DAILY REFLECTION  •  AUGUST 4  •  Holy Seven Sleepers of Ephesus REFLECTION “Ask and it shall be given to you,” said the Lord (St. Matthew 7:7). As parents give to their children all that the children ask and all that is for their benefit, so does God, the Lover of Mankind, give to men all that men ask of God and what serves to their salvation. As a monk on Mt. Athos, Cosmas asked two things of God: to preach the Gospel to the people and to suffer as a martyr for......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  AUGUST 3 Venerable Isaac, Dalmatios, and Faustus, Ascetics of the Dalmatian Monastery REFLECTION Holy souls read Holy Scripture with great diligence concentrating on every word and placing themselves before the mirror of the Word of God as before the Dread Judgment. Their diligence was so great in this that some of the ascetics undertook distant journeys in order to come to a spiritual sage who would interpret for them a word or a saying from Holy Scripture. Whenever it was possible, this was accomplished through correspondence. It is from......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  AUGUST 1 Holy Seven Maccabean Martyrs with their mother, Solomonia and teacher Eleazar REFLECTION A weak man usually protects himself by hypocrisy and the strong man protects himself by tyranny. That no man can defend his life before God either by hypocrisy or by tyranny is clearly shown to us by the example of the holy elder Eleazar and King Antiochus. When the tyrannical king brought Eleazar to trial and compelled him to eat pork if he desired to save his life, Eleazar adamantly rejected that. Then some of......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 31  •  Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia REFLECTION Ascetics in the wilderness labor to sever their will and to live according to the will of God. Some erroneously think that the hermit lives completely in isolation. Not one hermit thinks thusly. He lives in the company of God, angels of God and the departed saints who have found repose in the Lord. Wherever the mind of man is, there also is the life of the man. The mind of the hermit is among the greatest, the most pure and......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 30  •  Apostles Silas and Silvanus of the Seventy and their companions REFLECTION One needs to distinguish a sinner from a penitent. If you have taken upon yourself the role to rebuke the sinner, guard yourself well, that you do not rebuke the penitent also. How dear the repentant sinner is to God, call to mind the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Therefore, let it be very dear for you, he who has become dear to God. At one time it happened that a monk succumbed to sin......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 29  •  Holy Martyr Callinicus of Gangra in Asia Minor REFLECTION By true repentance with tears, prayer and good works the most defiled soul can be completely cleansed and changed. Therefore be careful that you do not maliciously mention the sins of a repentant sinner but offer thanksgiving to God and be astonished how from darkness, light is made and from slime, pure water. The Egyptian Pharaoh Amases was of lowly birth and when he became king, men respected him very little, remembering his origin. In order to......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 28 Holy Apostles of the Seventy and Deacons: Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas REFLECTION Concerning kindness, St. Nilus of Mt. Sinai writes: “My son, always strive to be simple and kind. Do not have one thing in your heart and another thing on your tongue for this is a ruse and a lie. Be truthful and not false for falsehood is of the evil one. Do not return evil for evil but if someone does you evil, forgive him so that God may also forgive you. If you......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 27  •  Holy Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon REFLECTION If you give alms to the poor, know that as much as you do good works for your fellow man so much you do for yourself and even more for yourself. St. Anthony says: “Both life and death comes to us from our fellow man.” St. Peter Damaskin writes: “As the poor should give thanks to God and love the rich who do them good, so even more should the rich should give thanks to God and to love the......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 25  •  Dormition of the Righteous Anna, mother of the Most-holy Theotokos REFLECTION “As virginity is better than marriage, so the first marriage is better than the second.” Thus, St. John Chrysostom wrote to the young widow of Tarasius, a deceased nobleman of Constantinople, counseling her not to enter into marriage for the second time. The Church blesses first marriages with joy but the second marriage with sorrow. Eupraxia the elder, the mother of St. Eupraxia and relative of Emperor Theodosius the Great, remained a young widow following......

Read More

DAILY REFLECTION  •  JULY 24  •  Holy Martyr Christina of Tyre REFLECTION The Faith of Christ mostly sanctifies and illumines the souls of men when the preachers of the Faith shine in their own lives. Blessed Polycarp, the abbot of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev, was so completely illumined with the Faith of Christ, both in words and in deeds and in his entire being. Because of this, he had an unusual influence not only on ordinary people but also on princes and noblemen. Listening and seeing this godly man......

Read More