Acts 8:26-39 (Epistle)
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert.
27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
John 6:40-44 (Gospel)
40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”
42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves.
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
When Saint John was more than one hundred years old, he told seven of his disciples to take spades and follow him to a certain place outside the city of Ephesus, and then he told everyone to sit down while he went off to pray by himself for a while. When he returned, he told his disciples to dig a grave as long as he was tall, in the form of a cross. After giving them instructions and kissing them, he climbed into the grave and said: "Take some earth, my mother earth, and cover me."
They covered him with earth up to his knees, and he said: "Now take some more earth and cover me up to my neck."
As soon as he they had done this, Saint John spoke again: "Bring a linen cloth and place it on my face, then kiss me again for the last time, because you shall not see me anymore in this life."
After the Apostle dismissed them, they buried him and wept bitterly. Later, they returned and opened the grave, but the Saint's body was not there. They wept and returned to the city.
Every year, on May 8, a red dust appears on his grave, which heals the sick, through the prayers of the Holy Apostle John. People call this dust "manna from the earth."
Saint Augustine knew about this dust, and Saint Gregory of Tours also wrote about it. Some sources call this Feast "rodismos" (ροδισμός) i.e. Day of the Roses. Some think that this manna is called ροδής (a pink ointment, or a rose-colored dust). Others say that by this name they celebrate the roses of spring, just as we decorate the church with greenery and flowers on Pentecost.
Saint John’s principal Feast Day is September 26, but today the Church commemorates Saint John because of the annual pilgrimage to his grave.
There is a special title to be used when commemorating Saint John at the Dismissal: “The holy, glorious Apostle and Evangelist, Virgin, Beloved friend of Christ, John the Theologian.”1
The Peace of God is a Great Treasure
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol
When we have the peace of God within us and the soul is convinced that God is indeed our Father, who governs creation, and that we are children of this Almighty God, who sustains creation, we’re in no danger and need not fear anything. When we’re at peace with God, we’re also at peace with other people. We cease to see others as our enemies, but, instead, see them as our God: ‘If you’ve seen your brother or sister, you’ve seen the Lord your God’. For people of God, each person is ‘very good’, as God the Creator made them. The heart of the people of God cannot speak evil, since evil doesn’t exist for them. Of course, they aren’t naïve. They simply don’t accept that God’s creature, who was made in the image of our good God, is evil and wishes us harm. This doesn’t mean that the people of God are simple-minded and gullible; that because they’re certain that they aren’t in danger from anything, they won’t have bad relations with other people.
People of God, who are certain about the existence of God, fear nothing and no-one. The peace of God has incredible social repercussions. When envy, suspicion and fear have been abolished, what reason is there for us not to be united in love for one another, in the family and in our everyday lives? But if the peace of God is absent, then we’re jealous and afraid of each other and we function within a spirit of suspicion and loss of God’s peace. We’re under pressure from the wickedness that resides within us, because, lacking God’s grace, we haven’t ascended through the pall of evil that covers this world. Naturally, we fear not only our brothers and sisters and other people, but also our environment. We feel under threat from everywhere. We often feel we don’t want to be exposed, out on a limb somewhere, because we don’t know what’s happening there. We don’t feel peace in our soul. The peace which has its source in God is diffused into the surrounding environment. This is how people of God can live anywhere and become friends with the creation and at peace with it. Many saints lived with wild animals. Saint Gerasimos, on the River Jordan lived with a lion, and Saint Païsios lived comfortably with wild animals because, like all other saints, he had become peaceful with God. Saint Païsios lived in a ravine, in a terrifying place, as are all the hermitages on the Holy Mountain. He felt no fear there; everything around him was so familiar and beautiful that he felt as if he was living in the most pleasant place in the world. Today we can live in a city with many other people and yet be afraid because we’ve lost the peace of God in that environment.
So this peace of God which is given to people through a particular process, then has repercussions on the whole of our life and is specific, real and absolute. This is given by the Church. But how does this happen in practice? Is it possible for people who are in the world and who live their everyday lives, with all their problems and dangers, to experience the peace of God and his gifts, or are these only for one particular group of people? Christ called everyone to him and offers himself to all of us, within the Church.
We’re children of the Church, of the Mother that God endowed and enriched with all the gifts that he brought with his incarnation and the descent of the Holy Spirit. We can therefore share in the peace of God. In this way, the hymn of the angels [‘Glory to God in the highest and on peace…’] was confirmed and made reality in our heart and continues to be so. Christ doesn’t see people as a mass, he sees each person as unique, heals each of us separately, and retains the persona of each of us. He doesn’t make us all the same. The guarantee of and respect for our freedom demonstrates that peace is achieved within each one of us individually and provides us with a path, a path towards our encounter with Christ. The saints themselves have shown us that this peace exists on earth and is offered and given to us. When our heart is open to grace, it communes with it and ascends above the events of this world.
God’s peace is offered to each of us. We can enjoy it: ‘Come and see’, says Christ. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’. The Church has always spoken with complete certainty and authority because it has held experience in its hands. This experience is offered to everyone and each of us can and should investigate and prove it, to ourselves and to the milieu in which we live. God saved the whole human person, and it’s a grave error for us to think that there could be a circumstance in which he can’t save us. Or that it could ever be possible for our own wickedness and the evil and might of other powerful forces to confound him or impede his work and his providence. Victory belongs to God: ‘Our faith is the victory which has triumphed over the world’. Christ defeated the world, fear and anxiety and has given himself to us as our true peace. So we’re joyful and peaceful. We fear nothing, but tread our path, having in our heart this deep peace of which the angels sang and which all the saints experienced. And which our Church preserves to this day as a precious treasure.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 5/5: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 5/6: no services or events
Wednesday 5/7: no services or events
Thursday 5/8: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 5/9: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 5/10: Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m.; Great Vespers 6 p.m.
Sunday 5/11: Divine Liturgy 9:15 a.m.
CLICK BELOW to donate online:
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
PLEASE DONATE to help our parish do the work of the Lord, thrive and grow, and extend the Kingdom of God. May the Lord bless your generosity!
Fr. Moses Locke can be reached at frmoseslocke@gmail.com