St. Athanasius Anglican Church

08/25/2026

Beneficent [ben-IF-iss-ent]
(adj.)
- Doing or producing good; performing acts of kindness and charity; characterized by beneficence.

08/23/2026

Today’s lesson for the 12th Sunday in Trinitytide.

THE COLLECT.
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and art wont to give more than we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

THE EPISTLE. 2 Cor. 3. 4
SUCH trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. Who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

THE GOSPEL. S. Mark 7. 31
JESUS, departing from the region of Tyre, came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech: and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

08/19/2026

https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/christ-s-prophecy-stands-the-covenant-unbroken
THE ATTEMPTED REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE in 363 MET WITH IMMEDIATE JUDGMENT.
"Then, nearly three centuries later, came Julian the Apostate. Having renounced the faith in which he was raised, he set himself against the Church. As part of his campaign he determined to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Gregory of Nazianzus, writing within months of the events, makes the motive plain: Julian, “daily growing more infuriated against us,” stirred up the Jews and encouraged them to restore the Temple and their ancestral sacrifices, thereby seeking to overturn the Lord’s prophecy under a mask of kindness."

07/26/2026

Due to a power outage St. A’s will be closed today. Thank you and see you soon you next Sunday.

06/23/2026

The Harmony of Trinitytide: Logic of Grace, Mercy, and Duty as Means to Resist the Seven Deadly Sins:
https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/the-harmony-of-trinitytide-logic-of-grace-mercy-and-duty-as-means-to-resist-the-seven-deadly-sins

"...Scott shows the positive gifts God bestows and the fitting human response.

Juxtaposed with this is the ancient framework of the seven principal faults (the “deadly sins” or capital vices), which rationale maps specifically onto Trinity 3–9 as a purgative arc. These two approaches are not by chance or opposed; they are deliberate and complementary. Scott’s positive teaching provides the grace-filled “water of virtues” that extinguishes the fire of the vices, while the framework of the seven deadly sins supplies the diagnostic examen needed for real sanctification.
..the Catechism supplies the doctrinal and moral skeleton; Scott clothes it with devotional harmony and positive vision; the seven vices give the diagnostic precision needed for honest self-examination."

06/23/2026

St. Augustine's Message on Trinity 2 Is Relevant Today.
https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/st-augustine-s-message-on-trinity-2-is-relevant-today
In the traditional one-year lectionary, the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 2) continues the post-Pentecost emphasis on Christian love in action. The Epistle from 1 John 3:13–24 and the Gospel from Luke 14:16–24 (the Parable of the Great Supper) call us to embody the love we have received from God. St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his homilies and sermons, offers a rich, pastoral exposition of these readings that remains deeply relevant today.

06/10/2026

https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/trinity-i-living-in-the-love-that-makes-us-free
"“The measure of what we shall do to men cannot be our wishes about what they shall do to us. For our wishes express not only our right but also our wrong, and our foolishness more than our wisdom. This is the limit of the Golden Rule. This is the limit of calculating justice.” Only love can transform it..."

Contras

06/03/2026

Love Is the True Test: Wisdom from those who came before us on the First Sunday after Trinity
https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/love-is-the-true-test
"In the rhythm of the ancient Church year, the season after Trinity Sunday marks an important shift. The great celebrations of Christ’s incarnation, resurrection, ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit give way to a quieter but deeply practical focus: how we live out our faith every day."

05/30/2026

Celebrating the Mystery of the Trinity:
What Saint Athanasius Can Teach Us Today!

https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/celebrating-the-mystery-of-the-trinity
"...Only God can bridge the gap between God and humanity. In the Incarnation, the eternal Word became flesh so that we might be restored to fellowship with God. A famous line from Athanasius sums this up beautifully: “He [Christ] was made man that we might be made God” — meaning, we might share in God’s life and immortality by grace..."

05/24/2026

How the Fathers Saw Speaking in Tongues.
Real Foreign Languages (Xenolalia): The Apostles spoke actual languages (Persian, Latin, Arabic, etc.) they had never learned. This enabled the rapid spread of the Gospel across cultures.
Not Babble: The Fathers explicitly rejected the idea of chaotic or meaningless sounds. The miracle was orderly, purposeful, and missional.
“And as in the time of building the tower the one tongue was divided into many; so then the many tongues frequently met in one man, and the same person used to discourse both in the Persian, and the Roman, and the Indian, and many other tongues, the Spirit sounding within him.” - St. John Chrysostom

READ MORE HERE:

https://the39barnacles.beehiiv.com/p/the-patristic-understanding-of-speaking-in-tongues-at-pentecost