Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

In today’s epistle reading, taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we heard how the strong must bear the infirmities of the weak. As an example of this, the apostle brings up Christ and highlights that His selfless service to mankind was foretold in Holy Scripture, in the Old Testament. He even brings up a quote of one such place from the 68th (69) psalm. Then the apostle moves away from his main thought and notes that all of Holy Scripture is given to us as instructions for how to live as Christians. Concluding today’s excerpt we heard a short prayer that the Roman Christians glorify God in unity.

It would seem that we have here three separate and unrelated topics (the bearing of the infirmities of the weak, the spiritual benefit of the Scriptures, and unity in worship), but this isn’t really the case. The first and last topics are tied one to another, but to understand this, one must first remember what was written in the previous chapter. There the Apostle Paul wrote about the petty differences that were present among the Roman faithful regarding food. Some of them (the strong) abandoned the old Jewish rules and freely ate everything, placing all their hope for their salvation on Christ. For others (the weak), it was difficult to abandon their old Jewish habits, and although they also had hope in salvation through Jesus, they continued to hold fast to the old rules. Perhaps the strong gently teased those who continued along as they had before, and admonished them for having imperfect hope in salvation from Christ. The weak, on the contrary, admonished the first in indifference, etc. This bickering, although minor, in certain respects divided the faithful. Therefore Paul instructs the strong to bear the infirmities of the week, i. e. not to chide or scandalize them, but instead to be understanding of their infirmities and not to upset them by eating that which was earlier forbidden. Then the Apostle underlines why it is important that they not separate into groups because of petty differences, namely because they are obliged to be of one mind in Christ, so as to not only physically, but also spiritually, praise God in unity.

These words are of course very important for all of us. We, members of one Church, one parish, one spiritual family, must in oneness of mind glorify our Creator, but it so happens that sometimes petty differences shake this unity. Let’s not let them ruin that unity in Christ Jesus that we have amongst ourselves. Let’s bear the infirmities of our brothers and sisters in Christ, that is, tolerate without judgement their opinions which in petty matters may not be the same as ours.

priest Alexis