Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen!

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

Today the Church marks the meeting and the conversation that followed between Christ and the Samaritan Woman, a sinful woman, and, along with this, a schismatic and a heretic, i. e. a person who in no way could be considered a member of the Jewish religious community. Notwithstanding this, Christ not only converses with her, but accepts her and her fellow citizens as disciples. We could say that they became members of the Church of Christ!

At first glance, today’s Epistle readings is not the most interesting of excerpts. In it we hear nothing about the miracles performed by the apostles nor about their God-inspired sermons, but instead hear only about how certain men of Cyprus and Cyrene, and later Barnabas and Saul, converted many Grecians (Greek-speaking pagans) in Antioch. In fact, there is much of interest here. Therefore, let’s take note of at least some points.

First, let’s note that as is the case in the Gospel, today’s epistle reading very clearly expresses that important, and in some ways central, idea of Christianity that the Saviour came to save not only the chosen Jewish nation, but to call all peoples to Himself: first the Jews and then the Gentiles, be they Greeks, Russians or Canadians. To us this seems natural, but to the first Christians, who were Jews, this was far from being evident. Even for the apostles it was no easy task accepting the idea that the Jews were not an exclusive nation, but that all people were equal before the throne of God.

Secondly, we should notice how useful, at that moment, persecution was for the Church. St. John Chrysostom talks about this in his explanation of Acts. Without the persecution by the Jews, the bulk of the faithful would have remained in Jerusalem and the important idea that Christ came to call all mankind to salvation would have remained hidden from all save the Jews.

Finally, let’s focus our attention on St. Barnabas, one of the seventy apostles. The twelve apostles must have trusted him explicitly, otherwise they would not have sent him to Antioch, the epicentre of the growth of the Church. The new members of the Church, who were gentiles, needed to be taught not only about Jesus and shown, with the help of the Old Testament prophecies, that He is the Saviour and Christ, but also taught about a moral life, about which, being former pagans, they may have had a distorted idea. Despite the gigantic amount of work that lay ahead of him, Barnabas was glad when he arrived. He was not envious of those who came before him and successfully began this godly work. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Barnabas understood that he would not be able to accomplish his mission alone and that he required help. He called not just anyone to help, but went himself to find that person who would be best suited to work with the new, gentile members of the Church. That candidate was Paul, or as he was called then – Saul. He was well suited to this work because he was not from Palestine and thus well acquainted with the Greek-speaking world, while at the same time being an expert in the Holy Scriptures. For an entire year these wonderful teachers laboured in Antioch. Thanks to these labours, the Church grew to such an extent that the attention of the local pagans was drawn to it. It was they who named the members of the Church Christians!

In today’s difficult days for the Church, when some people see the beginning of a new persecution on Christians, let’s not lose hope! Let’s remember that trials can be beneficial for us as individuals, as well as for the Church as a whole. Let’s take St. Barnabas as an example for ourselves. Let’s be glad when we see the Church flourishing. Let’s not look down on new people that come to church, who may not yet know much. When we see that we ourselves are not managing in our spiritual lives, let’s look for quality help. That means we should avoid advice from Internet elders and approach Christ Himself through heartfelt prayer, the saints through the writings of the Holy Fathers, and our more experienced brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s not give up, but instead for a “whole year” (that is, for a long time) strive towards God. In such a way, let’s bear spiritual fruit and become Christians not only in name, but also in deeds.

priest Alexis