for Christ's sake, they could be weak, dishonored; they could hunger and thirst, be poorly clothed, beaten, and homeless; they could labor, bless when reviled; and endure persecution, all because Christ was with them, and they were with Christ. The Mother of God and the Saints didn’t wait until they were in difficult circumstances to call out to God, to ask for help for their unbelief, to pray or to fast. They did these things always so that they might feel the love and mercy of God always and be under His mighty protection when difficulties arose.

So have a faith that moves mountains even when there are no mountains in your way. Pray and fast even when there are no demons to be driven out. Grow in your love for the Creator of all, and you will find His help when it is needed.

1 Cor. 3:9-17

Today we remember St Alexander Bishop of Comana. When the bishop of Comana died, a local council was held to elect a new bishop. St Gregory of Neocaesarea (the nearby metropolis), the wonderworker was invited to preside over the council.  St Gregory was known as a man of great prayer and piety and so his presence would insure a result in accordance with the will of God.  Although there were many candidates brought forward, none of them were acceptable to all and so the council was deadlocked.  St Gregory advised the members to consider the inward qualities and not focus so much on outward appearance.  Some members, in jest, said that if outward appearance is not important then perhaps they should choose Alexander the charcoal burner.  The response was a general amusement, but St Gregory as an outsider did not know this Alexander and reflecting on the ways of divine providence called Alexander for an interview.  When Alexander appeared, in accordance with his occupation, he was dressed in rags and covered with soot and char.  Not influenced by outward appearance, but seeking to find what was in the heart, St Gregory began to question Alexander.  He discovered that Alexander had been an eminent philosopher, but when he read the Gospel and recognized the truth therein, he set aside his position, clothed himself in rags and took up the lowest, dirtiest and meanest trade he could find – that of a charcoal maker.  In this way he was able to labor in obscure humility for Christ, working out his salvation as a fool for Christ.  St Gregory upon hearing this commanded that Alexander be bathed and clothed in new garments and brought before the council.  All were amazed not only at Alexander’s new appearance, but more importantly with his humility, deep wisdom and grace-filled speech. He was acclaimed by all as the new bishop of Comana.  St Alexander ruled the flock of Christ with great love, wisdom and goodness for many years and ended his life in old age as a martyr.

The choice of St Alexander as a bishop was the direct result of St Gregory’s choice not to see him with the eyes of the world but to see him with the eyes of the spirit.  St Gregory looked past the worldly appearance of St Alexander and perceived his heart and the spiritual quality that was hidden there.  This ability to see not the worldly appearance but rather to perceive the spiritual nature is important for all of us to nurture within ourselves. 

The Holy Apostle Paul wrote that we are all co-laborers with God in the building of our lives, that is, in the working out of our salvation.  God has laid the foundation for us which is Jeus Christ and the truth that He revealed to us in His incarnation.  It is our task to build on that foundation with the materials of our lives – gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble.  In other words, it is necessary for us to be aware of the spiritual nature of the materials with which we build our lives. We must choose those things which will last, those things which are good and beautiful, those things which have true spiritual value.  The apostle warns us that having completed the building of our lives, that building will then be tried by fire and that which is burnt is lost and only those things which survive the fire will be of any value to us in the next life.  The fire, of course, is our worldly death, the separation of the soul and body and our entrance into the spiritual world.  We must have the spiritual sight and discernment to choose those things in our lives which have spiritual value and not be fooled by outward appearance. 

Many things in this life appear to be desirable and appear to valuable, but they will perish with our lives and will be of no use to us in the spiritual life.  Wealth, fame, worldly reputation, beauty, education, skill, great accomplishments and so on are all desirable in the context of our life in this world, but they have almost no value beyond the grave (and what value they do have is not intrinsic to them, but is dependent on how such things are used during one’s lifetime.) They look good on the outside, but inside they are empty and worthless. 

On the other hand, there are those things which are of inestimable value in the spiritual life which are available to us in this life.  One of the most familiar descriptions of these valuable materials is our Lord’s description of the man who is blessed in the sermon on the mount (the beatitudes that we hear read and sung nearly every day in Church).  These valuable materials are: poverty of spirit, meekness, sorrow (for one’s sins), hunger and thirst for righteousness, purity of heart, peace, and suffering persecution.  From the perspective of worldly life, these things don’t seem to be important, let alone desirable.  But these are the “gold, silver and precious stones” of which the apostle speaks which survive the “trial by fire”, that is our death and which accompany us into the spiritual world.

In order to truly appreciate and rightly judge the various options that we have in our lives, we must learn to see with spiritual eyes, that is to see and evaluate things in the perspective of the spiritual life rather than the worldly life. What is it that will bring us lasting wealth in the Kingdom of Heaven and what is worthless trash that will be cast off and left along the way – this is how we need to make the choices of this life.  Too often, especially in our youth when we do not think much about our mortality, we make choices that look good from a worldly point of view, but which are worthless or even detrimental from a spiritual perspective.  St Alexander was a great philosopher (in our modern online society, think famous influencer, celebrity, politician or athlete) who saw the truth of the Gospel and recognized the worthlessness of his life and sacrificed everything in order to acquire humility which is the greatest of all virtues and which opens the doors of the soul to the treasure house of God’s grace.  He saw his own wealth, fame, education, reputation and influence as worthless and fled from that life in order to acquire the life that was eternal.  When his spiritual qualities were recognized by St Gregory and he was raised to the episcopacy, he did not cease his former life of humility, but lived as the servant of his flock in order to bring them to Christ.  St Gregory saw before him a peasant dressed in rags and covered with filth – but he did not reject him or push him away for he saw beneath the outward appearance into the heart and recognized there the great spiritual beauty and richness of soul, which was the result of the acquisition of God’s grace, that was concealed beneath the humble appearance.

In this life, we must be always aware that we are building in ourselves the temple of the Holy Spirit – the place of God’s indwelling.  In that building we are faced with the necessity of choosing the materials with which to build.  When we make that choice, we must ask ourselves not what is the worldly benefit of this choice, but what is its spiritual value.  Do we choose something that will bring temporary happiness, ease, and comfort – or do we choose that which will advance our spiritual life.  Do we choose that which will make our lives in this world pleasurable but which makes our spiritual life more difficult, or do we choose that which might be more difficult, but which will draw us closer to our Lord and attract his grace.  We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here for we are given a great help by our Lord to assist us in making the proper choice.  That help is the tradition and life of the Church.  If we hold up our secular life to the light of the life of the Church, then we will see the true value of our choices, whether or not they will bring us nearer to Christ or will create a barrier.  This evaluation is necessary both for those things which are big life-shaping decisions (what career shall I pursue, where will I live, who will I marry or should I pursue monastic life, what direction should my education take, etc.) but also the small everyday decisions (should I watch a movie, when and how much should I pray, what should I eat – especially regarding fasting days, should I give alms, should I help this person in need, etc.)  All of these decisions will impact our eternal condition and so if we are serious about the Kingdom of God, we also need to be serious about how we live our lives in this world which is merely a preparation for that eternal life.

Brothers and sisters, nurture within yourselves the vision of the spiritual life, seek to see things not with the eyes of the world, but with the eyes of the Kingdom of God. Set aside those things which are of no account and worthless and pursue those things which are of eternal value.  Choose to build on the foundation of Christ with gold, silver and precious stones which will withstand the trial by fire and set aside the wood, hay and stubble that will be consumed. Remember that you are the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and that the life you live is not your life, but the life of Christ.  In this way will you be able to stand before the presence of God and hear those greatly desired words from our Lord and Creator, “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”.

In this morning’s gospel reading, Our Lord feeds the five thousand. He looks upon a great multitude of people with compassion and rather than sending them away to find food, He commands His Disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Our Lord wants to ensure that the people will be fed and nourished; but He doesn’t send down manna from heaven or quail with a wind, as He once did with the Israelites; He doesn’t make water into wine, or stones into bread. He has His Disciples feed them.  

The Disciples, desiring to obey the seemingly impossible command of their Master and Lord, took inventory of what they had – five loaves of bread, and two fish – and realized that it would be insufficient for thousands and thousands of people. Nonetheless, they gave all that they had to the Lord, and told the people to sit for the meal.  The Lord accepted this simple and meager offering, looked up to Heaven in order to remind us to look to Heaven for our provision and our sustenance; broke the bread and gave it to His Disciples to distribute. Everyone ate and became full, and yet there were twelve baskets left over.

In this, we can see a model for how we ought to approach our Christian life. When we are presented with difficulties, suffering, or temptations, we must turn to our compassionate Lord, the Lover of Mankind, the healer of our souls and bodies, the Giver of good things, and listen to His voice. Very often, what He asks of us is beyond our abilities; it exceeds our strength, our courage, our talents, or our resources. And yet when our Lord commands anything, He stands ready to also give us what is needed to accomplish the task. But we must look toward what He has already given us, and offer up everything that we have, even knowing that it is not enough. Our Lord receives the gift of our whole self and perfects and completes it that it might benefit ourselves and through us a multitude of other people.

This manner of life is seen in the lives of Saints who in humility gave all that they had to the Lord who accepted it, transformed and multiplied their gift for all of us the faithful. This particular miracle took place right after our Lord received word that Saint John the Baptist had been beheaded. Our Lord then withdrew into a deserted place – into the wilderness. He did so, not because He was afraid, but because it was not yet time for Him to enter into His glory – His crucifixion. But this huge crowd followed Him into the wilderness -- five thousand men plus an untold number of women and children. They saw our Lord receive bad news, they saw Him depart, and yet they couldn’t imagine not following Him.

Saint John Chrysostom describes this group of people as being riveted to our Lord. It is a compelling analogy, but I prefer to think of it like a young child following its mother. No matter where she goes or what she does, that child sticks to her like glue. Any mother can tell you how hard it is to find five minutes alone even just to tend to essential things.

In the Lord’s command: “You give them something to eat.” we see also a glimpse into the life of a mother. A mother faced with a hungry child is compelled to satisfy that child regardless of her own comfort, regardless of her own nutritional needs, or the food that is available to her. This obligation is so strong, that we recoil in horror at the thought of a mother who will not feed her child. No matter what, it seems, a mother feeds her child.

We are now in the midst of the Dormition Fast, the fast for the Mother of God. One of the greatest mysteries that we can contemplate is the infant Christ and His Mother. He is her Creator, He fashioned her in her mother’s womb. He sustained her throughout her earthly life, and at her death, He drew her to Himself and carried her pure soul and then her incorrupt body into the Heavens.

But He was carried in her womb, it was there that He took His flesh from hers. She fed Him, nourished Him, sustained Him by her life-giving milk. She was the matter from which He was formed, His home and His shelter, His food and drink – in short, His mother.

Those things that she did for Him, those things that she endured for Him, those things that she gave to Him, she did not just for Him, but for the multitudes that follow Him – the Church. She is the Mother of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and we are members of His Body. She didn’t lead the multitudes into the wilderness, or multiply the loaves and fish, but her obedience and submission to the will of God, her steadfastness in the faith, her care and love for her son and her God were what God’s plan for our salvation required.

She shows us that when God asks anything of us and we take everything that we have and offer it to Him for the task, He takes it, blesses it and distributes it and a great multitude are nourished. She was asked to bear God incarnate. She took what she had, which frankly was a lot by human standards, but offered it to God as though it were very little. And He took her flesh and made it God’s flesh. And He who sustains all creation took her milk and was Himself sustained.

When our Lord was crucified, He gave His mother into the care of Saint John the Theologian – He gave His beloved disciple into the care of His own mother. The Theotokos is a mother to us all; she cares for us all; will comfort, nourish, and protect us all; but we must also treat her as a loving mother. So we follow her. We follow her through her life, through her conception, her nativity, her presentation into the temple, her encounter with the Archangel Gabriel, her birth-giving, her labors alongside her son, her pain and anguish at His death, her joy at His resurrection, her assistance to the church, and of course her Dormition – the translation of the mother of Life to life eternal.

As we cling to the Mother of our Lord, the Mother of the Church, our mother, let us heed the call to live as brethren dwelling in unity. In this morning’s epistle we heard “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Let us especially during this season call to remembrance our Most Holy, Most pure, Most blessed and glorious, Lady Theotokos and ever Virgin Mary with all the Saints, and let us commit ourselves and one another, and all our lives unto Christ our God, that through us, great multitudes might be filled with God’s grace and love for mankind.

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