Εβρ 9:11-14

Ἀδελφοί, Χριστὸς παραγενόμενος Ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς, οὐ χειροποιήτου, τοῦτ' ἔστιν οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως, οὐδὲ δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ῞Αγια, αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων καὶ σποδὸς δαμάλεως ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους ἁγιάζει πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς διὰ Πνεύματος αἰωνίου ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν ἄμωμον τῷ Θεῷ, καθαριεῖ τὴν συνείδησιν ὑμῶν ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων εἰς τὸ λατρεύειν Θεῷ ζῶντι;

Μαρ ιʹ 32 - 45

Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, παραλαμβάνει ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοὺς δώδεκα μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἤρξατο αὐτοῖς λέγειν τὰ μέλλοντα αὐτῷ συμβαίνειν, ὅτι Ἰδοὺ ἀναβαίνομεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδοθήσεται τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι καὶ γραμματεῦσι, καὶ κατακρινοῦσιν αὐτὸν θανάτῳ καὶ παραδώσουσιν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἐμπαίξουσιν αὐτῷ καὶ μαστιγώσουσιν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμπτύσουσιν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστήσεται. Καὶ προσπορεύονται αὐτῷ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου λέγοντες· Διδάσκαλε, θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμεν ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Τί θέλετε ποιῆσαί με ὑμῖν; οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Δὸς ἡμῖν ἵνα εἷς ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ εἷς ἐξ εὐωνύμων σου καθίσωμεν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι; οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Δυνάμεθα. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Τὸ μὲν ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω πίεσθε, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθήσεσθε· τὸ δὲ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν μου καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι, ἀλλ' οἷς ἡτοίμασται. καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ δέκα ἤρξαντο ἀγανακτεῖν περὶ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάννου. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς λέγει αὐτοῖς· Οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι αὐτῶν κατεξουσιάζουσιν αὐτῶν. οὐχ οὕτω δὲ ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλ' ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ γενέσθαι μέγας ἐνὑ μῖν, ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος, καὶ ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ ὑμῶν γενέσθαι πρῶτος, ἔσται πάντων δοῦλος· καὶ γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθε διακονηθῆναι, ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν.

5th Sunday of Lent - St. Mary of Egypt

My beloved friends in the Lord:

             Today is the Fifth Sunday in Great Lent, the day we commemorate Saint Mary of  Egypt.  Mary’s early life was decidedly un-saintly. She spent 17 years of her life pursuing a life of sin, driven by lust. The turning point came when she was in Jerusalem at the time of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, when a fragment of the Cross of Christ was held up for all to venerate. Out of curiosity she joined the crowds that were streaming toward the Church, and pushed her way into the Narthex with the others. But when she reached the door to enter the Nave of the Church, some mysterious force prevented her from going in.  She tried again, three or four more times, but each time she reached the door she could go no further. Finally, exhausted, she stood in a corner of the Narthex, trying to figure out what was happening. Gradually she realized that it was the sinfulness of her own actions that prevented her from entering the Church.

             As she stood weeping at this realization, she noticed that there was an icon of the Holy Theotokos on the wall near where she was standing. Looking into the eyes of the Panagia, she asked for Her help. She begged to be allowed to look on the Life-Giving Cross, where the Panagia’s Son had died for Her, and promising that she would renounce the world and its temptations, and go wherever the Theotokos led her. Then she tried again and nothing kept her from entering the Church.  After kneeling before the Cross she returned to the icon and asked the Panagia to lead her. Then she heard a voice saying “If you cross the Jordan, you will find rest.”  She obeyed, crossed the Jordan River and went into the desert, where she lived alone for the rest of her life.

             So how do we know about her? Because there was a monk, Father Zosimas, who had become well known for his asceticism. Eventually he came to believe that he had probably attained perfection in asceticism; that there was nothing more anyone could teach him. Then he visited a monastery, where it was the custom that the monks spend all of Lent alone in the desert, not knowing how anyone else lived or fasted. When they all returned on Palm Sunday, no one would ask anyone else how he had succeeded in his Lenten fast.  Thus no one was tempted to impress anyone else; each one had to struggle only with himself, before God.

             So he went into the desert, and after twenty days, as he stopped for prayer, he saw a woman in the distance. It was Mary – she was old now.  He tried to approach her but she avoided him until he threw her his cloak. Then he begged her to tell him her story, and she reluctantly complied. He could tell, by the way she talked and things she knew about him that she lived in close communion with God.

             The Holy Church commemorates Saint Mary of Egypt every year, as an example of repentance. Repentance is about self-awareness. The first step in coming closer to God is seeing ourselves as we really are. Not as we think others see us, not as we want others to see us; and not as our parents told us we would turn out, either. But as we really are, with all our pretenses and defenses stripped away. Self-awareness is seeing ourselves as God sees us. So repentance starts with self-awareness.  Then it’s about recognizing the obstacles that keep us from coming closer to Him - not our specific sins, so much as our sinfulness; not the things we do, so much as the desires that make us do them. The Holy Fathers boiled it down to a list of eight “passions” that drive us all: gluttony, unchastely, avarice, anger, listlessness, despair, vainglory, and pride.

             Repentance also involves recognizing that we cannot do it on our own. Saint Mary knew she could not subdue her passions on her own, even with extreme asceticism; that’s why she begged for help from the Theotokos. Each time Saint Mary was overwhelmed by temptation she would bring to mind the image of the Theotokos, remembering her promise and asking her help, and afterwards she would see a great light all around her and be filled with peace. Instead of dwelling on the things she had done or wanted to do, she focused her attention on that image – single-mindedly, receptively, and expectantly. This is the essence of Christian meditation, focused on the present moment and attentive to God, receptive. And more and more she did experience that peace and rest that the Theotokos had promised she would find. She knew the Theotokos as her intercessor. And we have the same help available – from God, who loves us, and from the Theotokos and all the saints (including Saint Mary herself), who pray for us and encourage us.

             Saint Mary’s example shows us that repentance begins with self-awareness, that it involves vigilantly resisting the characteristics in ourselves – the passions – that draw us away from God, and that God loves us so much that his help is always available.  As Father Zosimas saw, the result was that Saint Mary grew closer and closer to God and became more and more like Him…if she did, then we can too!

             Praying that we faithfully traverse the journey of the Great Lent so that it may lead us to a greater level of spiritual awareness and closeness with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I humbly remain,

 With paternal love and blessings in Christ,

+Protopresbyter Panagiotis

* Friday, April 2nd – 7:00pm 3rd Salutations to the Holy Theotokos

Memorials

* Susan Georgia Chrisomalis - 40 day memorial

* Christos Karlis - 40 day memorial

* Ioannis Makros - 40 day memorial

* Adroniki Koutoulia - 9 month memorial

* Magdalene Milonakis - 9 month memorial

May their memory be eternal!

Church Calendar

* Saturday April 24th - Weaving of the palms after Divine Liturgy.

* Sunday April 25th - Bakaliaro lunch to go. 

* Sunday School - Will begin as soon as the number of COVID cases decreases significantly.

 DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

FELLOWSHIP HOUR HAS BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

ABSOLUTELY NO GATHERINGS IN THE CHURCH HALL.