My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
FIFTH SUNDAY OF HOLY AND GREAT LENT: THE
COMMEMORATION OF OUR HOLY MOTHER
MARY OF EGYPT.
On the Fifth Sunday of Holy and Great Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates and celebrates Saint Mary of Egypt, the MODEL OF PENITENTS. Like Saint John Climacus, her feast has been transferred from the fixed calendar, where she is commemorated on 1st April. Her life, recounted by Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem — it is read, AS A TRUE VERBAL ICON OF THE ESSENCE OF REPENTANCE. In her youth Saint Mary lived in a dissolute and sinful way at Alexandria. Drawn by curiosity, she journeyed with some pilgrims to Jerusalem, arriving in time for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. But when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the others, an invisible force thrust her back at the threshold. This happened three or four times. Brought to sudden contrition by this strange experience, she prayed all night with tears to the Mother of God, and next morning she found to her joy that she could enter the church without difficulty. After venerating the Jordan, and settled as a solitary in a remote region of the desert. Here for FORTY-SEVEN YEARS SHE REMAINED, hidden from the world, until she was eventually found by the ascetic Saint Zosimas, who was able to give her Holy Communion shortly before her death. Some modern writers have questioned the historical accuracy of Saint Sophronios’ narrative, but there is in itself nothing impossible about such a story. In the year 1890 the Greek Orthodox Priest Joachim Spetsieris found a woman hermit in the desert beyond the Jordan, living almost exactly as Saint Mary must have done.
Our Holy Orthodox Church very prudently placed the commemoration of Saint Mary of Egypt, the model of penitents on the Fifth Sunday of Holy and Great Lent and just before we enter Holy and Great Week. "Repentance leads to the gateway of heaven and not only alleviates the anguish of suffering but actually transforms this suffering into the intense joy of being reunited with our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Having otrn up the handwriting of our sins, O Christ, by Thy Divine grace, renew in us the grace that makes us sons of God, O Logos/Word of God, and grant us to please Thee henceforth with the service of our repentance, that with Thy Saints we may sing to Thee: Alleluia.’
Following His forty days and nights of prayer and fasting in the desert and His encounter with "the tempter" the devil, Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ "angels came and ministered to Him" [Matthew 4:11]. "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND" [Matthew 4:17]. The Greek word for repentance is METANOIA and it means change one’s mind, or more generally, to turn around. Repentance is a radical change of one’s spirit, mind, thought, and heart, a complete reorientation of the whole of one’s life. It is THE NECESSARY FIRST STEP IN "THE WAY OF THE LORD" it is accompanied by the confession of sins and the act of baptism and is followed by a life filled with fruits worthy of this change.
"God has given us health so that we can serve Him and our neighbors with it, but we abuse this precious gift by using it for sin and evil. God has given us riches so that we will be useful to the least of His brothers, but we misuse our riches as well. God has given us abilities in order to praise Him, ye twe often bring dishonor to God’s Holy Name with our abilities; it is sufficient to think of those writers who use their gift to slander God and the Saints.
Elder (Geronda) Ephraim of the Saint Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona, of blessed memory, says, "Repentance is endless. All the virtues, by grace of God, may be perfected by man, but no one can perfect repentance, since we need repentance until our last breath, for we err in the twinkling of an eye. Therefore, repentance is interminable…Repentance leaves nothing unhealed. If a man had not been given repentance, no one would be saved. Triumph and victory are given to man though the weapon of repentance. Glory to the only wise God, Who gave man such an effective medicine that cures every kind of illness, as long as it is taken properly."
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" [Matthew 5:8].
"In reading these words, every Christian feels a natural yearning of hte heart towards God, a true desire to taste the sweetness of communion, of being with Him as He created us to be; but the impurity of our hearts–full of passions, conflicts, and fears–bars the way. Yet, there is a cure for the weight of sin which burdens the heart and soul of each one of us and afflicts the conscience, keeping us from inner peace and from peace with our neighbors and loved ones.
"In the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance the spiritual afflictions of a man (person) are treated, impurities of soul are removed, and a Christian, having received forgiveness of sins, again becomes innocent and sanctified, just as he came out of the waters of Baptism." Saint Theophan the Recluse tells us that "in the Sacrament…of Confession the Lord enters into man by His grace, vividly establishes communion with him, and gives him to taste of all the sweetness of the Divine…"
Disease is not the greatest evil for man, because a disease of the body endured with humility, faith, and patience can cure the soul sick with sin and bring it closer to God–the greatest good for man. And death is not frightening for the believer, because through it, as through a door, one goes to the beloved and loving God Who hath prepared for them that love Him that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man" [cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9].
"But sin is the most wretched poverty of the heart–poverty blocking the treasure of grace. Sin is a deadly sickness of the soul, a sickness which deprives us both of the joys of earth and the joys of heaven. Sin is a terrible and most lamentable spiritual death which separates us eternally from the joy of the heavenly inhabitants in Paradise and buries us in the darkness of hell.
There is no greater evil for man than sin. It destroys both the body and the soul. It makes both this life and Eternal Life bitter. It causes discord in families, quarrels among neighbors, and disagreements among relatives… Just as hte diseases of the body can be external (visible) and internal (hidden), so the sins, as diseases of the soul, can be visible and invisible. We often comfort ourselves with the fact that we can hide the sinful wounds of our soul from the eyes of those around us. We pass for good and respectable people in their eyes. But we cannot hide anything from God. His eyes are brighter than the sun and penetrate everywhere. If we could take pictures of, or, with the help of some spiritual x-rays, see the hidden spiritual condition of each of us or of the whole of mankind as God sees it, we would be terrified!
Sin is an infinite evil because it is an insult to the Infinite God. The Lord has commanded us not to sin. But we sin, and thus we insult the Infinite Greatness of the Creator."
Repentance, this infinitely good gift, is given to you" a t any time of life, and it works with the same power for any sin: IT CLEANSES EVERY SIN, SAVES EVERYONE WHO TURNS TO GOD, BE IT EVEN TO THE LAST MINUTES BEFORE DEATH" says Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. [Source: The Forgotten Medicine].
Let us emulate the great example of repentance of Saint Mary of Egypt as we proceed to participate in the anticipated Great and Holy Week and entreat the Saint to intercede for us and our forgiveness from our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.
________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 