Holy Martyrs Onisiphorus and Porphyry (456-474). Our Venerable Mother Matrona (456-74). Venerable Theoctista of Lesbos.
Galatians 1:3-10. Luke 9:37-43.
Read Galatians 1:3-10
I know an old and wizened priest who serves the Divine Liturgy beautifully, albeit bit longer than many of his brother priests. He insists on taking his time and reading all “priest prayers” out loud instead of rushing though them when he is serving alone. Once a parishioner approached him to ask him why he took so long to serve the liturgy when the people clearly wanted a quicker service. The priest answered: “O yes, I fear the people, but I fear God more.”
St. Paul asks in the letter to the Galatians today if they think he is trying to please men or to please God. There are no shortages of preferred “gospels” that can be delivered but only one authentic Gospel, as in “good news” of Jesus Christ who is at one time both live-saving and difficult to live out. As the famous Christian apologist GK Chesterton reminds us: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried” (What’s Wrong with the World).
When we find the teachings and moral standards of our faith difficult or inconvenient brothers and sisters, let us hold to the fact that only Christ can truly give life and save us, while turning to other gospels leads ultimately to death and separation from Him.