Acts 15:5-34 (Epistle)
5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.
13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me:
14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
16 ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 so that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the LORD who does all these things.’
18 Known to God from eternity are all His works.
19 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,
20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
21 For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
23 They wrote this letter by them: ”The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.
24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law’ – to whom we gave no such commandment –
25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
30 So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.
31 When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.
32 Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.
33 And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings from the brethren to the apostles.
34 However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.
John 10:17-28 (Gospel)
17 Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
Saint Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada
Saint Michael the Confessor From his youth he longed for the monastic life and was sent by Patriarch Tarasius (784-806) to a monastery on the coast of the Black Sea. Saint Theophylactus (March 8), the future Bishop of Nicomedia also entered the monastery together with him.
At the monastery both monks engaged in spiritual struggles and were soon glorified by gifts from the Lord. Once, during a harvest, when the people were weakened by thirst, an empty metal vessel was filled with water by the prayer of the monks.
Patriarch Tarasius consecrated Saint Michael as bishop of the city of Synnada. Through his holy life and wisdom, Saint Michael won the love of believers, and the notice of the emperors Nikēphóros I (802-811) and Michael I Rangabe (811-813). Saint Michael was present at the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicea in 787.
When the Iconoclast heretic Leo the Armenian (813-820) assumed the throne, he began to expel Orthodox hierarchs from their Sees, appointing heretics in their place.
Saint Michael defended Orthodoxy, bravely opposing the heretics and denouncing their error. Leo the Armenian brought Saint Michael to trial, but not fearing torture he answered resolutely, “I venerate the holy icons of my Savior Jesus Christ and the All-Pure Virgin, His Mother, and all the saints, and it is to them I bow down. I shall not obey your decrees to remove icons from churches.”
Leo then banished Saint Michael to the city of Eudokiada, where the confessor died about the year 821. The head of Saint Michael is preserved in the Great Lavra of Saint Athanasius on Mount Athos, and part of the relics are at the Ivḗron monastery.
‘You gave eyes, Lord, to the man born blind from the womb’
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian
(Sunday of the Blind Man)
The sixth Sunday after Easter and in today’s Gospel reading we hear how our Lord, Jesus Christ, cured a man who’d been blind from birth. This healing of the blind man was a severe rebuke to the Pharisees who were most unwilling to accept the words of Christ. The act of healing became the starting-point for his salvation, as this is expressed at the end of the excerpt in his confession of faith.
The reading, from the Gospel according to Saint John, tells how, when he was in Jerusalem, Jesus met a man blind from birth. Feeling pity for his creation, he made clay by spitting on the earth. This he rubbed on the man’s eyes and then sent him to the pool at Siloam to wash his face*. It should be mentioned that, at that time, the lepers, the blind, the childless and the poor were all considered to be under God’s punishment because of serious sins they’d committed. Religiously and socially they were shunned and in essence were living dead. But then along came our Lord, Jesus Christ, who gave the lie to this prevailing concept.
The cause of the man’s blindness wasn’t any sin committed by himself or his parents. He was born blind in order that the glory of God might be made manifest**. Sickness and pain aren’t always the results of our personal sins, but may be consequences of our less than optimum natural circumstances or the result of our own personal nature.
As soon as the blind man had shown complete obedience to the Lord, he gained his sight and was able to see normally. All of those who knew him wondered whether he was the blind man with whom they were acquainted. They couldn’t understand how he’d been cured, how he’d gained his sight: ‘How were your eyes opened?’ He boldly confessed the truth, saying that he’d been cured by a man called Jesus.
The man who’d been blind from birth had a very hard time of it, not only up until the moment when he was healed, but also thereafter. Before he met the Savior, he’d lived in darkness, deprived of the great blessing of light. When he encountered the True Light, then the people of darkness, the Pharisees, rose up against him, the reason being that the Lord had made the clay on the day of the Sabbath. There were at that time, 38 proscriptions regarding the Sabbath, one of which was a prohibition on making clay (mud). So, for the Pharisees, when Jesus made clay with his spittle, this was a transgression. And because of their fear of the Pharisees, the parents of the man were unwilling to confess the miracle in public.
The Scribes and Pharisees, who are projected as ‘types’ of religious conformability, had absolutely no idea of the significance of what happened in the case of the man who’d been blind from birth. They hadn’t the slightest notion of the measure of the miracles which had been performed. All they were concerned with was whether the rest-day of the Sabbath had been infringed by the healing of the blind man. They persisted in hairsplitting discussions, in a rational interpretation of the event and in explanations of the ‘what’ and ‘how’, as proof of something which they didn’t begin to understand. They really were living in spiritual blindness.
When our God, Jesus Christ, heals the ailing members of our body and restores them to health, he demonstrates that he’s also the creator of the other members. And when he says ‘That the works of God might be made manifest in him’, he means himself rather than the Father. Because the glory of the Father is already manifest**.
So the manner in which the blind man was cured is amazing. Yet the Lord could have healed him simply by saying a word, without the need to rub his eyes with clay. The reason he used clay as the means of healing was to kindle the man’s faith. And, indeed, he had faith enough, because, if he hadn’t, the miracle wouldn’t have occurred. Moreover, this action on the part of Christ would bring more people to God, because they’d see the man blind, initially, and then realize that his eyes had been opened. Another reason was so that the blind man wouldn’t recognize Jesus before he talked to the Pharisees about the Lord. Jesus created Adam from earth and from earth he created the eyes of the blind man. The Lord wanted this sign to be particularly apposite.
We can draw the following conclusions from today’s Gospel reading. In the first place, through his healing of the blind man, Christ demolishes the inhumane views of people at the time regarding the blind. Secondly, through this miracle, he bestowed light twice on the blind man. The first light was that he saw everything around him; and the second was that he gazed upon him who is the light of the world. The next conclusion is that the blind man began to see more deeply into things and beheld new truths, because he was supported by Jesus Christ, the be all and end all of the life of each and every one of us.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 5/19: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 5/20: no services or events
Wednesday 5/21: no services or events
Thursday 5/22: Matins 8:30 a.m.; Men’s Group 7 p.m.
Friday 5/23: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 5/24: Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m.; 40-Day Memorial for Evangeline 5:30 p.m.; Great Vespers 6 p.m.
Sunday 5/25: 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