THE WIDOW OF NAIN

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today's Gospel concerns the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. We recall that this miracle occurred just after the healing of the servant of the centurion, a healing which had taken place at a distance.

We can notice how this miracle of resurrection, like all the Lord's miracles, happened for two reasons.

Sunday of the Paralytic

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today's Gospel of the healing of the paralytic raises a number of questions.

The first perhaps is:

Where does illness come from?

The answer to this question is contained within the selfsame Gospel, in the words of Our Lord to the healed paralytic: 'Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee'. In other words, the origin of illness is in sin.

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

As Orthodox Christians we all know how important the Cross is in our Faith. The Cross is the central fact of the Faith, it is not only where Christ was crucified, as we have heard in today's Gospel, but it is also where Christ is risen from the dead. It is also written elsewhere in the Gospels that by losing our life through the Cross, we save our life. In other words if we live for Christ, we will save our life. However, if we live for ourselves, we will lose our life. This is the law of our being and we can see it in all areas of human life.

The spoilt child who lives for himself will not share his toys. Thus he is lonely and bored, he has no-one to play with. His life is lost.

THE EXALTATION OF THE CROSS

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

As Orthodox Christians we all know how important the Cross is in our Faith. The Cross is the central fact of the Faith, it is not only where Christ was crucified, as we have heard in today's Gospel, but it is also where Christ is risen from the dead. It is also written elsewhere in the Gospels that by losing our life through the Cross, we save our life. In other words if we live for Christ, we will save our life. However, if we live for ourselves, we will lose our life. This is the law of our being and we can see it in all areas of human life.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON PENTECOST

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

Would you say that Pentecost is the most important feast after the Nativity of Christ?

I think if you want to start an argument among Orthodox, this question might be a good way!

First of all, there is the feast of feasts, Pascha or Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection, which is higher than all other feasts.

On the Sunday of the Man Born Blind

Archpriest Andrew Phillips

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

On this Sunday, that before the Feast of the Ascension of Christ, the Church recalls to our attention the Gospel of the man born blind. There are two points here that I would particularly like to remark on.