Scripture for Orthodox Christians Orthodox Christians use the Bible in their services more than anyone, with more theological precision and understanding than anyone, and unfortunately many have a poor reading understanding of the Bible. These scriptures were presented for memorization at St Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKinney Texas, for the purpose of awakening in my flock a love of, understanding of, and memory of the scriptures. In English, Russian and Spanish.
Many of us have memorized the first of our series, 1 Peter 2:20. I have selected two more scriptures, which we will commence to working on soon. All Scripture will be published in English, Russian and Spanish, in a convenient "card" format. just print out the "card" on regular paper, and cut it in quarters, and you will have a card for your prayer book, dashboard, etc.
I think this is really important. I want my flock to know and love the scriptures. All the basic stories (and there are hundreds of them) should be familiar to us, and we should have scripture "written on our hearts".
Please join me in memorizing scripture weekly. For now, get 1 Peter 2:20 down pat.
I am requiring all my clergy to try to memorize these scriptures.
I plan to ask any brave souls who want to ( I will not call people out) to recite the current scripture being memorized at Trapeza. Of course, I will require this of myself.
All scripture to be memorized is archived at: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture-memory
Here is what we have so far.
- 1 Peter 2:20
- Romans 8:26
- Matthew 11:27-30
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All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
In formats: WORD ; PDF
This is the entire Gospel reading for the 4th Thursday after Pentecost.
The last one was a little hard to read especially the easy yoke and the light burden part. There is nothing easy or light about the burdens and weights I feel. Grief is the most difficult emotion I experience. I'm rarely fearful, though I have lots of anxiety. I can experience anger, when I allow myself to experience it, but I keep it under lock and key most of the time. I'm constantly overwhelmed and consumed and it is so difficult setting those things aside, grief, worry, being alone, uncertain future, turning them over to God and leaving them there is the most difficult thing I have ever tried to do.
In Christ,
David A.
I agree with you David: The yoke is not easy for us, but Jesus says it is. I have always understood this to indicate that I make it hard. God help us, we are so weak, and distractible. our Lord knows all our weakness, since, as the scripture says, he "became sin" (took on all of our human nature, which is prone to fear, anxiety, etc) for us. Hebrews also has a quote which indicates this.
Scripture really helps us with the problems you courageously describe. There is something very comforting about remembering scripture. I am glad you are trying to do this. You will see the fruits of this endeavor soon enough.
As for the lock and key, I am glad you opened the door a little bit in your comment. We are all about the same. I have learned this in my priesthood. We also need to be able to lean on each other. It seems I can support others better than myself, and I think I am not alone in this peculiarity.
My prayers are with you, and personally, they are not much, but before the altar they are great because God chooses to make them great. Keep plugging away – prayer, fasting as you are able, reading and memorizing of scripture. All this does help, and as a pastor I am obligated to teach people about things that help.