Translation from the Book

Ὁ Θεός στήν Καινή Διαθήκη, Βοήθημα Κατωτέρου Κατηχητικοῦ Β΄,

ἐκδ. «Χριστιανική Ἐλπίς» Ὀρθόδοξη Ἀδελφότητα, Θεσσαλονίκη 2015, σσ. 61-66

The parable of the Good Samaritan

Lk 10:30-37

  Have you ever heard of climbers? Climbers love to climb high mountains and conquering the highest of them! It must be very tiring to climb these mountains, however, the view they can enjoy at the top of them is very rewarding! 

  Maybe some of you are dreaming to become climbers when you grow up. You can, though, climb on the highest mountain and reach the top of it NOW! You‘ll have to work a lot on it and surely it won’t be easy, but the joy you‘ll feel in the end, can be priceless!
  Can you guess what is this high mountain and the peak of it, that we ’re talking about?
  And what is the path we need to follow, so we can climb this mountain? We ‘ll be able to find it out today, by listening to the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told us.
  A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. There was only one way connecting these two towns. The distance between them was quite long. And the road was not always busy, as it was quite rough and dangerous to walk on. Sometimes, bandits preferred to hide there and ambush the passengers. This man had the bad luck to get ambushed while walking. He tried to resist the robbers, but they beat him up very hard and left him half–dead along the road!
  The poor man was in such pain! He suffered so much and was so upset for what the robbers had done to him. And at that very moment, he felt so hopeless, that almost gave up on his life. He thought “I ‘ll probably die here, all alone in this desert!”.
  It was not long after that a priest came along. He was probably going home after the service he had in Jerusalem. He soon realised there was a wounded man on the ground. What would we expect him to do in such a case? To stop and help the robbed man, right? However, he went to the other side of the road so to avoid him and quickly went on his journey.
Soon, a second person, a Levite (a priest’s assistant and Temple worker) came by. He came nearer, saw the injured man and thought “He must have been ambushed… That means I am in danger to be attacked by the robbers, too!”. So, the Levite kept on going without helping the man.
  The pain became greater for the injured man. Not only he was hurting in his body, but also his heart was broken by the bad behaviour of the first two passengers. They just left him there to die. He lost all his hopes. He was sure no more people would pass by the road. And probably even if they did, they would not care for him enough to stop and save him. He thought “I’ll die here alone”.
  A third man appeared walking on the road. He was a Samaritan. Jewish people did not really like people from Samaria. To the point that they refused to even talk to them! But when the Samaritan saw the injured man, he felt very sorry for the beat-up Jewish man! Love moved him towards the man and immediately decided to help him! He selflessly tried to aid the injured man with the oil and wine he was carrying with him. He took care of his wounds, treating them with oil to soften the pain and with wine to disinfect them (as they used to do back then). The Samaritan ripped his clothes to make bandages to cover the wounds. And after that, he lifted the man and sat him on his own animal, and he walked beside them. Soon they arrived at a small inn. The Samaritan stayed up all night looking after the wounded man. The next day before leaving, he paid the innkeeper in advance with two denarii enough for some more days. He asked from him to make sure that the injured man will be taken care of. “I’ll be back after a couple of days to pay you, should the man need something extra.”

The characteristics of true love

  Such a moving story! Isn’t it? We can find the attributes of true and pure love in the Good Samaritan’s behaviour. Genuine love can lift us to heaven. It is like a staircase we can climb and reach the sky! There are five steps to take. Count them in your five fingers and make sure you learn them by heart:
  a) Love towards everyone. The Samaritan showed love to the Jew, even if he was an enemy to him. Love is not selective. And we need to learn to love all the people the same!
  b) Love through actions. The Samaritan didn’t only think about helping the injured man, but he put his thinking into practise. He didn’t just say to him “Bless you! You need help!”, but he took good care of him. He tried to minimize his pain and then carried him to an inn. He even paid more the innkeeper to specially look after him. We show love through our actions. It’s not just words. Being nice to someone, running an errand for someone or visiting somebody when they’re ill, surely are actions of love. (We ask the children to suggest ideas of love actions). So, love is helping my classmates with their homework, visiting someone when they’re in hospital or maybe they’re just lonely at home. Love is lending stuff to people they need them, helping our parents with the chores. Love is to be happy with the others’ success. There are so many ways to show our love!
  c) Selfless love. Did the Samaritan ask for something back when he helped the Jew? Of course not! He was expecting nothing. When we do something out of love, we shouldn’t expect anything in return. Selfless love doesn’t work like that!
  d) Secret love. Did the Samaritan help the injured man, so other people would see this and admire him? No. He hid well the good deed he did. This means that whatever good we may do to someone should stay secret, between us and them. All our good deeds are recorded in the book of our life. God sees and knows about them and that’s more than enough. He will award us.
  e) Love with sacrifices. If we think of love being a staircase, the very last step and at the top of it, is sacrifice! What sacrifices the Good Samaritan did? He sacrificed his time, his money… He even put his life in danger! Loving one’s neighbor was risky and economically costly in this story. What about us? You think we can sacrifice something for others? Our time, some of our playtime, some of our pocket money maybe? When we are willing to give something that is ours or share it, people can feel our kindness. Would you, like to show our love to others? (Charity actions suggestions, i.e., visit to a hospital or a charity home, contributing into a petty cash, collecting food for a poor family. It would be an extraordinary experience for the children to try participating in any of those good deeds).
  Love is a ladder that can lead us to heaven! Also, heaven can come down to us through it! If we show our love to other people with our actions, selflessly and in secret, then we create a small Heaven on earth! We make people around us happy and that subsequently creates happiness in our souls, too!

Copyright © 2021 by Orthodox Christian Association «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ. All rights reserved.

Translation from the book:

Στεργίου Ν. Σάκκου, ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ ἡ ἀναστάσιμη ἡμέρα, 

ἐκδ. «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» 

ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ, ἔκδ. 4η, Θεσ/νίκη 2020, σσ. 27-32

(Stergios N. Sakkos [Read CV], 

SUNDAY: The Day of Resurrection, pp. 27-32)

Part 3
Sunday: its gifts to believers

  Sunday is by itself God’s free gift and offering to His children. We might think that God orders to dedicate a day to His worship, but in fact God gives us His day to be blessed and sanctified. Sunday provides us with its valuable treasures, which fill us with spiritual wealth. This offer is multiplied and covers almost every aspect of human life.
  In terms of history, it attests the most fundamental fact in our faith: Christ’s Resurrection and it is indeed an everlasting monument of the Resurrection and constant evidence that Christ has risen.
  In terms of theology, the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the Orthodox Church brings God on earth with his body and blood.
  In terms of ecclesiology, it helps us realize the notion of Church as a whole body: the visible part and the invisible, through the worship and preaching to the congregation.
  Spiritually, it increases and renews our faith as it gives us the chance to be fed with the flesh of God, to quench our thirst with His divine words, to talk to Him through prayers, to live in his holy family by communicating with the other members of the Church.
  Ethically, it helps us abstain from sin throughout the week. The sanctifying power that Sunday offers, as well as our pious desire to accept its blessings again and again, allow us not to fall victims to our desires.
  Psychologically, it is a celebration, a happy break from the six-day labor, which every tired person comes across weekly.
  Moreover, socially it helps to develop our relationships in the most wonderful way. People with numerous diversities (political-educational-financial) with only one common point, the same faith, with the same petitions meet in a peaceful congregation around the same table. We visit each other joyfully, but at the same time we take part in the pain, the poverty and the misery of our fellow humans. Is there another day, indeed, which has the social features we find on Sunday?
  These are not the only presents that Sunday offers. We could enumerate many more but the list would not be exhausted. That is because what is offered by Sunday is multiplied, as it spreads in the life of every believer. So, something amazing takes place: Sunday is not just an extraordinary day during which we get the power to live through the rest of the days, but its grace penetrates throughout the week. Therefore, every time we open our arms to embrace Sunday fully, we move upwards in the scale of our relationship with God and this is certainly not diminished during the rest of the days, but we stay there the whole week, since our heart beats on the rhythm of Sunday. Next Sunday we move one step forward and stay there during the whole week and then we go on in the same way.
  However, we are in danger of losing this invaluable day, because we do not appreciate it and we leave it exposed to be violated by sacrilegious people. Sunday, like every divine issue, is targeted by every power opposed to God threatening to replace or extinguish it. This attack against Sunday is, indeed, an attempt against God. Since God can’t be discounted the only thing to be achieved for humans is to hurt themselves, both spiritually and physically. If we lose Sunday, we lose our Lord and consequently we lose ourselves because this day we surrender ourselves to Him and take them back sanctified, transformed and resurrected.
  Every Sunday is an Easter and a Resurrection. When we experience it and wait for it in this way, we can celebrate Easter every week and every Easter we can rejoice a unique Sunday. With this kind of experiences, our life is brightened and Sunday becomes the most desirable day. “This is the chosen and Holy Day, the first of the Sabbaths, the Queen and the Sovereign, the Feast of Feasts, and the Festival of Festivals” that makes our life beautiful and refreshes our soul. It is the day that our Lord offers us to be happy and rejoice with Him.

Copyright © 2021 by Orthodox Christian Association «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

By Saint John Chrysostom

  I am your father, your brother, your bridegroom, your home, the one who brings you up, your cloth, your root, your foundation. I am all whatever you may wish for, in order not to be in need of anything.
  I will be your servant too, for I came to serve, not to be served. I am your friend and member, your head and brother, sister and mother. I am all for you. Only stay closely to me.
  I became poor and a wanderer for you. I was hung on the cross for you, placed in the tomb for you. In heaven I pray for you to the Father. I was sent by my Father for your sake and I came to earth. You are everything to me, brother, and co-heir, a friend and member. What more would you ask for? Why do you turn away from Him, who loves you so much?

Saint John Chrysostom, On Matthew 76,5· PG 58,700

  God’s love united earth to Heaven. God’s love seated man on the kingly throne. God’s love manifested God upon earth.
  God’s love made him, the Beloved, surrender to death for the sake of his enemies, of those who hate the Son...
  God’s love didn’t stop here, but called us to more greater things. God didn’t only release us from our former evils, but promised to bestow upon us other much greater blessings.
  For all these things, then, let us give thanks to God, and follow after every virtue and above all things, let us with complete precision practice love that we may be counted worthy to attain the promised blessings.

Saint John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Ephesians 9,4· PG 62,74-75

Copyright © 2021 by Orthodox Christian Association «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ. All rights reserved.

1. THE PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

1b. Conscience

   The priest, standing before the altar, says the first prayer of the faithful. This prayer refers to “conscience”, specifically, the priest who is to offer the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist must have a clear conscience. But what is conscience?
   We can mention two persons as examples. They are involved in Christ’s Passion: Peter and Judas. Peter, the zealous disciple of Christ, boldly proclaimed that he would never betray his Lord, even if all the others did. Christ, however, told Peter: “Before the rooster crows tonight you will say three times that you don’t know me” (Mt 26,34). And so it happened. On the night of Holy Thursday, he watched the Divine Drama, hiding his own drama. His fear dominated him completely. He trembled with fear of being recognized as a disciple and arrested. Three times betrayed the Lord with curses and denials.
   Certainly, his conscience existed but it was asleep. With the crow of the rooster his conscience woke up. Just then Christ was passing through the courtyard and his glimpse affected him. Aware of his sin Peter went out and wept bitterly. However, with the help of the Divine Grace he repented and God’s peace returned to his heart.
   Judas was one of the Twelve but his sin was greater than Peter’s. Peter denied Christ from fear, but Judas betrayed Him from avarice. He sold his Teacher for thirty coins, the price of a slave. When he accepted the purse of the coins his conscience was diseased, darkened, distorted by avarice. Later, when he learnt that Christ was condemned, his conscience woke up. Like a stormy, troubled sea, it cast up great waves of despair, trying to drown him. Completely alone without the help of the Divine Grace, he fought the raging waves but he was overwhelmed by them. In despair, he ended his own life. He hung himself. Selfish people may kneel down and repent but avarice hardens the heart, darkens and confuses the mind.
   Conscience is the faculty of the soul which distinguishes good from evil. It is a natural part of man’s soul. Adam and Eve, the first to sin, felt the remorse of conscience and tried to hide from God’s sight. Cain, the first murderer, could never calm himself. The voice: “Cain, Cain where is your brother?” would not leave him in peace. As St. Chrysostomos said, it is better to be stung by a scorpion than by the conscience. When our passions roar in our souls, the voice of conscience can’t be heard. However, when Christ will be back to judge the world, the voice of our conscience will be endless and unbearable. It will be an eternal damnation.

1. THE PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
1a. Faithful/Good people

   If order must prevail during the first part, the Liturgy of the Catechumens (those not yet baptized), so that everyone can hear the petitions, the prayers, readings and sermon, order must prevail much more in the second part. Now the Lord, no longer as Teacher but as Archpriest, prepares to celebrate the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist, to offer His body and blood to the faithful. Those who really confess the “Symbol of the Faith” are the faithful. Only these can participate in this mystery of the Holy Eucharist.
   Are faithful the “christians” who come to church only on Christmas and Easter? If one were to ask these people: “Why don’t you come to church regularly?” The answer would be: “We don’t go to church, but we are good people.” Those who sign their own certificates of merit, are sadly mistaken.
   First, they don’t know themselves. If they were to examine their own lives from childhood to this day, they would find that they have often violated God’s will as expressed in Scripture. No matter how good they may appear to be, they may be corrupt at heart. If they don’t do evil acts, this might be for fear of becoming caught in the nets of human justice.
  Secondly, those who claim to be good don’t know the Bible. Because in the Gospels we read that in order to be saved, good deeds are not enough, no matter how many or how great they might be. A thousand acts of charity can’t save the unbeliever. If good acts could save a man, then it was not necessary for the Son of God to come into the world and be crucified. His sacrifice would have been in vain.
   So, we are saved through faith. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16,16). Faith is indispensible for salvation. The same faith is indispensible for participation in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. We gain nothing if we go to church because it is the custom, if we go without faith in Christ.

Στά πλαίσια τοῦ ἑορτασμοῦ τῶν 200 χρόνων ἀπό τήν Ἐπανάσταση τοῦ 1821

θά γίνουν καθ᾿ ὅλη τή διάρκεια τοῦ ἔτους οἱ παρακάτω προβολές.

(Ἡ ἡμερομηνία συμπίπτει μέ ἐκείνην τοῦ γεγονότος πού περιγράφει ἡ θεατρική παράσταση)

Translation from the book:

Στεργίου Ν. Σάκκου, ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ ἡ ἀναστάσιμη ἡμέρα, 

ἐκδ. «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» 

ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ, ἔκδ. 4η, Θεσ/νίκη 2020, σσ. 17-24

(Stergios N. Sakkos [Read CV], 

SUNDAY: The Day of Resurrection, pp. 17-24)

   Part 2

Sunday: its theology

God came and walked on earth. He left His footprints on several places and some of these are:

• The stable in Bethlehem, where He was born in a manger,
• the lake in Galilee, where He walked and chose His first disciples,
• the hillsides and plains that heard His voice teaching the crowds,
• the mount of Transfiguration that saw His divinity shining like the sun,
• the garden of Gesthemane, where He shed tears of anguish,
• the place of Golgotha, where He shed His blood,
• his empty tomb.

   The whole Palestine, which He crossed “doing good and healing” (Acts 10,38), is the Holy Land that reminds us of Godman's visit. We can go to this Holy Land if we wish and kneel on the sacred ground. However, we can also find this Holy Land in every Church because there we can enter Christ's life through the Holy Sacraments:

♦ In the Prothesis (Preparation table) we see Bethlehem,
♦ in the Holy Altar we stare at Golgotha,
♦ in the baptismal font we see the river Jordan,
♦ from the oil lamp of the sanctuary we take the light of the Resurrection.

   On the other hand, during His lifetime lots of divine signs took place:
◊ Epiphany, when God Father showed His Son and the Holy Spirit rested on Him in the form of a dove,
◊ the Passion, when Jesus was gradually led to His crucifixion and death,
◊ the Resurrection, that filled with light and happiness the hearts of the faithful,
◊ the Ascension, which glorified human nature,
◊ the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit laid the foundation of the Church.

   All those supernatural events that brought salvation to the suffering human beings are the religious celebrations of our Church that keep, through the grace of the Sacraments, alive the presence of Christ among us. So, the faithful, no matter of the age we live in, can:
√ Meet our Lord Jesus Christ, the Godman,
√ become his disciples,
√ walk with Him,
√ listen to His words,
√ see His miracles,
√ live His Resurrection,
√ commune Him.

   All the above, that is, the Holy Land and the sacred celebrations, are offered in a way that only God could cοnceive and attain, in the day of Sunday. On Sunday and during the Divine Liturgy, being its essential feature, we gather in church where our Lord comes physically through the Holy Eucharist. Sunday helps us to take part in His life from the manger to the empty tomb. There, in the Church, in front of the holy altar and among the angels and saints we embrace God’s space and our soul rests, because it senses the divine eternity. At the same time we enter in God’s time through the Holy Communion where Christ is present in the bread of Prothesis, on the altar and in the Holy Chalice. Then our soul, full of eternity, rejoices. Sunday offers a spiritual space without borders and a limitless time. It brings God both in our life and heart... Sunday offers an always present experience of God’s love, which is expressed and realized tangibly in the Divine Liturgy.
   It is, also, a living memorial of the past, a kind of a historical witness. It is a one and only witness in the course of humanity that constantly testifies the redemptive work of the resurrected Christ until this day.
   Also, Sunday is a prophecy of the future, as the enlightened Fathers of our Church have remarked. The present world is included in the seven days of the week, which are constantly recycled till this world comes to an end. Sunday is considered to be the eighth day, which succeeds the seventh, and prophesies the future life, inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection. This eighth day is the sweet eternity of God’s kingdom. It starts now in Christ’s Church and expands farther after this earthly time. Sunday allows us to have this experience in advance.
   When God started the creation of the world by bringing light in the abyss it was the first day of time. “And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Ge 1,5). It was also the first day of the week when Christ started reforming mankind by defeating death in Hades, “But on the first day of the week” (Lk 24,1). So, on Sunday the faithful celebrate both the birthday of the creation and the revival of humanity by Jesus Christ, while we experience in advance the future world of eternity, the heavenly rebirth.

   When we talk about the theological meaning of Sunday, we present the great truths of our faith. Sunday is:
• The first day of the world’s creation,
• the day of the Resurrection and man’s re-creation,
• the apocalyptic day of the future eternity,
• the day of Divine Liturgy in our church life.

   Thinking of Sunday we feel, indeed, the need:
◊ To thank God for the world He offered us,
◊ to praise Him for His Church and His Resurrection and,
◊ to have an ever ending expectation for His blessed kingdom.
   The existence of Sunday in the worldly calendar constitutes a visit of God Himself, Who by approaching us breaks the earthly boundaries and opens the way to heaven, the way that leads to His Presence.

To be continued

Copyright © 2021 by Orthodox Christian Association «ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗ ΕΛΠΙΣ» ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΗ ΑΔΕΛΦΟΤΗΤΑ. Used by permission. All rights reserved.