Our Venerable Fathers Martyred by the Saracens at the Monastery of St. Sabbas.
Day 33 of the Great Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 45:11-17; Presanctified – Genesis 22:1-18; Proverbs 17:17-18:5.
Read Genesis 22:1-18
Here we see Abraham perform an act of extreme obedience to the point where he was going to sacrifice his only son to prove his faithfulness to God. In preventing Abraham from killing his son, Isaac, we are also to understand that God will not harm anyone who is perfectly obedient to Him. When we look at the relationship of God the Father and God the Son we also see perfect obedience performed by the Son to the Father, to the point of offering His life on the Cross. However, even here death is not able to harm the Son. In offering Himself in perfect obedience to the Father, Jesus reveals that the final result is life. Thus, we can surmise that any harm we may endure in this life in obedience to the will of God, will be turned into some sort of great good by that same God.