3rd Week after Holy Cross

Revelation 14:1-8,13
Then I looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. They were singing (what seemed to be) a new hymn before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human race for God and the Lamb. On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished. Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, with everlasting good news to announce to those who dwell on earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.” A second angel followed, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that made all the nations drink the wine of her licentious passion.” I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” said the Spirit, “let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them.”

John 5:24-30
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III
FIRST PRAYER
Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
Lord,
you are the Entrance for those who seek you
and the safe harbor of your stewards,
you give joy to those who call upon you
and rest to the weary.
Grant us to find mercy in your presence
on the great Day of your coming.
May we be separated from the goats on your left
and be joined with the sheep on your right,
and give you glory and praise,
now and forever.
Amen.

Saint of the Day: St. Abraham of Cyrrhus, died 422 A.D., Apostle to Lebanon

Meditation:
From Bet Maroun to Mount Lebanon

The Christian movement begun by St. Maron in the 4th century, became greater than just a monastic community, truly Bet Maroun came to embrace laity, clergy, and monastics, in a way of living out the Christian faith in a Syriac speaking culture. Due to its defense of the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon, which lead to the massacre of 350 monks, and the subsequent continued persecutions at the hands of Monophysite Christians, the spiritual descendants of St. Maron formed a Patriarchate of Antioch with Papal and Imperial approval under St. John Maron. Moving to Mount Lebanon they found the terrain of Lebanon afforded them protection and a strong defensive position against the Monophysites, and the Arab Muslims who would eventually conquer the region, but not conquer the Christian faith of the people. However, was this the beginning of the “Maronite” presence in Lebanon? No, for that answer we must look back to the time of St. Maron himself.
Abraham of Cyrrhus (died, 422)
During the life of St. Maron and directly after his death, some of his monks went into the area of Lebanon to preach the Gospel. While there does not exist much information from that period to give us an exact picture, we do know that one of these monks, and possibly the one who had the greatest impact upon the people there was Abraham of Cyrrhus, the first disciple of St. Maron, sometimes called the Apostle of Lebanon.
There is no certain date for his birth, which was in modern day Harran, in Syria, he died in 422, while consulting the Byzantine Emperor, Theodosius I, in Constantinople. Theresa Urbainczyk in her book, Theodore of Cyrrhus: The Bishop and the Holy Man, writes this of St. Abraham based on the reflections of Theodoret:

He was also born and brought up in Cyrrhus, although he goes to
Lebanon and saves some of its inhabitants from impiety by lending some
villagers money for their taxes. The money was not his personally; he was
helped by some of his friends. He is therefore not without influence, although
Theodoret does not explain how he won it. Abraham is later made bishop
of Carrie and continues to live ascetically while carrying out his duties such
as judging lawsuits. Theodoret comments that even the emperor wanted to
see him and sent for him. “A choir” of empresses clasped his hands and
knees and made supplication to a man who did not even understand Greek.

St. Abraham of Cyrrhus, disciple of St. Maron, pre-figures what will eventually become the presence of Bet Maroun on Mount Lebanon and the surrounding Lebanese region. He is an example of how monasticism has continually influenced and shaped Eastern Christianity; in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Ancient Oriental Orthodox (non-Chalcedonian) Churches. Unlike in the Christian West, where the monastic cloister eventually creates literal, and spiritual walls, between monks and laity; in the Christian East the spirituality, theology, and prayers of monastics becomes like a river, that continuously flows into the life of all the faithful.
– Rev. David A. Fisher