Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, the feast of St. Gregory Palamas, as well as the end of the second week of Great Lent!

In today’s excerpt from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, we heard how important it is to be earnest in our service to the Saviour. Paul wrote these words to Jews who had come to believe in Christ, but who, perhaps, were shaken in their faith and, to a certain extent, were ready to return to their former lives, i. e. to once again fulfill all the ritual precepts of the Old Testament law. One could say that they weren’t very zealous for Christ, but were instead more interested in fulfilling all the petty points of the Jewish law.

To kindle their zeal for the Saviour, Paul reminds them that He was not just a simple man, not a simple prophet, not even an angel, but something much better and higher than the angels; He is immortal, He is the Creator of the world, He is the God-man. St. Paul does this persuasively by quoting from psalms 101 (102) and 109 (110).

Apparently the Jews of that time had an understanding that Moses, on Mount Sinai, received the law not directly from God, but from an angel. Paul, having mentioned and proved that Christ is much better than the angels, goes on to the second part of today's reading, where he is as if saying the following: “You Jews prefer the law of Moses to the law of the New Testament, but that old ritualistic law is in no wise comparable to that which we Christians have. The law of the Old Testament was delivered to Moses by means of angels, but our Christian Gospel was heard by the apostles directly from the Saviour, the incarnate God, Himself. Our Gospel is far superior and therefore we must carefully live according to it so as not to lose that reward which is prepared for us.”

Having finished the second week of Great Lent, we are naturally tired. It’s become hard to fast. Perhaps we have abandoned our spiritual reading, our prayers and once again have returned to spending time on the internet and in front of the television, engaging in idle conversations, or engrossing ourselves in the news. We’re like those believing Jews from the first century who are missing their former lives. Let’s take courage from today’s words of the Apostle Paul and gather our strength to continue our journey towards the risen Christ!

priest Alexis