Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

Today, during the Divine Liturgy, we heard the closing words of the St. Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. For several weeks now we’ve read excerpts from this epistle, in which the many various problems that arose in that Church after Paul’s departure are sorted out. We could come to the conclusion that there were only problems and quarrels there. Of course it is unpleasant to receive a letter which is filled to the brim with things like: you’re doing this wrong, and this other thing should be done this way, and if you don’t fix this third thing, the outcome will be bad. It may seem as if Paul doesn’t care for the Corinthians, sees only the negative, and is full of malevolence when reproaching them.

Of course, this is not the case. Truly there were a lot of positive and good things in Corinth, and Paul was very fond of the Christians in that city, his spiritual children. In his closing remarks, Paul expresses his love towards this Church. He says that he was very glad to see and to converse with the messengers from Corinth. These were people very close to his heart. In expressing his feelings, it’s as if he said the following to all the Corinthians: “I wished so much to see all of you, but this is impossible, and therefore you sent from amongst yourselves these three most worthy men. Good for you for picking precisely these men to come to me! In such a way, you showed your spiritual wisdom, your Christian heart. Although you have problems within your church community, your foundation is good and solid. The fact that you sent these envoys, the best members of your Church, is evidence of this. Having seen these men, it is as if I’ve spent time with all of you. My spirit has found peace!”

Sometimes it may seem to us that the Church has nothing to say but negative things. You’re doing this wrong, do this differently, you’re not diligent enough, do less of this, etc. It’s hard to constantly hear this type of thing, and so today, let’s take the apostle Paul’s words of love to heart. Despite our sins, passions, and weaknesses, each of us is precious in the sight of our Saviour. Therefore, let’s not take offense, or become depressed or angry, when we are instructed in the spiritual life. When we ourselves are called to admonish someone else, let’s take St. Paul as an example and remember that we must do this with love in Christ.

Priest Alexis