Acts 5:1-11 (Epistle)
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
John 5:30-6:2 (Gospel)
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
31 If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
36But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish – the very works that I do – bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.
38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
41 I do not receive honor from men.
42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you – Moses, in whom you trust.
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.
Saint Matrona of Moscow
Matrona Dimitrievna Nikonova was born in 1881 in the village of Sebino, Tula province, into a God-fearing peasant family. This village is located twenty kilometers from Kulikovo field. During her childhood. Matrona, blind from birth, received from God the gift of spiritual vision, and penetration into mysteries of God's Providence. The grace which rested upon her was manifested in the gifts of prayer, spiritual reasoning, knowledge, and clairvoyance. Early on, people started coming to her for advice. At first, it was just local residents, and then visitors from other regions. In her seventeenth year, Matrona's legs suddenly became paralyzed, and she permanently lost the ability to walk. She never complained because of her ailments, but humbly bore the cross God had given to her.
Matrona left for Moscow in 1925, which became the place of her ascetical service, and of her righteous repose. Persecuted by the atheists, Matrona was constantly forced to change her place of residence, finding refuge in the homes of believers. An endless stream of people visited Matrona, thirsting for spiritual healing, instruction, and her prayerful help. By her prayers, the infirm were healed of paralysis, or suffering from mental and physical ailments. Her prophecies and predictions helped many people to avoid danger and death, and to find the right path in difficult circumstances. Numerous testimonies of these miraculous events have been preserved.
After her righteous repose, which occurred in 1952, many people came to Matrona's grave in the Danilov cemetery, veneration of the deceased increased, and miracles and healings took place. In 1999, by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Eldress Matrona of Moscow was numbered among the righteous Saints for local Church veneration in Moscow, and in the Moscow diocese. Her revered relics rest in the Stavropegial Protection Convent in Moscow.
Saint Matrona is commemorated on April 19 / May 2, on March 7/ 20, on the Sunday before August 28 / Sept. 10, the Synaxis of the Moscow Saints, and on September 22 / Oct. 5, the Synaxis of the Tula Saints.
Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
Saint John Chrysostom
One of the most striking features of Christianity is that it is not culture-based. Judaism is Jewish, the Olympian gods were Greek, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are Indian, Taoism Chinese, Shintoism Japanese and so on. Whatever it may have become later, through acculturation into various societies, in its origins Christianity was something radically different: a challenge to established patterns that had grown out of the society in which they were formed. This can be seen very clearly in the events after the Crucifixion, which are barely comprehensible in conventional terms. The first is the recognition of Christ’s divinity by the centurion, who, as a Roman, would not have had any interest in the death of a Jewish criminal.
Then the disciples, who have featured prominently in the Gospels, all make themselves scarce and two previously unknown followers of Christ, Joseph and Nikodimos, unexpectedly come out of hiding and take the responsibility of finding a grave for Him and making preparations for the embalming. There is also the announcement of the good news of the Resurrection being entrusted to people who have, indeed, figured in the Gospels, but as rather inconsequential, peripheral figures: women, whose testimony was not even admitted in certain interpretations of Jewish law. And, perhaps that oddest aspect of all, the fact that people who had spent years in the company of the Lord were unable to recognize Him after the Resurrection. These extracts from Saint John Chrysostom expand on this. (WJL).
‘But Joseph went, and begged the body’.
This was Joseph who had until then concealed his discipleship. Now, however, he became very bold after the death of Christ. He was no nonentity, nor someone to be overlooked, but one of the Council, and a very distinguished person. From this, in particular, we can see his courage: he exposed himself to death, by making himself the enemy of everyone because of his affection for Jesus, both by daring to beg the body in the first place and then persisting until he obtained it. Not only did he take the body, nor merely bury it at considerable expense, but he also laid it in his own new tomb, thus demonstrating his love and courage. And this was all arranged in such a way that there would not be the slightest suspicion that perhaps one person had risen in the place of another.
‘And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre’.
What were they doing waiting? As yet and as was proper, they knew nothing great or sublime about Him, but they’d brought ointments, and were waiting at the tomb, so that if the manic behaviour of the Jews relaxed, they might go and embrace the body. Do you see the courage of these women? Do you see their love? Do you see the nobility of spirit, even in the face of death, in their actions? We men should imitate those women and not abandon Christ in His tribulations. Because, even when He’d died, they gave so much and even risked their lives. Whereas we (let me say it yet again) don’t feed Him when He’s hungry, don’t clothe Him when He’s naked, but, on the contrary, when we see Him begging, walk straight past Him.
‘Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping’.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 4/28: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 4/29: no services or events
Wednesday 4/30: no services or events
Thursday 5/1: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 5/2: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 5/3: Great Vespers 6 p.m.
Sunday 5/4: Divine Liturgy 9:15 a.m.
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Christ the Savior Orthodox Church is located in Southbury, Connecticut, and is part of the New England Diocese of the Orthodox Church of America.
Mailing address: Christ the Savior Church, 1070 Roxbury Road, Southbury, CT 06488
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Fr. Moses Locke can be reached at frmoseslocke@gmail.com