Dear in Christ Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew!

The liturgical services of the Holy Orthodox Church are gradually preparing us for the feast of the Nativity of Christ. At the All-Night Vigils, that is, the evening services, we are beginning to hear the festive hymns of the Nativity season. On the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos we heard for the first time this year the canticles ‘Christ is born,’ which we will continue hearing at all the festive services until the leave-taking of the Nativity. Last night we heard additional hymns (stikhira), related to the upcoming feastday. We will hear such stikhira several more times before the Nativity, and the closer we get to the feastday the more often we will hear them. So as not to deny ourselves these liturgical preparations for the feastday, let’s make an effort not to miss the evening services and to pay close attention to the hymns being sung and read.

In today’s Gospel reading we heard how our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ healed a woman who had suffered from her ailment for eighteen years. This was done in the synagogue on Saturday, the Sabbath. We also heard how the ruler of the synagogue, a stern proponent for the strict adherence to the Law, suggested to the people that they come to be healed on weekdays and not on Saturday, so as not to trespass the prohibition of working on the Sabbath. Finally, we heard how Christ chastises him as a hypocrite. Without a doubt, each of you understands that this Gospel excerpt has lessons for each of us regarding how we should spend our Sundays, how we must be careful to fulfill all the customs of our faith, such as our prayer rules and fasts, without losing sight of the need to act as Christians towards our neighbours, and about hypocrisy.

Today let’s focus our attention on that which may not be as obvious. St. Cyril of Alexandria notes that, along with being too strict in keeping the letter of the Law and being a hypocrite, the ruler of the synagogue was also full of hatred towards Christ. This hatred, which was brought on by envy, was the real and main reason why he said such a ridiculous thing as, “Come to be healed on other days, just not Saturday!” Without a doubt, he was a zealot for the Law, but it wasn’t for the sake of the Law that he said such a thing, but rather because of hatred and envy. He only hid these passions under the guise of piety and zeal.

Continuing on, let’s note that the ruler of the synagogue was also full of cowardice and vainglory. He understood well who Jesus was and therefore could not chastise Him to His face for performing the miracle on the Sabbath. In other words, he was afraid to engage the Lord directly. Despite this, his vanity did not allow him to stay quiet. As the leader of the synagogue, an educated person, if we were to use our own words – a spiritual and religious person, he had to have his say. As a consequence he addresses the people. What came out of his mouth was complete nonsense, and this nonsense did not convince the congregants, who were overjoyed for Christ’s sake.

Today let’s pray that the Lord heal our souls which are bowed down by sins and passions, and that He protect us from the excesses of the ruler of the synagogue, about which we talked today.

priest Alexis