Our Venerable Father Anthony of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev (1073); Forty-Five Martyrs of Nicopolis in Armenia (321-3); Holy Brothers Francis, Mutius and Raphael and Those with Them, Martyred in Damascus (1860)
Polyeleos Feast
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Galatians 5:22-6:2; Luke 6:17-23
Today we commemorate our venerable Father Anthony of the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv. He is considered the father of monasticism of the Kievan Church and Ukrainian people. As a young man, he desired to commit his life to Christ through monastic life. He travelled to Greece and received monastic tonsure on Mount Athos. There he excelled in the life of virtue, particularly in humility and obedience. These two virtues are not only foundational in monastic life but are necessary for Christian spiritual life in general. They go together because a prideful person has a very difficult time with obedience. Without obedience, there is no salvation because obedience is an act of submission of my will to the will of the Lord, which leads to righteousness and eternal life. It is for this reason that we should strive with great joy at every opportunity to practice humbling our ego and willfully bending our will—practising obedience—whenever we can.
The most difficult battle we will engage in is with our ego; therefore we need to do so at every healthy opportunity. In a monastery, monks focus on the virtue of obedience by submitting to their abbot, who is charged with managing the monastery and aiding each monk in the spiritual life. Most Christians do not live in a monastery, but we still need to practice the virtues of humility and obedience in different ways. All Christians, especially those who are married, are instructed by St. Paul to, “[submit] to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21). St. Paul teaches that when I bend my will for the sake of another person I should do this not only as an act of love to a neighbour but also out of reverence for Jesus Christ Himself. We ought to do so without grumbling and with joy as if we are serving our Lord Himself. With this same kind of joy, we ought to submit to the Church when we are asked to fast and attend the celebration of feast day Divine Liturgies. Jesus “humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore His name is exalted above every name” (Phil 2:8-9). If we want to be exalted then we must like Jesus humble ourselves and grow in obedience.
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