Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

 

Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic 

On the Abolition of the Sabbath by Christ

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“Let no one therefore judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a feast, or new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come” (Colossians 2:16–17)

Christ is risen!

Beloved faithful,

In today’s Gospel we see that Jesus Christ healed, on a Sabbath day, a paralytic who had been lying for 38 years. For this the Jews were angered, because the Lord had broken the commandment of the Sabbath. If, however, you listen attentively to what we shall speak today, you will clearly understand that the observance of the Sabbath is not given to Christians, but to the Jews; and at the same time you will understand that both the Savior and the Holy Apostles abolished, by word and deed, the observance of the Sabbath.

First, I will show that from Adam until Moses, for a period of 4,108 years, none of the ancient patriarchs kept the Sabbath as a feast. In order to understand this great truth, we will appeal to the testimonies of Holy Scripture, through which we will show that when God created man, He did not give him from the beginning a commandment to observe any day, but only placed him in the Garden of Eden — that is, in Paradise — to cultivate it and to guard it (Genesis 2:15). Then He gave him the first commandment: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). Moreover, after Adam broke the commandment of God and was driven out of Paradise, he received no commandment from God to observe any day. On the contrary, his whole life now became a continuous labor under the form of a curse, and he received this command and sentence from God, who said to him: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

Church of the Venerable Meteorite Fathers in Kalambaka

About 5 minutes from the center of the city of Kalambaka is the Church of the Venerable Meteorite Fathers, dedicated to all the Holy Fathers and Founders of the Monasteries in Meteora, whose Synaxis is celebrated annually on the Sunday of the Paralytic. It is modern church of the three-aisled basilica type, established on December 7, 1986. The opening of the doors (first service) took place in March 1993; and it was consecrated on March 27, 2001 by His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Stagoi and Meteora. It is located on the southeastern side of the town and constitutes one of the four parish churches of Kalambaka. The building of this church was at the expense of the Monasteries of Varlaam (primarily) and of Saint Stephen.

 

Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic - On Sinful Habits (St. Makarios of Patmos)

Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic 

On Sinful Habits

By St. Makarios Kalogeras of Patmos (+ 1737)

A person is naturally inclined to feel sorrow and pain at the misfortunes and calamities of others. Perhaps because they are common, or because we are all of the same substance, or because a person does not know “what the coming day will bring.” He is not certain that later the thorns of pains which he sees in others will not also grow in himself. For these reasons, one is rightly drawn into a sympathetic disposition when he observes the illnesses and sufferings of his fellow human beings.

Who, then, would be so hard in heart, so beast-like in disposition, as not to grieve and not to feel compassion today, hearing from the holy Gospel of those many years which today’s paralytic spent lying down, like an insensible stone, upon a bed? Whose soul would not feel pain, hearing that this wretched man was not only paralyzed but also in extreme poverty, and for this reason was deserted by friends, deprived of relatives? Who would not feel compassion, when he considers not only the pains caused to him by the very grave illness of paralysis, but also the sorrow and the complaint that he felt when he saw the Angel troubling the water of the pool, another being healed and departing, while he himself remained always lying there?

Holy Martyrs Timothy and Mavra in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Joseph the Hymnographer once again makes use of the names of the Saints in order to characterize, by means of them, the quality of their holiness. Timothy and Mavra thus "honored God" and "darkened error”: “Having honored God, they darkened error, namely Timothy and the glorious Mavra” (Kathisma of Matins). Repeatedly he employs figures of speech, especially the contrast between light and darkness, to show that although the Saint is called Mavra (“dark”), she is full of the light of God. “With a flashing form, O modest and all-blessed Mavra, and by the light of your grace you darkened the faces of the dreadful tyrant” (Sticheron of Vespers). “Having cast off the dark evil-mindedness, you became light through martyrdom, O God-blessed one” (Ode 5).

Prologue in Sermons: May 3

Solitary Prayer

May 3

(On the repose of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Theodosius of the Kiev Caves.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The Lord says: “But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). What do these words of the Lord mean? They mean that we must pray, as much as possible, also in solitude, so as to have closer communion with the Lord, and to spend time at times even away from people, so as not to be entirely scattered in the vanities of the world. Thus also the holy pleasers of God acted, from whom, for your instruction, we shall take examples for you.

The Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves would withdraw during the time of Great Lent into a cave, and there he would shut himself in until Palm Sunday, spending the time in fasting and prayer; and afterward he would come out to the brethren on the Friday of Palm Week and would then remain with the monks, instructing them.

“Who Will Roll Away the Stone For Us?” (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

“Who Will Roll Away the Stone For Us?”

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

The Myrrhbearing women were saying among themselves: “Who will roll away the stone for us?” (Mark 16:3). And they were going forward with this thought, that morning, “very early on the first day of the week” (Mark 16:2). Who will roll away for us the great stone that lies at the entrance of the tomb, there where Christ had been buried through the care of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemos? This particular Gospel passage informs us that the stone “was very great” (Mark 16:4). Who will lift it so that the door may be opened, so that this obstacle may be removed for the entrance into the tomb, into the All-Holy Sepulchre?

However, this question, “Who will roll away the stone for us?” is also the question of each one of us. It is a concern. Who, and in what way, will we move the “stone” of our inner world, the great mass of our heart?

Translation of the Holy Relics of Saint Athanasios the Great in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The only reference in today’s service, on the occasion of the commemoration of the translation of the relic of Athanasios the Great, is found in the verses of the Synaxarion: “Athanasios, where are you being borne? Are they again sending you forth as an exile, even dead? On the second, the corpse of Athanasios came out of the tomb.” In no other troparion is there even the slightest reference to the celebrated event of the translation. All the hymns constitute a hymn to his Orthodox faith, to his struggles for the triumph of this faith, as he opposed the heresy of Arianism and its supporters, to his virtuous life, and to the exiles which he endured. Thus we must accept that according to the codex of Kavsokalyva and the distich of the Lavriotic Codex I 70, the principal commemoration of Saint Athanasios ought to be celebrated today, where his repose is also historically attested, and not the translation of his relics… For what reason his principal feast was established on the 18th of January together with that of Saint Cyril we do not know. Most likely it is for the same reason that the feast of the Three Hierarchs was established.

Interpretation of the Prophecies of the Divine Jeremiah - Book I, Chapter 1 (Theodoret of Cyrus)

CHAPTER 1

Verse 1. "The word of God which came upon Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, from among the priests, who dwelt in Anathoth." The prophet partook of a twofold grace, of priestly and of prophetic; and the one he drew from his lineage, but the other he received as a gift from above. And he also states the time of the prophecy.

2. “For in the days,” he says, “of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” And he also makes mention of those who reigned after him, up to the final siege. Then also he teaches the things spoken by the God of all.

4–5. “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you.’” The choice is not unjust; for knowledge anticipated it. For He knew, and then He sanctified, since He knows all things before their coming into being. And “I sanctified” He has used in place of “I set apart.” Then he also states the purpose for which He chose him: “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” For he proclaims beforehand not only the things of the Jews, but also those of the other nations.

Prologue in Sermons: May 2

Obedience is Greater Than Fasting and Prayer

May 2

(A word from the Paterikon, that obedience is greater than a life of fasting and desert asceticism.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

They say that obedience is greater than fasting and prayer. Can this be believed?

Two blood brothers came to live in a monastery. One of them was a great faster, while the other was distinguished by great obedience, and whatever the elders commanded him, he immediately fulfilled without question; and through obedience he gained renown in the monastery. His brother, the faster, began to envy him and said: “I will test him, and then we shall see how much he has progressed in obedience.” And with these words he went to the abbot and said: “Father, allow my brother to go with me; we need to go to a certain place.” The abbot permitted them.

The brothers set out. When they came to a river, the faster said to the brother who excelled in obedience: “Enter the river and cross it.” The obedient brother entered, and crocodiles surrounded him and began in every way to fawn upon him. Seeing this, the faster said: “Come out of the river.” The brother came out.