May 3/16, 2004
Beloved Clergy and Parishioners in the Lord, Grace and Peace be with you.
SIXTH SUNDAY OF PASCHA,
THE SUNDAY OF THE BLIND MAN
The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 38]. In those days:
16 16It came to pass, as we went to prayer, that a certain young girl, possessing a spirit of Python, met us, who was producing much business for her masters by divining. 17She followed after Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are slaves of God, the Most High, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." 18And she kept doing this for many days. But Paul was worn out, and turned around to the spirit, and said, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out from her." And he came out the same hour. 19And after her masters saw that the hope of their business was gone, they laid hold of Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, "These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city, 21"and declare customs, which are not allowed for us to receive, nor to do, being Romans." 22And the crowd rose together against them; and the magistr! ates tore off their garments, and kept on commanding to beat them with rods. 23And after they laid on them many stripes, they cast them into prison, ordering the jailer to guard them securely, 24who, having received such an order, cast them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. 25And at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God; and the prisoners were listening to them. 26And suddenly there occurred a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and the bonds of all were loosed. 27The jailer, having been awakened out of sleep and seeing the doors of the prison opened, drew a sword, and was about to kill himself, believing the prisoners to have escaped. 28But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "By no means begin to do any evil to thyself; for we are all here." 29And after he asked for lights, he leaped in and became tremulous, falling down before Paul and Si! las. 30And having brought them forth outside, he said, "Sirs, what i s necessary for me to do in order that I might be saved?" 31And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." 32And they spoke to him the word of the Lord, and to all those in his house. 33And having taken them in that hour of the night, he washed their wounds. And he was baptized, he and all his, immediately. 34And having brought them into his house, he set a table before them, and rejoiced, having believed in God, with all his house.
The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 34]. At that time:
9 1As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this one or his parents, that he should be born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "Neither this one sinned nor his parents, but in order that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4"It is needful for Me to be working the works of the One Who sent Me while it is day; night cometh when no one is able to be working. 5"Whenever I may be in the world, I am the light of the world." 6Having said these things, He spat on the ground, and made clay out of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind one with the clay, 7and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is interpreted, Sent forth). He went therefore and washed, and came seeing.
8Then the neighbors and those who saw him that was formerly blind were saying, "This is the one who sat and begged, is it not?" 9Some were saying, "This is he"; but others, "He is like him." But that one kept on saying, "I am he." 10Then they began to say to him, "How were thine eyes opened?" 11That one answered and said, "A Man Who is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes, and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.' And I went and washed, and received sight." 12Then they said to him, "Where is that Man?" He said, "I know not."
13They brought him who was once blind to the Pharisees. 14And it was a sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15Then again the Pharisees also began asking him how he received sight. And he said to them, "He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This Man is not from God, because He keepeth not the sabbath." Others were saying, "How is a man, a sinner, able to do such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17They say to the blind one again, "What sayest thou concerning Him, in that He opened thine eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." 18Then the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind and received sight, until which time they called the parents of him who received sight. 19And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, whom ye say that he was born blind? How then doth he now see?" 20His parents answered them and said, "We kn! ow that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21"but how he now seeth, we know not, or who opened his eyes, we know not; he is of age; ask him. He shall speak for himself." 22The parents said these things because they were fearing the Jews; for already the Jews had agreed among themselves that if anyone should confess Him to be the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. 23For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24Then a second time they called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this Man is a sinner." 25Then that one answered and said, "If He is a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26But they said to him again, "What did He do to thee? How did He open thine eyes?" 27He answered them, "I told you already, and ye did not hear; why again do ye wish to hear it? Ye do not also wish to become His disciples, do ye?" 28Then they reviled him, and s! aid, "Thou art a disciple of that One; but we are disciples of Moses . 29"We know that God hath spoken to Moses; but this One, we do not know from what place He is." 30The man answered and said to them, "Why in this is a marvellous thing, that ye do not know from what place He is, and yet He opened mine eyes. 31"Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if anyone be serving God and doing His will, He heareth this one. 32"From of old it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of one who hath been born blind. 33"If this One were not from God, He could do nothing." 34They answered and said to him, "In sins thou wast born, all of thee, and dost thou teach us?" And they cast him out. 35Jesus heard that they cast him out; and having found him, He said to him, "Believest thou in the Son of God?" 36That one answered and said, "And Who is He, Sir, that I might believe in Him?" 37And Jesus said to him, "Thou hast both seen Him and the One Who talketh with thee is that One." 38And he said, "I believe, O Lord." And! he made obeisance to Him.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we heard practically a whole chapter of Saint John dealing with the Sunday of the Blind Man. There are so many wonderful lessons to be learned from this miracle. Now we should know that this man who was born blind was born with a birth defect, in that according to Saint Ephraim, he did not have eyeballs as we said in so many sermons in past years. Our Saviour did to him what He did to Adam when He formed Adam out of clay. But He could not tell the Jews, "I am the One Who took the dust of the earth and created Adam." That would be too much for them to accept. So, instead of a word, He did it in deed. He took the dirt of the earth, which is filthy, mingled it with His spittle, and made mud, and put it in the sockets of his eyes. Something which one would think would make a person even more ill, Christ put on his face. The man, however, believed. Something in him told him to beli! eve, and he did it. He was free to say, "What are you doing to me?" and reject our Saviour's command. But he believed, and acted upon his belief. With mud in his eyes, he went on his journey to the pool of Siloam. It was an act of faith. This act of faith, of course because it was true faith, coming from the true Lord, produced a great miracle. Our Lord Jesus Christ, created eyeballs, perfect eyeballs, and the man was able to see. Behold the symbolical lesson here. We must first have faith. And when we believe, we must act upon this faith. We must live with faith. The outcome is sight - spiritual sight, spiritual growth, attainment of virtue, the increase of all good things in us. This is what happened to the blind man, and this is what happens to each one of us if we have faith.
What then happened to the blind man? The devil, or those subject to the devil, raised great temptations against him. His rejoicing was turned to tribulation and great distress. It was demanded of him to deny his faith, to do the work of the devil and those subject to him. But the man of faith can always see through the deception of the evil one. Let us look at the example set before us. The Jews said, "This Man is not from God, because He keepeth not the sabbath." The blind man rightly discerned that this statement was poison. He said, "If this One were not from God, He could do nothing." Not once, if you read the Gospel closely, did the blind man accept their deceit. The Jews of old knew that the evil one could do supposed miracles, as we pointed out in previous sermons when they said He castest out devils through the prince of devils. But this miracle is absolutely impos! sible for the devil to perform by deception. The devil cannot create matter, such as eyes.
Now let us relate this to our lives. After we have found the Faith, after we have believed, after our heart has confirmed the truth bearing witness in us by the Holy Spirit, then the evil one, or those subject to him, raise up persecution against us. It is our object to persevere and resist, and never give in to any demonic attack, whether by the evil one or those subject to him, as did the blind man. He proved himself faithful. We must prove ourselves faithful also. This is our lot. This is what our Saviour said, In the world you must have tribulation; but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world.
Now my beloved children, we have to be wise about these temptations that come upon us. We must discern what is going to separate us from Christ. If these temptations are from without, meaning by those subject to the evil one, we have then a good chance to persevere and overcome them. If someone attacks us from without, either by slander or being critical of our conduct or disparages our person or our spiritual father or our bishop or our Church, if we are wise we may easily avoid any defeat if we are strengthened with the grace of God and our spiritual guide. All of these temptations can be rejected.
If on the other hand, the temptations of the evil one are stirred up within us, that is if they are within our souls, meaning, if for some reason we have not been diligent to keep ourselves from indulging ourselves, either bodily with food or spiritually with self-induced thoughts of pride, then I dare say, the battle will be difficult for us. Spiritual ailments such as pride and vanity will ultimately take us away from the grace of God, and even our spiritual guide. Humility, as we know, saves a person from these temptations. A humble person will always remain faithful. We have seen it over and over again. A proud person, on the other hand, is like a reed tossed in the wind. It is only a matter of time when he will say to his father, or his spiritual father, or his bishop, or even to the Church, "I know more than you. I do not accept what you say." And as we all know, the words of Saint Paul i! n answer to this, "16But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God." [1 Cor. 11:16] So, a humble person is like a rock. I pray that all of us may be steadfast in the great virtue of humility.
Behold the humility of this blind man when those proud ones said to him, "'In sins thou wast born, all of thee, and dost thou teach us?' And they cast him out." He did not grovel and come back to them out of any kind of timidity. Like a rock, he stood firm, and Christ came before him, and he did obeisance to Him.
Church / Monastery News:
Metropolitan Valentine's health is improving very well, and we are all grateful to God on his behalf. He is still residing at Father Dionysi's house in Colorado Springs.
We forgot to mention, I don't know how, that on the feast of Saint Valentine of Bulgaria, Metropolitan Valentine's name day, which was May 7th (NS), Metropolitan Valentine asked me if I would grant elevations to Fathers George, Andrew, and Dionysi on that day on his behalf. I, of course, thought it appropriate, and therefore Hegumen George was elevated to Archimandrite, Hieromonk Andrew was elevated to Hegumen, and Priest Dionysi was elevated to Archpriest at the Hierarchal Liturgy which I celebrated at the Cathedral. Vladyka Metropolitan stayed in Colorado Springs. We congratulate them, and ask God's mercy upon their labors in behalf of the Church.
Question Box:
Q. A question was asked of Metropolitan Valentine, are we, as clergymen, allowed to have dogs living in the house?
A. The Metropolitan answered, No. It should not be done. The Canons of the Church consider them unclean, and it's not proper to have them in the same place where you have holy things such as icons. There are people that have them in Russia, but the pious keep them outside. The problem with clergy having them in the home is that a clergyman may receive parishioners for prayer services and instruction, and give a poor example to these lay people because the clergymen are willfully not living up to the standards of the Canons.
Then he gave the example that if a dog comes into a church, all things must be stopped (even the service, if it is in progress), the people must leave the church, the church must be locked until the bishop can come and re-consecrate the church. The Metropolitan said this is the same as if someone cuts himself and blood spills in the church.
Please pray for:
Our Vladika Metropolitan Valentine.
Calendar of Events for Upcoming Week:
Wednesday is the leave-taking of Pascha. Thursday is the Feast of the Ascension.
Metropolitan will be serving here for Pentecost. All who would like to make arrangements to travel here should consider doing so. Pentecost is May 30th (NS).
Crumbs from the trapeza table:
Last week, we spoke about the barbaric faith of Islam, and how they tortured Saint Seraphim of Phanar and did to him something which only the devil could imagine, impaling the blameless bishop. Last week I also said, "We who suppose ourselves to be a Christian society, are in a way bound to a standard of decency because of the Gospel, and all the pagans know it. In other words, we follow a higher standard because we call ourselves Christians. The pagan Moslems, however, follow the standards of Mohamed. When Moslems kill by the thousands, where is the outrage? But let a Christian not obey the Gospel, then the Moslem world is outraged. Such is the double standard that we see nowadays."
This past week the world was shocked by the brutal beheading of an American of Jewish background, Nick Berg. The American media still focused on the American abuse of the Iraqi prisoners, and still showed the public photographs of American misdeeds. But they made a decision not to show the Moslems' atrocities committed by the enemies whom we are fighting. Not that we all have to see it; but if it was available, perhaps those who are insulated from the fact that we are at war would wake up if they see the typical actions of the militant Moslems. These Moslems, before they beheaded Mr. Berg, justified themselves by saying that even Mohamed did the same. They were not lying. Mohamed was indeed a murderer. On another occasion, he wanted to kill someone, and he asked his disciples, "Who will kill so and so for me?" One quickly jumped up to receive the favor of Mohamed, and said, "I will do it."&! nbsp; And he went out and stabbed the person in the back! The life of Mohamed is recorded in the book of the sayings of Mohamed called the Hadiths. What a difference between Christ, the glory of angels, and Mohamed, the glory of demons. Mohamed and his followers say, "Go out and kill all infidels, or subjugate them to the faith of Islam." We read today in the life of Saint Polycarp what he said to the faithful about the persecutions he was suffering, "Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings, and potentates, and princes, and for those who persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the Cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that you may be perfect in Christ."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Holy Martyrs Timothy and Maura.
Strange was the destiny of these wonderful martyrs; husband and newly-wedded wife. Twenty days after their wedding, they were taken for trial for their Christian faith before Arrianus, the pagan governor of the Thebaid, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Timothy was a reader in the church where he lived. 'Who are you?', the governor asked him. Timothy replied: 'I am a Christian and a reader in the Church of God.' The governor said to him further: 'You see, don't you, the instruments prepared for torture?' Timothy replied: 'But you don't see the angels of God, which are strengthening me. 'Then the governor commanded that he be pierced through the ears with iron rods, so that the pupils of his eyes leapt out with the pain. They then suddenly hanged him by the feet and stuffed his mouth with wood. Maura was at first afraid of torture but, when her husband gave her courage, she also confessed her steadfast faith before the governor. He commanded that, first, her hair be! torn out, then all her fingers cut off. After many other tortures, to which they would quickly have succumbed had they not been strengthened by the grace of God, they were both crucified, one in sight of the other. And thus, hanging on their crosses, they remained alive for nine full days, counseling each other and encouraging each other in endurance. On the tenth day they gave their spirits into God's hands, the God for whom they had suffered crucifixion, and thus became worthy of His Kingdom. They suffered with honour for Christ in 286.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[From the life of St. Telesphorus in the Great Synaxaristes]
Nisan (March-April) is the post-Exilic name of the first month of the Hebrew sacred calendar, but seventh according to the civic calendar. Early Christian believers disagreed on which days the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord ought to be celebrated. Churches in Asia Minor, Cilicia, Northern Syria, and Mesopotamia all commemorated these events on whatever day of the week coincided with the 14th and 16th of Nisan. Churches in Greece, Italy, Africa, Egypt, Palestine, and Pontos specified Friday alone for the Passion and Sunday for the Resurrection. As for the years in which the 14th of Nisan did not coincide with a Friday, the Passion was commemorated on the first Friday that followed it. The same formula was applied to determine the Sunday for the Resurrection.
In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, we read: "Now on the first day of the unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus [Mt. 26:17]." Saint John Chrysostom says that "the Evangelist means the day before that feast; for they are accustomed always to reckon the day from the evening, and he makes mention of this in which in the evening the Passover must be sacrificed." ["Hom. 81," On Matthew.] Preparation did not commence on the first day, because that was when the Passover was supposed to be ready to be eaten. In Exodus, we read, "Beginning the fourteenth day of the first month, ye shall eat unleavened bread from evening, till the twenty-first day of the month, till evening. Seven days leaven shall not be found in your houses... [Ex. 12: 18, 19]." Thus, the Hebrew Passover was sacrificed on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan. The preparation of it, however, began on the 10th day of the month and lasted until the 13th, the ! eve or day before the Passover [Deut. 16:1]. It was the custom to say, "Passover has come" on the eve of Passover, and not on the day thereof. When the Evangelist Luke records "And the day of the unleavened bread came [Lk. 22:7]," the word "came" is used in the sense "was near at hand." The Gospel of Saint John clearly states "now before the feast of the Passover [Jn. 13:1]," Jesus, after supper, washed the disciples feet [Jn. 13:5], foretold His betrayal [Mt. 26:21; Mk. 14:18; Jn. 13:21], and "took the bread, and blessed it ...[Mt. 26:26; Mk. 14:22]." The disciples made ready the Passover on Thursday, the 13th of Nisan [Mt. 26:19], but it does not follow that they actually ate it. Christ's words, "with desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering [Lk. 22:15]," refer not to the Passover of the law, but to the new Passover which He was about to institute. Note, Christ did not simply say "the ! Passover," but "this (touto) Passover." The Jewish Passover was sacrificed or celebrated on the following day, Friday, at about the sixth hour, or 12:00 p.m., and was eaten at night with azymes (matzos or unleavened bread). The following day, Saturday, was called the first day of azymes, for it was counted the first, and after it came the other six days of azymes, ending on the twenty-first day of the month at evening [Ex. 12:18].
After Jesus was led from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment, it was morning [Jn. 18:28]. The Pharisees "entered not into the Praetorium, in order that they should not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover [Jn. 18:28]." By this we may see that Jesus did not eat azymes or the paschal lamb the evening before with His disciples, because it was not the day of azymes and of the Passover. Christ and the disciples partook of the new Passover of the Lord, which they ate with leavened bread and reclining at the table. If Jesus and His disciples legally ate the Hebrew Passover, they would have been obliged to eat azymes standing, and in haste, with loins girded, shoes on, and staff in hand [Ex. 12:11]. Nowhere in the Gospel accounts is there any reference to "unleavened bread" (azumos), but only to "bread" (artos). Not one Evangelist describes what would mark a Hebrew Passover meal, which was eaten dry, without sauce or gra! vy; yet, we read that the disciples dipped in the dish and that Christ offered a sop [Jn. 13:26]. No Evangelist lists lamb or bitter herbs on the menu. There was blood upon neither the lintels nor the doorposts. Furthermore, the Mosaic law strictly forbade any Hebrew to go out of doors on the night of Passover. However, both the Jews and Christ with His disciples moved about freely during that Thursday night. Even the action of Judas, when he "went out immediately" into the night [Jn. 13:30], was not considered unusual or evoked surprise. This, therefore, was not a passover meal. Christ, the new Passover, the Lamb of God [Jn. 1:29], was sacrificed the next day, Holy and Great Friday. The Holy Fathers taught that Christ was sacrificed on the Cross on the actual day and hour when the passover of the law was sacrificed. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchisedek [Ps. 109:4; Heb. 5:6, 10, 20], not Aaron [Heb. 7:6]. Azymes belong to the Aaronic pri! esthood, while Melchisedek is said to have offered bread, not azymes 5BGen. 14:18]. See "Brief Orthodox Replies to the Innovations of the Papacy," in The Pillars of Orthodoxy, 3rd ed. (Buena Vista, CO: Holy Apostles Convent, 2000), pp. 532-534.
From this we understand that the papal innovation, as all their innovations and deviations from the truth, are ill-founded and erroneous. Such is the lot of those who are outside the Church.
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
In Christ,
+Bishop Gregory, and those with me.
