Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Conception of the Holy Prophet of God John the Baptist!

Today in the second Epistle reading we heard a beautiful excerpt from the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Galatians. Remember that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to safeguard the new Christians from certain people who were insisting that the Galatian faithful observe the Jewish ritual law. These people said that there is no salvation without this law. The Holy Apostle Paul writes that, on the contrary, there is no point in enslaving oneself to this law, and that faith in Christ and the grace of God save.

So as to bolster this idea, he, in today’s excerpt, brings up the example of Abraham, his wife Sarah, her servant Hagar, as well as his children – Isaac, born of the free woman Sarah, and Ishmael, who was born from a slave. Paul notes that Isaac was born free, while Ishmael was born into slavery and, as a consequence, was cast out. He also notices the very important fact that Ishmael was born from Hagar in a natural manner, while Isaac from Sarah was born in way that was contrary to the laws of nature, for Sarah and Abraham were both well struck in years. In other words, he was born according to the promise of God. The Holy Apostle Paul sees here a parallel or allegory with the New Testament Church and Jewish society. The Church is free, just as Isaac was, and is born and exists through the grace of God. Meanwhile, the Jews and those who insist on the observance of the law are children of the law and slaves to it, likened to Ishmael. Today’s Epistle reading ended with a quote from the prophecy of Isaiah: “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.” These prophetic words were, of course, wonderfully fulfilled in the Holy Church!

It is not by chance that these marvelous words of the Apostle Paul were read today, for today we celebrate the miraculous conception, by the barren and ancient parents Zacharias and Elisabeth, of St. John the Forerunner. This excerpt is also read on the day we celebrate the memory of Sts. Joachim and Anna, the elderly parents of the Mother of God. The Most-Holy Virgin Mary, as well as St. John the Baptist, were born contrary to the laws of nature, through the promise of God, and are both, in a way, personifications of the Church. All of us, the countless faithful of all times, are as they, born through the grace of God, children of our mother – the Church.

By the prayers of today’s saints – the prophet Zacharias, his wife Elisabeth, and St. John the Forerunner – may the Lord God have mercy on us and send upon us His grace, as He once did with them, to forgive our sins, strengthen our families and our parish, give health and success to our children, and establish stable peace in Ukraine and the Holy Land. Zacharias and Elisabeth, throughout their long lives, lived righteously, despite the family tragedy of barrenness. Let us, like them, endeаvour to live righteously for the sake of the love that we have for God.

priest Alexis