Monthly Archives: May 2016

The Power of Conversation with Enemies and Strangers: Homily for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman in the Orthodox Church

Christ is Risen!

The world today has more than a little in common with the time and place in which Jesus Christ ministered. Both in the first and the twenty-first century, people easily divide up into groups that hate one another and view their enemies as less than human. If someone is of the wrong religion, political party, or ethnic group or stands on the opposite side of some issue, too many respond simply with condemnation.

We may wonder, then, how to demonstrate the new life of our Saviour’s resurrection in a time when severe disagreements and divisions are so common – both in our own country and around the world. Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman provides a challenging example of how to interact with even the most unlikely people, of how to overcome the barriers that exist between those who consider themselves simply enemies. Remember that the Jews hated the Samaritans as religious and ethnic half-breeds because they had mixed the ethnic heritage and the religion of Israel with that of other peoples. No self-respecting Jew would have anything to do with a Samaritan, much less ask one for a drink of water. The Samaritans knew that, but Christ did the unthinkable by striking up a conversation and asking the woman for a favour. As a result of this unlikely conversation, a Samaritan woman came to recognize Him as the Messiah, to believe in Him, and to lead many of her own people to the faith. She ultimately became Saint Photini, an evangelist and martyr with the title “Equal to the Apostles.” Continue reading →

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

How tragic is today’s story of the life of Christ. A man had been paralysed for years. He had lain at a short distance from healing, but he himself had no strength to merge into the waters of ablution. And no one – no one in the course of all these years – had had compassion on him. Continue reading →

Feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, St Joseph of Arimathea and St Nicodemus – Mark 15: 43-47, 16: 1-8

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

We keep today the feast of a number of the followers of Christ of whom we think seldom, because they are mentioned very little in the Scriptures. And each of them could be a lesson for us.

St. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man who listened to Christ with an open mind and did not commit himself. Neither did Nicodemus; but Nicodemus was a learned man, part of the Sanhedrin. He had been listening to Christ, he had been asking questions from Him, he wanted to understand, he wanted to be sure. But neither of them had committed themselves to follow Christ, to declare themselves as His disciples. Continue reading →