16th Sunday after Pentecost
Today’s commemorated saints:
Ven. Chariton the Confessor, Abbot of Palestine (ca. 350).
Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves (Near Caves)
Ven. Kharitón of Syanzhémsk (Vologdá—1509)
Ven. Herodion, Abbot, of Iloezérsk (1541)
Prophet Baruch (6th c. B.C.)
Martyrs Alexander, Alphius, Zosimas, Mark, Nicon, Neon, Heliodorus, and 24 others in Pisidia and Phrygia (4th c.)
Martyrdom of St. Wenceslaus (Viachesláv), Prince of the Czechs (935)
Schema-monk Cyril and Schema-nun Maria, the parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh (parents of Ven. Sergius of Rádonezh)
Readings for Sunday, September 28th:
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6
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
8
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed –
10
always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12
So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13
And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,
14
knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.
15
For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
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17
And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases,
18
as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.
19
And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
20
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
22
Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
23
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
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1
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
2
For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
3
We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.
4
But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,
5
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings;
6
by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,
7
by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8
by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;
9
as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed;
10
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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1
So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,
2
and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.
3
Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5
But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
6
And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
7
So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
9
For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken;
10
and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
11
So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
(The Holy Scriptures are part of the church’s Holy Tradition. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of blessed memory wrote “In the words of Father Alexander Schmemann, ‘A Christian is the one who, wherever he looks, finds everywhere Christ, and rejoices in Him.’ This is true in particular of the biblical Christian. Wherever he looks, on every page, he finds everywhere Christ.” See Metropolitan Ware’s article How to Read the Bible for more on the Orthodox approach to scripture.)