3rd Sunday of Matthew


“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness…”

These verses taken from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew quote the words of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. We must seriously consider this passage and ask what “eye” is the Lord referring to? If we take this passage literally we will respond and say that we actually have two eyes and that they work together so that we may see the visible things before us. Some of us may wear glasses or contacts because our visual sight is being dimmed by age, or perhaps by illness, or simply because of we have inherited poor eyesight from our parents.
But is this what the Lord wants us to learn from this passage? No, my dear friends it is not! The Lord is telling us that along with our physical eyes, we seen things in two different ways: one eye sees the physical and temporal things, that which can be called earthly; and one eye sees the soul, the spiritual and holy things, that can be called heavenly. If our spiritual eyes see only darkness, then we are in darkness; when our eyes see things in the light, then we are in the light. Now how do we allow our eyes to see things in the light? It comes from our understanding in how we see God and ourselves.
First, we must understand that God is the Creator and that we have been made in His image according to His likeness so that we might know Him, so that we might see Him and have an intimate relationship with Him and experience eternal blessedness. This is the purpose of our lives on earth.
When we see with our physical and worldly eye it means that that which is before us is temporal. Everything in the world can be taken away; we can be wealthy one moment and poor the next; healthy one moment and sick the next; happy one moment and sad the next; we might have friends at one time, and these same friends, in another time, turn against us. In the world all things change.
When we see things with our spiritual eye we see the true nature of things; the beautiful essence of things; the eternal joy that exists in the things that cannot rust or die or be taken away. With the spiritual eye we are able to see the true nature of our lives, the true and godly meaning in the things we do. With our spiritual eye we realize that our real purpose in life is to know God! St. Silouan the Athonite tells us that: “It is one thing to believe that God exists, while another to know God.”
When we “know God” then we can understand, even in part, the Lord’s Will. Now, if we know, even in part, the Lord’s Will, then everything we are, everything we do in our daily lives, must contribute to this understanding of knowing God. Now how can we know someone unless we become like him or share in his life?
If we take a look at today’s Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans then we learn that we share in Jesus’ life in a mystical manner. St. Paul wrote: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” What is this “access by faith” of which St. Paul tells us? Most people will tell us that “faith” is when we believe in something or being absolutely sure of something…this is not faith! Faith, is being conformed, transfigured, changed into the image according to the likeness of God. Faith is to live as Jesus Christ taught us to live. He taught us all that is necessary for eternal life and what is more, more than a teaching, He made us able to do what He taught us! His example makes it a reality for us to become righteous and have “access by faith” in His Name!
Christian Orthodox people of God recognize the need to be conformed by having the attitude which reflects this desire by our Lord that we come to a greater knowledge of Him as our Lord and Savior. We would call this attitude in which we have “access by faith” the Christian Orthodox Phronema. The means by living and realizing that we share our lives with Christ our God can be listed in five points:
1. to live in accordance with Holy Scripture;
2. to follow the example of the New Testament Church in what we call Holy Tradition;
3. to study and learn the theological element;
4. to develop and express the contemplative element through prayer; and
5. to participate in the liturgical life.
These five points reflect the frame of mind in our lives within and without the Church.
The Orthodox Christian Phronema has always been a part of our Church. It was the way the early Christians expressed their theology, long before doctrines, creeds, and canons were agreed upon by official ecclesiastical synods. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ were first lived as the way of life and then written into sentences and chapters that form the book we know as the New Testament.
When our Orthodox ancestors came to this country they did not come with Bibles or books on theology. What they brought was something intangible, they brought with them the Christian Orthodox Phronema, the “parakatathiki”, the heritage and legacy of Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition, sacred doctrine, and history which they received as a deposit from one generation to another.
This Phronema is the true, deep and real life in Christ, the continual growth in His love and holiness that conforms us into the spiritual and holy children of God. It is the life characterized by an unrestrained longing and love for Christ, by a ceaseless struggle for union with Him. We are conformed and change our mindset when we can accept that there are not two ways of seeing things, but only one way, the way of the Light, the way of Christ! This is why the Lord said: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7)
Everything we do in our lives must be viewed with the spiritual eye. We are not spiritually motivated only when we are in church and secularly driven when outside of these walls! Out total being, everything we do and everything we are is seen by the spiritual eye as being faithful to God or being unfaithful to Him; conformed to Him or surrendered to the world; obedient to His Church that is preserved by the grace of the Holy Spirit or disobedient to Her teachings thus separating us from the “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic” Faith! St. Paul gave his whole being to Christ, he surrender himself to be conformed and united in Jesus and this is why he could say: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
It is our faith that requires a decision, a resolution, a response of our total being to Christ’s love by which we are transformed and pass from the temporal to the eternal, the worldly to the heavenly, from death to life! The true and faithful Christian Orthodox way of life is seen with the spiritual eye that recognizes the need to enter into the Light of Christ.
Dearly beloved in the Lord: enter into His Light, see with your spiritual eye and develop the Christian Orthodox Phronema, the attitude and lifestyle that will conform you so that together we may “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” AMEN!


Finding of the Relics of Cyrus and John the Unmercenaries
June 28

These Saints lived during the years of Diocletian. Saint Cyrus was from Alexandria, and Saint John was from Edessa of Mesopotamia. Because of the persecution of that time, Cyrus fled to the Gulf of Arabia, where there was a small community of monks. John, who was a soldier, heard of Cyrus' fame and came to join him. Henceforth, they passed their life working every virtue, and healing every illness and disease freely by the grace of Christ; hence their title of "Unmercenaries." They heard that a certain woman, named Athanasia, had been apprehended together with her three daughters, Theodora, Theoctiste, and Eudoxia, and taken to the tribunal for their confession of the Faith. Fearing lest the tender young maidens be terrified by the torments and renounce Christ, they went to strengthen them in their contest in martyrdom; therefore they too were seized. After Cyrus and John and those sacred women had been greatly tormented, all were beheaded in the year 292. Their tomb became a renowned shrine in Egypt, and a place of universal pilgrimage. It was found in the area of the modern day resort near Alexandria named Abu Kyr.

Reading Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

Icon Courtesy of St. Isaac Skete



Righteous Fathers Sergius and Herman, Founders of Valaam Monastery
June 28

By their life and teachings, our righteous Fathers Sergius and Herman did much to spread and confirm Orthodoxy among the Karelian Finns, who had suffered much oppression at the hands of Swedes of the Latin creed. They founded on Lake Ladoga the renowned Monastery of Valaam, which later became one of the chief centers of the monastic life. Both Saints reposed about 1353.

Reading Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery




Synaxis of the Icon of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos
June 28

The great defender of the Orthodox Faith against the Iconoclasts, our righteous Father John of Damascus (See Dec. 4), was slandered to the Caliph of Damascus by the Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian (reigned 717-741). Saint John was accused of sedition and his right hand was cut off. Having asked for the severed hand, Saint John passed the night in great pain, praying for the aid of the most holy Theotokos. Awaking from sleep, he found that his hand had been miraculously restored, with only a red scar about the wrist where it had been severed, as a testimony to the wonderous healing. In thanksgiving, he had a silver hand attached to the icon to commemorate this great miracle. On becoming a monk in the lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified in the Holy Land, John brought the icon with him. There it remained until the thirteenth century, when it was given to Saint Sabbas of Serbia (see Jan. 14), who brought it to Serbia, where it remained for a time. Later, it was miraculously transported by an unguided donkey that carried it to the Serbian Monastery of Hilandar on the Holy Mountain, Athos, where it remains to this day.

Reading Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery