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I like to wish
everyone a happy and blessed New Year 2009: May our Lord Jesus Christ
grant all our petitions for spiritual progress and enlightenment and may
he open our eyes and our hearts that we may understand his New Testament,
which he has granted unto us as a Book of Salvation and a guidebook for
eternal life.
This Sunday we
celebrate the feast of Sts. Athanasius and Cyril (Kyrillos): Our Bishop of
Limassol Athanasius celebrates his nameday this Sunday – May God grant him
many years. The Apostle reading for this Sunday is the reading assigned
for their feast, but the Gospel reading for the 12th Sunday of Luke – the
Gospel known as the Ten Lepers. As these two saints are two of the Great
Fathers of the Church I thought that instead of explaining the Apostle
reading we would look at the their lives and then the Gospel reading for
Sunday.
Both
Athanasius and Cyril have separate Feast days – Athanasius on 2nd May and
Cyril on 9th June. This joint Feast on the 18th January was assigned to
them in recognition of their teaching and defence of the Orthodox faith.
Saints Athanasius and Cyril were Patriarchs of Alexandria. Athanasius in
the Fourth Century and Cyril in the Fifth. They both took part in
Ecumenical Councils and through their teachings they defended the Church
and the Orthodox faith from the two main heresies of their time – Arianism
and Nestorianism.
Saint
Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great Father of the
Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy. He was born around the year 297 in the
city of Alexandria into a family of pious Christians. He received a fine
secular education, but he acquired more knowledge by diligent study of
Holy Scripture.
St. Athanasius
seems to have been brought early in life under the immediate supervision
of the ecclesiastical authorities of his native city. A story from his
childhood tells of how Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria had invited a
number of fellow prelates to meet him at breakfast after a great religious
function. While Alexander was waiting for his guests to arrive, he stood
by a window, watching a group of boys at play on the seashore below the
house. While observing the children he discovered that they were imitating
the elaborate ritual of Christian baptism. The Christian children decided
to baptize their pagan playmates. The young Athanasius, played the part of
the bishop and performed the Baptisms, precisely repeating the words he
heard in church during this sacrament. The Patriarch having watched
everything from his window sent for the children and, in the investigation
that followed, he determined that the Baptisms performed by the children
were done according to the Church order. He acknowledged the make-believe
baptisms as real and sealed them with the sacrament of Chrismation. From
that moment, the Patriarch looked after the spiritual upbringing of
Athanasius and in time brought him into the clergy, at first as a reader,
and then he ordained him as a deacon in 319.
As a deacon St
Athanasius accompanied Patriarch Alexander as his secretary to the First
Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in the year 325. At the Council, he surpassed
everyone there in his zeal to uphold the teaching that Christ is
consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father, and not merely a creature, as
the Arians proclaimed. His speech met with the approval of the Orthodox
Fathers of the Council, but the Arians, came to hate Athanasius and
persecuted him for the rest of his life.
After the
death of Patriarch Alexander, St Athanasius was unanimously chosen as his
successor to the See of Alexandria. He refused, accounting himself
unworthy, but at the insistence of all the Orthodox people he was
consecrated bishop when he was twenty-eight, and installed as the head of
the Alexandrian Church.
Bishop
Athanasius spent the first years of his patriarchate visiting the churches
and people of his territory, which at that time included all of Egypt and
Libya. During this period, he established contacts with the hermits and
monks of the desert, including Anthony the Great and Pachomius, who would
be very valuable to him over the years.
Shortly
thereafter, St Athanasius became occupied with the disputes of the
Byzantine Empire and the Arian heresy which would occupy much of his life.
Athanasius’ first problem lay with the Meletians, who had failed to abide
by the terms of the decision made at the First Council of Nicaea which had
hoped to reunite them with the Church. Athanasius himself was accused of
mistreating Arians and the followers of Meletius of Lycopolis, and had to
answer those charges at a gathering of bishops in Tyre, the First Synod of
Tyre, in 335. At that meeting, Eusebius of Nicomedia and the other
supporters of Arius deposed Athanasius. On November 6, both parties of the
dispute met with the Emperor Constantine I in Constantinople. At that
meeting, Athanasius was accused of threatening to interfere with the
supply of grains from Egypt, and, without any kind of formal trial, was
exiled by Constantine to Trier in the Rhineland.
On the death
of Emperor, Athanasius was allowed to return to his See of Alexandria.
Shortly thereafter, however, Constantine’s son, the new Roman Emperor
Constantius II, renewed the order for Athanasius’ banishment in 338.
Athanasius went to Rome, where he was under the protection of Constans,
the Emperor of the West. During this time, Gregory of Cappadocia was
installed as the Patriarch of Alexandria, usurping the absent Athanasius.
Athanasius did however remain in contact with his people through his
annual “Festal Letters”, in which he also announced on which date Easter
would be celebrated that year.
Pope Julius I
wrote to the supporters of Arius strongly urging the reinstatement of
Athanasius, but that effort proved to be in vain. He called a synod in
Rome in the year 341 to address the matter, and at that meeting Athanasius
was found to be innocent of all the charges raised against him. Julius
also called the Council of Sardica in 343. This council confirmed the
decision of the earlier Roman synod, and clearly indicated that all those
present saw St Athanasius as the lawful Patriarch of Alexandria. It proved
no more successful, however, as only bishops from the West and Egypt
bothered to appear.
In 346,
following the death of Gregory, Constans used his influence to allow
Athanasius to return to Alexandria. Athanasius’ return was welcomed by the
majority of the people of Egypt, who had come to view him as a national
hero. This was the start of a “golden decade” of peace and prosperity,
during which time Athanasius assembled several documents relating to his
exiles and returns from exile in the “Apology Against the Arians”.
However, upon Constans’ death in 350, a civil war broke out which left
Constantius as sole emperor. Constantius, renewing his previous policies
favouring the Arians, banished Athanasius from Alexandria once again. This
was followed, in 356, by an attempt to arrest Athanasius during a vigil
service. Following this, Athanasius left for Upper Egypt, where he stayed
in several monasteries and other houses. During this period, Athanasius
completed his work “Four Orations against the Arians” and defended his own
recent conduct in the “Apology to Constantius” and “Apology for His
Flight”. Constantius’ persistence in his opposition to Athanasius,
combined with reports Athanasius received about persecution of non-Arians
by the new Arian bishop George of Laodicea, prompted Athanasius to write
his more emotional “History of the Arians”, in which he described
Constantius as a precursor of the Antichrist.
In 361, after
the death of Emperor Constantius, shortly followed by the murder of the
very unpopular Bishop George, the popular St Athanasius now had the
opportunity to return to his Patriarchate. The following year he convened
a council at Alexandria at which he appealed for unity among all those who
had faith in Christianity, even if they differed on matters of
terminology. In 362, the new Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) began a
persecution against Christians. His wrath first fell upon St Athanasius,
whom he considered a great pillar of Orthodoxy. He ordered Athanasius to
leave Alexandria once again. Athanasius left for Upper Egypt, remaining
there until Julian's death in 363. Two years later, the Emperor Valens,
who favored the Arian position, in his turn exiled Athanasius. This time
however, St Athanasius simply left for the outskirts of Alexandria, where
he stayed for only a few months before the local authorities convinced
Valens to retract his order of exile. Some of the early reports explicitly
indicate that Athanasius spent this period of exile in his ancestral tomb.
St Athanasius
guided the Church for forty-seven years, and during this time he endured
many persecutions and grief from his antagonists. Several times he was
expelled from Alexandria and hid himself from the Arians in desolate
places, since they repeatedly tried to kill him. There was a time when he
remained as the only Orthodox bishop in the area, a moment when all the
other bishops had fallen into heresy. Despite being persecuted for many
years, the saint continued to defend the purity of the Orthodox Faith, and
he wrote countless letters and articles against the Arian heresy. St
Athanasius died in 373, at the age of seventy-six.
Numerous works
of St Athanasius have been preserved; four Orations against the Arian
heresy; also an Epistle to Epictetus, bishop of the Church of Corinth, on
the divine and human natures in Jesus Christ; four Epistles to a Bishop
Serapion, about the Holy Spirit and His Equality with the Father and the
Son, directed against the heresy of Macedonius.
Other
apologetic works in defense of Orthodoxy have been preserved, among which
is the Letter to the emperor Constantius. St Athanasius wrote commentaries
on Holy Scripture, and books of a moral and didactic character. Probably
his best known work is the classic life of St Anthony the Great with whom
St Athanasius was very close. It was translated into several languages and
played an important role in the spreading of the ascetic ideal in Eastern
and Western Christianity. St John Chrysostom advised every Orthodox
Christian to read this Life. There are several other works ascribed to
him, although not necessarily generally accepted as being his own work. If
you remember our first talk of the season on the canonical and apocryphal
writings, we mentioned that St. Athanasius is also acknowledged as the
first person who proposed a list for canonization of the 27 books of the
New Testament that are in use today.
ST. CYRIL
Saint Cyril
came from an illustrious and pious Christian family. He was born about 378
in the small town of Theodosios, Egypt, near modern day El-Mahalla El-Kubra.
A few years after his birth, his mother's brother Theophilus rose to the
powerful position of Patriarch of Alexandria. His mother remained close to
her brother and under his guidance, Cyril was well educated. He studied
the secular sciences, including philosophy, but most of all he strove to
acquire knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and the truths of the Christian
Faith. While still young, Cyril entered the monastery of Macarius in the
Nitreia hills, where he stayed for six years. His uncle, the Patriarch
ordained him as a deacon and entrusted him to preach. Upon the death of
Patriarch Theophilus, Cyril was unanimously chosen to the patriarchal
throne of the Alexandrian Church. During his time he had to contend with
many enemies of the Church. He led the struggle against the spread of the
Novatian heresy in Alexandria, which taught that any Christian, who had
fallen away from the Church during a time of persecution, could not be
received back into it.
Cyril, seeing
the futility of admonishing the heretics, sought their expulsion from
Alexandria. The Jews appeared a greater danger for the Church, repeatedly
causing riots, accompanied by the brutal killing of Christians. The saint
long contended with them. In order to wipe out the remnants of paganism,
the saint cast out devils from an ancient pagan temple and built a church
on the spot, and the relics of the Holy Unmercenaries Cyrus and John were
transferred into it. But a more difficult struggle awaited the saint with
the emergence of the Nestorian heresy.
Nestorius, a
presbyter of the Antiochian Church, was chosen in 428 to the see of
Constantinople and there he was able to spread his heretical teaching
against the dogma on the inseparable union of the two natures in the
Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He divided the person of Christ into two
and was unwilling to call the Blessed Virgin Theotokos – Mother of God. He
said that Mary could only be called Christotokos - the mother of Christ
the man for she did not give birth to the pre-existing, pre-eternal Son of
God, who already had a Father with whom He shared His divine nature. Cyril
repeatedly wrote to Nestorius and pointed out his error, but Nestorius
continued to persevere in it. Then the saint sent out epistles against
Nestorianism to the clergy of Constantinople and to the holy emperor
Theodosius the Younger (408-450), denouncing the heresy. The Pope St.
Celestine had heard reports about Nestorius and asked Cyril to send him a
detailed report of Nestorius’ doctrine. After examining the report he gave
Cyril the power to act on his behalf and send letters to all the bishops
informing them of his judgement on the case. Nestorius was to be given ten
days to denounce his heresy otherwise he would be deprived of the
Episcopate and Communion.
But what the
Pope and Cyril didn’t reckon on was the power and influence Nestorius had.
He was the Bishop of the royal city and had gained many friends among the
bishops and the young Emperor Theodosius and the important great men of
the Empire. Almost all the bishops in the east, especially the
Patriarchate John of Antioch, were ill disposed to Cyril, and seemed to
favour Nestorius. Feelings were divided, and the whole Empire of the East
seemed to fluctuate between Cyril and Nestorius. The situation became so
aggravated, that it became necessary to call an Ecumenical Council. The
Emperor, thus wrote to Cyril, saying” It is our will that the holy
doctrine be discussed and examined in a sacred Synod, and that be ratified
which appeareth agreeable to the right faith, whether the wrong party be
pardoned by the Fathers or no.” We see that the Pope’s judgment on the
matter was not enough to remove Nestorius from his Episcopal duties.
According to the Ecclesiastical Canons, another judgment, that of a
council was still required and that judgment would be decisive and final.
So in 431, Cyril, with more than 200 bishops and Nestorius, came to
Ephesus for the Universal Council. Cyril was president, representing
Celestine, as being appointed by the Pontiff himself to execute his
sentence. Nestorius was summoned three times to take his seat with the
other bishops in order to answer to what was charged against him, but he
refused to come, and chose to have his doors besieged with an armed force,
so that no one might approach him. The emperor therefore commanded the
proceedings to begin. The charges against Nestorius were read and examined
without him being present. He was found guilty of blasphemy, was deposed
from his throne and excommunicated.
Nestorius was
not the only bishop deposed by this Synod. During the proceedings, about
30 bishops who were loyal to the Patriarch John of Antioch walked out.
John as we mentioned before was a close friend of Nestorius. He delayed
coming to the Synod. The first session of the Council commenced on June
22. John arrived in Ephesus on the 27th. After being informed that the
council had condemned Nestorius without his side being heard, he held his
own council at his residence with a total number of 43 bishops. At this
council they turned the tables on Cyril and Memnon, the bishop of Ephesus,
accusing them of Arian and Apollinarion heresies. John then proceeded to
carry out the sentence and had Cyril and Memnon deposed. All those who
approved and signed the decree of the pseudo-council were deposed from
office by the officially recognized Council of Ephesus.
Cyril guided the Alexandrian Church for 32 years, and towards the end of
his life the flock was cleansed of heretics. Gently and cautiously Cyril
approached anyone, who by their own simpleness and lack of knowledge, fell
into false wisdom.
Cyril died on
9th June in the year 444, leaving behind many works. In particular, the
following ought to be mentioned: commentaries On the Gospel of Luke, On
the Gospel of John, On the Epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
and to the Hebrews; also an Apologia in Defense of Christianity against
the Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Of vast significance are his
Five Books against Nestorius; a work on the Most Holy Trinity under the
title Thesaurus, written against Arius and Eunomios. Also two dogmatic
compositions on the Most Holy Trinity, distinguished by a precise
exposition of the Orthodox teaching on the Procession of the Holy Spirit.
In short these
are the lives of these two Great Saints of the Orthodox Church. If anyone
would like a more detailed account of their lives there are many websites
they can read, but one must be careful to choose sites that are favourable
to Orthodoxy as some portray them not as saints but merely as historical
figures.
The Gospel
reading for this Sunday is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
chapter 17, verses 12-19.
Let’s here the reading:
“At that time,
as Jesus entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them,
Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they
went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his
face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus
answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There
are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And
he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
12) “At that time, as
Jesus entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off:”
The number of
lepers mentioned is rather unusual because even though they lived as a
community of lepers outside the boundaries of the town or village, they
didn’t go for walkabouts together in large groups. In this case they must
have heard that Jesus was coming their way and decided to meet him and ask
for his help. The Gospel reading says that “as Jesus entered into a
certain village” but it is unlikely that the lepers met him in the village
which they were forbidden to enter according to the law. The meeting must
have taken place just outside the village. They stood afar off, at a
distance according to the requirements of the law. They were unclean, and
it was not lawful for them to come near to those who were in health. In
comparison with Christ and his saints we also are unclean like lepers. If
we understand our spiritual leprosy then with humility we would not dare
to approach and touch Christ but beseech him through our prayers to
cleanse us from our defilement. One of the prayers we read before
receiving holy Communion makes this comparison of our souls with the
disease of leprosy: “As Thou didst not disdain to sit at meat with sinners
in the house of Simon the leper, so also consent to enter into the humble
dwelling of my soul, leprous and sinful though it be”.
13) “And they lifted up their voices, and said,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
They lifted up
their voices agrees with the fact that they stood afar off. They cried out
together in a loud voice so that they could attract Jesus’ attention. They
may have stood afar off, but they made sure that their cry reached close
to Jesus. Many of us stand afar off but we can be sure that when we cry
from the depths of our hearts with truth then our cry reaches the ears of
our Lord as did the cry of the lepers. And what did they cry? “Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us.” In the Greek the word translated as “Master” is
“Επιστάτα”. Luke is the only evangelist that uses this word in the New
Testament. It is necessary that whoever seeks help from Jesus, must
believe that he is Lord and Master. Only if he is Lord and Master can he
also be our Saviour and Deliverer. With the Leper’s cry it is worth noting
that they do not ask to be cured of their leprosy, but simply ask for his
mercy. It is enough to trust and place ourselves in his mercy believing
that he will respond with what is beneficial for our salvation. If we
trust in his mercy we have no fear of failure. That is why in all our
prayers and petitions we respond with Lord have mercy.
14) “And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go
shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went,
they were cleansed.”
Their
cry was heard and they drew Jesus’ attention, but he doesn’t immediately
cleanse them from their leprosy. He tells them first to go and show
themselves to the priests. He did this to test their faith. If they had
faith then without hesitation they would have done as he told them
believing that they would be cured. But why does he send them to the
priests and not to a doctor? The Priests were trained in what to look for
to determine whether someone was cured or not. In the Book of Leviticus
they are given detailed instructions on how to recognize a contagious
leprosy from the colouring of the clothing and skin. But another reason
why they had to show themselves to the priests is because everyone cured
of the disease was obliged by the law to offer gifts of thanksgiving. The
reading tells us that they had to show themselves to the priests and not
to just a priest. Each of the ten lepers had to present himself to the
priest nearest to his home. Thus they didn’t all walk together to the
nearest synagogue, but each went in the direction of their home. The
Samaritan therefore had to travel to the priest of Mount Gerizim in
Samaria were the Samaritan temple was. The ritual law was still in force
and Christ always foresaw to observe it. But maybe there was another
reason for sending them to the priests? By having the priests certify
their complete cure from the disease he wanted to awaken in the priests
and other with them, the need to search for the physician who had such
power over the bodily illnesses and having found him to be saved through
faith in him.
The
faith of the ten lepers is clearly shown by their obedience to the command
given them by the Lord and as a result they were cured of their leprosy.
The Gospel doesn’t tell us at what distance this happened, but the
distance must have been far enough so that their faith was tested, but not
so far that their return to the Lord would have been rendered impossible.
The Lord did not say to the lepers “you are cleansed from your leprosy”
but tested their faith and obedience and sent them to the priests uncured
as did the Prophet Elisha with Naaman in the Old Testament when he sent
him to wash in the river Jordan seven times. Whoever awaits grace and
favours from Christ must be willing to receive them according to the
methods and ways that Christ deigns to give them and not expect Christ to
reform to what they await and expect is the best for them.
15) “And one of them, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,”
As
the ten lepers were not socially together in their grief and wretchedness,
the nine who were Jews must have been thankful when the Samaritan
abandoned their company to return to his home. The Jews appeared as
ungrateful for the great blessing bestowed upon them, but the Samaritan
returned and with a load voice expressed his joy and complete gratitude to
the person that cured him. But he doesn’t say thank you or anything like
that, but glorifies God because he recognized in Christ a great power and
believed that he was from God.
16) “And fell down on his face at his feet, giving
him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”
Prostrating
oneself to the ground was a sign of the greatest reverence. In the New
Testament except for another occasion in Luke with another leper,
prostrating to the ground it is not mentioned except before God. The
Samaritan’s prostration teaches us that it is right and proper to show
humility not only when we pray and beseech the Lord for something, but
also to show humility in our thanksgivings. Now only this Samaritan
returned to show his gratitude who was looked down upon by the Jews as a
schismatic and a heretic and one would not have expected him to return and
show gratitude since the nine Israelites who considered themselves as
righteous showed ingratitude.
17) “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten
cleansed? but where are the nine?”
It
does not say that Jesus answering said to the Samaritan, but simple that
he said because he is not directing himself to the Samaritan, but rather
to those that were with him. And here he shows how rich his mercy is. Ten
were cleansed and cured completely: a whole hospital of patients received
their health with just one word from the Lord. And if there were more than
ten his grace would have been more than enough to cure them also. The
ingratitude of the nine does not bar Christ from showing mercy on the
unworthy neither does it become a reason to recall his blessing and make
them lepers again as we with our human reasoning would consider just and
deserving. Where are the nine? Ingratitude is a very common evil. From the
many that receive God’s mercy only a small majority return to give him
glory, in the present case the percentage is one in ten.
18) “There are not found that returned to give glory
to God, save this stranger.”
The
Jews didn’t feel the sense of duty to return and show their gratitude.
After the return of the Samaritan the Lord quite justly but in vain waited
for the others to return and give glory to God before him for the
miraculous cure he bestowed upon them. Only this stranger returned. He
calls the Samaritan a stranger. In the Greek it is “αλλογενής” meaning an
alien or foreigner, someone from another country or race. In fact the
Samaritans were part Israelites. They were of a mixed race and mixed
religion. Their origins are not clear – there seems to be two versions -
their own and that of the Jews, but in both cases they were originally
Israelites. The Samaritans insist that they are direct descendants of the
Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the
destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722BC.
It is said that the king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon
and other places and settled them in Samaria. Priests were also sent to
teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was
that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own
gods from the countries from which they came. In time this mixed religion
became the religion of all the Samaritans even though they claim that
their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites, predating
the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
In the Gospels
whenever they are mentioned, they always appear as extremely grateful and
good people. They are shown as a people guided by the light of the own
conscience and an unwritten law. This contributes to magnify the
ingratitude of the Jews who as people enlightened by the Law and the
Prophets and who considered themselves righteous should have appeared far
more grateful than an idolatrous Samaritan. This is want Christ is saying
when he said “There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save
this stranger.” He is not asking a question so that he might receive
information on the whereabouts of the nine Jews, but rather to vividly
point out the ingratitude and the thoughtless indifference of the Jews.
19) “And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy
faith hath made thee whole.”
If
all the ten lepers were cured because they believed and obeyed Jesus’ word
to them to go and show themselves to the priests, then what he now says to
the Samaritan must be an extra blessing. Something which the Samaritan
received and the Jews were deprived off. “Thy faith hath made thee whole”
does not only refer to his bodily health, but also to his spiritual
salvation. If Christ now reminds the Samaritan that by faith he is made
whole, he does this so that the Samaritan can perceive the importance and
greatness of faith and how much it will benefit him in his future life.
Thus on his return to his country the Samaritan embraced this union formed
between himself and Jesus whereas the other nine, because of their
ingratitude created not a union but a rupture between their benefactor and
themselves.
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