From Your Parish Priest

Third Sunday of Saint Luke

10/09/2016

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

The day after Jesus had restored the servant of the Centurion to health by His word alone, He came to the City of Nain and raised the son of the widow from death to life by His touch.

The Gospel of Saint Luke emphasizes the power of God, and His authority over creation. Truly Jesus is the Son of God, “through Whom all things were made.” For this reason, after witnessing Jesus raise the widow’s son to life, the people glorified God and said, “a great prophet is risen up among us” and “God has visited His people.” (Luke 7:16)

Jesus did not merely restore this young man to life so as to show His power, but He did so moreover to indicate that we, too, can be raised by Him from spiritual death to life.

Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant by His word alone; this young man was miraculously raised to life not only by His word but also by His touching the bier. In this, Jesus teaches us that His very Body is life.

This is why during the Divine Liturgy we not only listen to the word of God in the Holy Scriptures, but we also receive His most-holy Body and life-giving Blood in Holy Communion.

God the Word gives life to all things, and Himself became flesh for our sake. His flesh is likewise life-creating, and takes away death and corruption from us who receive it.

Allegorically, the widow represents the soul which has lost its husband, the Word of God Who sows the good seed. The widow’s son represents the mind which is being carried outside the city, the heavenly Jerusalem which is the land of the living. The bier represents the body which carries within it the dead mind, the son.

Jesus touched the bier just as He touches our body in the Sacraments, especially when we receive Holy Communion.

In touching the bier Jesus raised the son, just as when He touches us in Holy Communion He raises our mind, restoring youth and vigor to it – the ability to see and understand the truth clearly.

Jesus delivered the son to his widowed mother, just as He restores our body and mind to our soul, thereby making us whole and happy once again. He thus rejoins us to Himself, for He is the Word of God “in Whom we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

Jesus has restored the nature of man to that which it originally was; and has set free our mortal nature from the bonds of death.

Amen.

From Another Homilist

Third Sunday of Saint Luke

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Young man, I say to you, arise.”

Today’s Gospel describes resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. This occurred just after the healing of the servant of the centurion, a miracle which took place at a distance whereas this one takes place at Jesus' touch.

This miracle of resurrection, like all the Lord’s miracles, happened for two reasons.

First, because as the Son and Creating Word and Wisdom of God, Christ in His divine nature had the power to work miracles, restoring the laws of creation as they had been intended before the Fall, when there was no sickness or death. Through miracles Jesus showed this unique power of the Son of God.

In the case of the widow, Christ showed His divine power and disproved rumors that the healing of the centurion’s servant was a mere coincidence – that he might have recovered anyway.

Second, because as a man, Christ in his human nature felt pity and had compassion on those who were suffering.

In this case there was great reason for compassion. In those days a widow was likely to be impoverished unless her children cared for her. The widow's only son was the only one who could look after her. Without him she would have become a destitute beggar and perhaps would have died of starvation on the streets.

This miracle of resurrection was quite unique, unheard of, and unseen in human history - only the Son of God could have done this. No human healer can raise from the dead.

Moreover, this miracle occurred at both the word of Christ and by His physical touch. It occurred at His word, because He is the Word of God, and it occurred through His physical touch, because only contact with the divine and immortal nature can overcome mortality and confer resurrection. Only deathlessness overcomes death, only immortality is greater than mortality.

This miracle proves that the divine power of the Holy Spirit flows not from, but through, Christ’s all-pure human nature. Christ’s Word and Body are Life-Giving, as is later proved in the Gospels by His own physical resurrection.

What does this mean for us? Since the Church is the Body of Christ, the same power flows through the Church and confers life and healing and resurrection on all who touch Christ in the Church, participating in the spiritual life of the Church.

Regarding this resurrection, the first action of the resurrected widow's son was to speak words, proof that he was really alive, that his soul had indeed been restored to his body. Christ, the Word of God, gave rational words to him, proving not only the man's resurrection but also the existence of the soul. Only beings who have souls can speak with understanding - animals do not speak. The fact that we are created in the image of the Word of God, means that we have souls, the breath of God within us, and that we are able to speak words, and grow into His likeness.

Allegorically, today’s Gospel has several further meanings:

The widow is the soul without God. Such a soul is left destitute, begging and ready to die.

The dead son who was brought outside the town to be buried is the human mind which is outside the Church. It is spiritually dead, unable to understand and speak words of reason, fit only for the funeral of all its deathly philosophies and speculations.

The bier on which the dead body is placed is the human body, which when touched by God, is restored to life and receives its soul. It begins to speak divine words, for it has something to say, it is no longer mute, but is resurrected from death.

Thus a human body which is touched by God is a mind raised from death, a soul which lives, human nature restored and saved from death.

O Lord, restore us this day from the spiritual death around us and within us, as You have restored to life the son of the widow of Nain. Amen.

Reverend Andrew Phillips,
Saint John’s Orthodox Church, Colchester, England

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Grave Mode

O Lord by Your sacred Cross You abolished death, and granted unto the thief blessed paradise. The Myrrh-bearers ceased lamenting and turned to joy. The apostles did preach the Good News at Your command, that You had risen from the dead O Christ Our God, bestowing Your mercy upon the world ever more.

Apolytikion for Apostle James, Son of Alphaeus in the Third Mode

Holy Apostle James, Intercede with the merciful God that He may grant our souls remission of sins.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

A protection of Christians unshamable, intercessor to our Holy Maker, unwavering, please reject not the prayerful cries of those who are in sin. Instead, come to us, for you are good; your loving help bring unto us, who are crying in faith to you: hasten to intercede and speed now to supplicate, as a protection for all time, Theotokos, for those who honor you.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35

At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Grave Mode. Psalm 28.11,1.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
Verse: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord honor and glory.

The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:1-10.

BRETHREN, working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Gospel Reading

3rd Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 7:11-16

At that time, Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!"

Patristic Gospel Commentary

Third Sunday of Saint Luke

Luke 7:11-16. And it came to pass the day after, that He went into a citycalled Nan; and many of His disciples went with Him, and much people. Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city waswith her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us; and, that God hath visited His people.

Because the Lord, while not even present, had healed the centurions servant, He now performs another even more remarkable miracle. He does this so that no one could say, "What is remarkable about the healing of the centurions servant? Perhaps the servant would not have died in any case."

This is why the Lord now raises up the dead man as he was being carried out for burial. He does not perform the miracle by His word alone, but also touches the bier, teaching us that His very Body is life. Because God the Word Who gives life to all things Himself became flesh, therefore His flesh itself is likewise life-creating, and takes away death and corruption.

The dead man sat up and began to speak, so that some would not think that his rising was only an apparition. Sitting up and speaking are definite proofs of resurrection from the dead – how can a lifeless body sit up and speak?

You may also understand the widow to mean the soul which has suffered the loss of its husband, the Word of God Which sows the good seed.

The son of such a widow is the mind which is dead and is being carried outside the city, that is, outside the heavenly Jerusalem which is the land of the living. The Lord then takes pity and touches the bier.

The bier which carries the dead mind is the body. And indeed the body is like a tomb, as the ancient Greeks said, calling the body [soma] a burial mound [soma], which means a tomb.

Having touched the body, the Lord then raises the mind, restoring its youth and vigor.

And after the young man, meaning the mind, has sat up, raised from the tomb of sin, he will begin to speak, that is, to teach others. While he is in the grip of sin, he cannot speak or teach – who would believe him?

Saint Theophylaktos, Bishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria (AD 1055–1107)
From The Explanation of the Gospel of Saint Matthew

Wisdom of the Fathers

There is an old saying: 'Excesses meet.' Too much fasting and too much eating come to the same end. Keeping too long a vigil brings the same disastrous cost as ... sluggishness... Too much self-denial brings weakness and induces the same condition as carelessness. Often I have seen men who would not be snared by gluttony fall, nevertheless, through immoderate fasting and tumble in weakness into the very urge which they had overcome. Unmeasured vigils and foolish denial of rest overcame those whom sleep could not overcome. Therefore, 'fortified to right and to left in the armor of justice,' as the apostle says (2 Cor. 6:7), life must be lived with due measure and, with discernment for a guide, the road must be traveled between the two kinds of excess so that in the end we may not allow ourselves to be diverted from the pathway of restraint which has been laid down for us nor fall through dangerous carelessness into the urgings of gluttony and self-indulgence.

St. John Cassian

Conferences, Conference Two: On Discernment no. 16; Paulist Press pg. 76, 5th century

That dead man was being buried, and many friends were conducting him to his tomb. But there meets him Christ, the Life and Resurrection, for He is the destroyer of death and of corruption; He it is "in Whom we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28); He it is Who has restored the nature of man to that which it originally was; and has set free our death-fraught flesh from the bonds of death.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Homily 36.42, p. 153., 5th Century

The more a man is found worthy to receive God’s gifts, the more he ought to consider himself a debtor to God, Who has raised him from the earth and bestowed on dust the privilege of imitating to some degree its Creator and God. For to endure injustice with joy, patiently to do good to one’s enemies, to lay down one’s own life for one’s neighbor, and so on, are gifts from God, bestowed on those who are resolved to receive them from Him through their solicitude in cultivating and protecting what has been entrusted to them, as Adam was commanded to do (cf. Genesis 2:15).

Saint Peter of Damascus

He who has given to the poor and has endured troubles with thankfulness of soul and persevered in difficulties, and feels all the bitterness and pain of sufferings, keeps his mind inviolate in the present time. In the life to come he has great reward, in that he has imitated the sufferings of Christ and patiently waited for Him in the days when temptations and trials assailed him.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian

Saints and Feasts

October 09

3rd Sunday of Luke

October 09

James the Apostle, son of Alphaeus

Holy Apostle Iakovos (James) the son of Alphaeus one of the Twelve Apostles, was the brother of the holy Evangelist Matthew.

He heard the Lord’s words and witnessed His miracles.

After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle James Alphaeus and the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (November 30), made missionary journeys preaching in Judea, Edessa, Gaza, Eleutheropolis, proclaiming the Gospel, healing all sorts of sickness and disease, and converting many to the path of salvation.

Saint James finished his apostolic work In the Egyptian city of Ostrachina, where he was crucified by the pagans.

October 09

Andronicus & his wife Athanasia of Egypt

Saint Andronikos and his wife Athanasia of Egypt lived in Antioch in the fifth century.

Saint Andronikos was a craftsman who divided his earnings into three portions. One part he gave to the Church, the second to the poor, and the third he used for his family.

When the Lord took the son and daughter of Andronikos and Athanasia, the pious couple decided to devote themselves fully to the service of God, helping the poor and the sick. Soon the saintly spouses set out for Alexandria, where Andronikos entered a skete monastery, and Athanasia entered the women’s Tabennisiota monastery.

After twelve years of ascetic life Saint Andronikos went to Jerusalem to pray at the holy places. He met a co-pilgrim, Saint Athanasia, who, foreseeing the difficulties of the journey, had donned men’s attire. They did not recognize each other, since long ascetic effort had altered their appearance.

When they returned from Jerusalem, both monks settled into a single cell and for many years lived the ascetic life in silence. Saint Athanasia wrote a note to be read after her death, revealing her secret. Saint Andronikos died soon after Saint Athanasia.

Parish News and Information

“The Prayer”
Jesus Prayer - Prayer of the Heart

Last week we began to discuss the “Jesus Prayer” and today we continue our series on Orthodox Prayer.

The Jesus Prayer is very simple:

“Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, ἐλέησόν με.”

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me.”

Sometimes it is said in its longer form:

“Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner.”

The Jesus Prayer Has Three Stages in Practice

The Jesus Prayer involves three stages of progress in its practice. You begin praying the Jesus Prayer by repeating the words of the prayer out loud or at least moving the lips. This is called verbal prayer. After some time saying of the Jesus Prayer becomes silent or mental and is repeated only in the mind. This is mental prayer. Finally, the Jesus Prayer becomes a continuous prayer in the heart, the inner core of our being. We begin with vocal prayer and do not force the move to mental prayer. This will happen naturally when you are ready.

The Jesus Prayer in Practice

In praying the Jesus Prayer, our holy Fathers tell us, we say it over and over hundreds of times as part of our daily prayer rule. It is best to add the Jesus Prayer to your morning prayers as this is when the mind is the quietest. Begin by saying the Jesus Prayer verbally focusing on each word. Repeat the Jesus Prayer continually for 15 minutes at first and then expand to 30 minutes. You will experience the challenge of dealing with your thoughts, the tendency for you mind to wander. Attention when praying the Jesus Prayer is important. Be sincere in your prayer and repeat it with contrition. Praying the Jesus Prayer is that simple!

The Jesus Prayer is A Long and Difficult Path

Do not be fooled by its simplicity. The Jesus Prayer practice is a difficult task and like all ascetic practices it requires commitment of time, patience and perseverance. Remember the Jesus Prayer’s aim is not to obtain a calmness or any kind of spiritual experience, but to become in communion with God and participate in His grace.

To be continued in next week’s bulletin...

If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your parish priest!

Worship Schedule

Services This Week

Daily Matins:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8:00 am

Daily Vespers:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 6:00 pm

Weekly Paraklesis:
Wednesday at 6:00 pm

For updated schedule information, always refer to:

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Past Bulletins

From Your Parish Priest

Third Sunday of Saint Luke

10/09/2016

From Another Homilist

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Grave Mode

Apolytikion for Apostle James, Son of Alphaeus in the Third Mode

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Epistle Reading

Gospel Reading

Patristic Gospel Commentary

Wisdom of the Fathers

Saints and Feasts

3rd Sunday of Luke

James the Apostle, son of Alphaeus

Andronicus & his wife Athanasia of Egypt

Parish News and Information

Worship Schedule