Christian Refugees from the Middle East Head to Russia

» 02/05/2013 10:18
RUSSIA
Syrian and Coptic Christians fleeing to Moscow, but Russia lacks shelters

by Nina Achmatova

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Syrian-and-Coptic-Christians-fleeing-to-Moscow,-but-Russia-lacks-shelters-27050.html

Human rights activists denounce inadequate facilities for the reception of immigrants and the bureaucratic obstacles.

A Copt tells AsiaNews of death threats of the Muslim Brotherhood for failing to convert to Islam.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – A flow of refugees from Syria and Egypt is pouring into Moscow to escape from wars and violence in their country of origin bringing to light the inadequacy of facilities for the reception of immigrants in Russia.

The complaint has been made by a veteran in migrant assistance, the president of the ‘Civic Assistance Committee’, Svetlana Gannushkina. In the past week a family of 10 Coptic Christians, including a child a few months old, presented themselves in their office. The family say they fled religious persecution from Islamist groups taking place in Marsa Matrouh, near the border with Libya. “They threatened us with death if we didn’t convert and make our women and girls wear a veil,” Reda, 26, who fled with his 19 year old pregnant wife told AsiaNews.

“After the revolution many activists of the Muslim Brotherhood came – added his brother Viktor, 30, – who put pressure on us Christians to convert. Our problems started already in late 2011, but are getting worse. ‘Last year, after an argument with the principal of the school who wanted to force my daughter to wear the hijab, we were told that the presence of Christians in the city was no longer welcome. ” “We sought shelter with a local priest – he concluded – but his church had already been burned once and so he did not want to further expose himself to attack.”

Now all 10 Egyptians, plus Iraqis and Sudanese, are forced to live in a room of 20 square meters, with only a few chairs and a table, because there is no temporary accommodation center for immigrants waiting to receive refugee status in the city.

“Everyone is waiting for an answer from the Federal Service for immigration – Gannushkina , who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times told AsiaNews, – which must decide on their possible transfer to Ochyor, in Perm region, where there is one of only three reception centres for refugees in the entire country.”

The process, however, can last for weeks and the authorities have not thought of any temporary accommodation for these people, who do not have a place to live.”The problem is much worse for the Copts – said Gannushkina – because for them here, unlike Syrians, there is no large community or network of countrymen ready to open their homes.” “It is winter, and in these conditions they are likely to die of exposure – she added – so we are forced to accommodate
these people in our offices, but they are not adequate facilities.” The small child Cirillus, who arrived with his mother, father and sister also from Marsa Matrouh, is already sick and was visited by doctors from Doctors Without Borders.

Last year 700 people turned for help to ‘Civil Assistance’, including 80 Egyptian Copts. The new arrivals are in addition to about 30 Syrians who in January of this year already made a request to Moscow for refugee status. One hundred Syrians arrived in the last six months of 2012.

Reception centers for refugees fleeing persecution and war are provided in all countries that have signed the UN Convention on Refugees. In Russia – denounced the Gannushkina – formally, there are three centers, but in fact only one works, that of Ochyor for more than 80 people. “This integration does not exist and the sanitary conditions are very bad,” she added.

According to rumors circulating in the press and among NGOs, the Immigration Service is considering even closing it down. The other two centers are located one in the Tver Region and the other in the south of Rostov, but are not working at full capacity. “In a country as large as Russia three centers for immigrants is virtually nothing, if you think that Poland, which much smaller than us, has 11,” added Gannushkina, who has always declared that if she ever wins the Nobel she will allocate the prize money to building at least another refugee centre near Moscow.

Good Stewardship and Abundant Life: Orthodox Homily on Investing our Lives in the Kingdom of God

2 Timothy 2:1-10

Matthew 25:14-30           

        Today’s gospel text describes what three servants did with the talents, the large sums of money, entrusted to them by their master when he went away on a long journey. The one given five talents invested wisely and produced five more.  The one given two talents did the same and earned two more.  They both doubled their money and earned the praise of their master when he returned.  But the man who received one talent was so afraid of losing what the master had entrusted to him that he simply buried the money in the ground and gained no profit at all. The master was not pleased by this third servant, for at least he could have put the money in the bank and earned interest.  So he took away his talent and gave it to the first servant.             The parable ends with the statement that “to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

            Jesus Christ told this story as a reminder of the importance of being a faithful steward of our lives and of all our blessings.   God has given life to us all along with various gifts and abilities. He wants us to invest our time, energy, attention, and talents wisely in ways that help us to grow more fully in the divine likeness, to become more perfectly the sons and daughters of God we were created to be.  He calls us to an abundant life that bears fruit for the Kingdom, blesses others, and becomes a sign of the salvation of the world.

            Maybe we cannot imagine that our lives could ever have that significance.  Perhaps we are so afraid of losing control, falling short, and being rejected that we would rather play it safe.  The problem is that staying exactly as we have been never works.  If we are so afraid of losing our money that we literally bury it in the ground, we will have less than when we started out due to inflation.  In a marriage or a family, to try to keep things exactly as they are and never to grow in love is simply to weaken our relationships and ourselves.  If we are not advancing in the Christian life, we are actually losing ground.  Staying put is like burying our talents in the dirt, where they do not even earn the tiny bit of interest that they would in a bank.

            St. Paul reminded St. Timothy to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  He compared his calling to that of a soldier who endures hardship and has to stay clear of anything that distracts him from dedicated service.  St. Paul also used an athletic example, for athletes must compete according to the rules in order to win a competition.  The farmer has to work in hard and disciplined ways in order to enjoy the fruits of his labors.  And St. Paul himself endured imprisonment and ultimately a martyr’s death for the sake of Christ and His Church.

            The Apostle was certainly a good steward of his talents, literally pouring out his life for the Lord and for his spiritual children.  He pressed on until he finished the race and joined that great cloud of witnesses that inspires and encourages us to follow their example of holiness.  He had to be as dedicated as a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, for success in those occupations requires constant vigilance and dedication to improve.  We could say the same about any important endeavor, for we have to pay attention, discipline ourselves, and do what it takes to do a better job. 

            The same is true for each of us every day as we seek to live as followers of Jesus Christ.  We have all received a great gift simply by being made in God’s image and likeness, by being alive as human beings.  As Orthodox Christians, we have been born again in the waters of baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit in chrismation, and nourished with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  We have benefited from the teaching, examples, and prayers of all the holy people who have gone before us.  In so many areas of our lives, a great many people have helped us in some way.  Indeed, it would be impossible to list fully all the ways we have been blessed or all the capabilities that even one human being has. God sustains our life in ways too numerous and wonderful to count.

            The question that we all face, however, is what will we do with our blessings and ourselves.  Too often, we refuse to open our eyes to the great dignity that is ours in Christ.  Instead of recognizing that we are stewards of magnificent gifts, we rest content with being slaves to our own bad habits and distorted relationships.  We define ourselves as victims at the mercy of this or that personal weakness or of the bad deeds of others or of impersonal forces in the world over which we have no control.  There is some truth in those descriptions, for we remain shackled and weakened in important ways by our diseases of body and soul, as well as by the various forms that corruption takes in our world.  

            Nevertheless, the most fundamental truth of what it means to be a human being in God’s image and likeness remains unchanged.  Jesus Christ is the Second Adam and in Him we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1 Pet. 2:9)  Despite our weaknesses of body, soul, and spirit, despite all the problems of the world, we are truly members of His Body and called to grow into the full stature of Christ.  No, that is not really easy calling.  Yes, there are obstacles of all kinds that will get in our way.  But to allow those dangers to keep us from investing our lives fully in the way that Christ has made available to us is nothing put a path to destruction, weakness, and despair.  Remember that the fearful servant buried his talent in the ground and ended up losing it anyway.  That same will be true of our lives if we refuse to offer them to the Lord, if we refuse to invest them in the life of the Kingdom.

            We may think that our talents are small and unimportant.  We may feel so overwhelmed by this or that issue in our lives we do not see how we could have the time or energy to take on a new spiritual struggle.  But let’s not let ourselves off the hook so easily.  For the real question is not what’s easier at the moment, but what kind of life do we want to lead, what kind of people do we want to be.  Some things are worth the effort, the sacrifice, and the self-discipline.  Do we want the abundant life in Christ that triumphs even over the grave, that leads martyrs to lay down their lives with joy, and that enables countless perfectly ordinary people to endure the daily struggles, pains, and frustrations of life in the world as we know it with confident hope for God’s presence, mercy, and strength?

            If so, then we should do what we already know we should do; there’s nothing secret about it at all.  We invest our lives in the Kingdom by prayer, fasting, generosity to the needy, repentance, forgiveness, reading the Scriptures, the lives of the Saints, and other spiritually beneficial writings, and doing whatever we are able to do in the service of the Church, our neighbors, and anyone who is in need in any way.  Being a good steward does not require heroics or extraordinary feats of asceticism, but it does require offering our blessings back to God, the One who gave them to us in the first place, for the fulfillment of His purposes.  As hard as it is to believe, our good stewardship of our talents is part of the salvation of the world, the edification of the Church, and the coming of the Kingdom. By being faithful in small things each day, we will find an abundant life that overflows with blessings and brings us into the joy of the Lord.     

                 

  

             

           

Orthodox Christian Homily on the Greatest Commandments: Love of God and Neighbor

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew 22:35-46

            If you’re like me, you sometimes lose perspective on what is most important in life.  We get so busy, so distracted, and so worried about what is going on around us at the moment at home, at work, or wherever that we sometimes lose sight of the big picture, and instead focus on small things that aren’t really crucial.  So we end up wasting our time and energy on what really isn’t very important.

            The Pharisees were experts at missing the big picture, especially of interpreting the Old Testament law in such rigid detail that they ignored the true point of the commandments.  When one of them asked the Lord to name the greatest commandment in the law, he was apparently trying to trap Christ in a complicated argument.  But the Lord wasn’t about to play that game; He wasn’t about to waste time and energy in pointless speculation that served only to confuse people.  Instead, He got to the heart of the matter:  He quoted from the book of Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  That fundamental, and often overlooked, central teaching of the Jewish faith is the first and great commandment, according to Christ. 

            But our Savior wasn’t done yet.  He added a second commandment “that is like it,” taken from the book of Leviticus:  ”You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  And He concluded that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.  In other words,  the  10 Commandments given to Moses and all the other legal material of the Old Testament, together with all the prophetic teachings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos and the rest of the prophets, grow from these two basic commandments:  to love God with every ounce of our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

            Jesus Christ got to the heart of the matter, for He knew that the law and the prophets were intended to direct the people to communion with God, to loving fellowship and union with Him which would include their relationships with one another.  Remember His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.  In other words, those who are blessed in the eternal life of the Kingdom are those who have been purified by the love of God to the depths of their souls and who show that love in their relationships with others.

            No, Christ did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.  He called His followers, and He calls us, to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.  That doesn’t mean that we will follow more laws than they did, but that the meaning and purpose of the Law will be fulfilled in us:  that we will grow in the likeness of God, that we will be united fully with Him through love; that His love will overflow into every relationship that we have and will become present in the world through us.   In other words, we will become holy through the love of God and neighbor; indeed, that’s what true holiness means, to be purified in love and union with God and with one another. 

            Though we may not yet have the eyes to see it, our entire life in the Church—and every bit of our life in the world as Christians—presents an opportunity to grow in holiness through the love of God and neighbor.  Indeed, that’s the point of it all:  of our services, our prayers at home, our fasting, our feasting, our generosity to the poor, our forgiveness of others, our marriages and family life, our recreation, and all our work on the job or at school.  They are all part of fulfilling our most fundamental calling:  to grow in the likeness of God, to become partakers of the Divine Nature, to grow in loving union with the Holy Trinity and with one another.

            But that may sound strange.  After all, we work to make a living.  We go to school to learn and to prepare to make a living.  We spend time with friends and family, play games and watch sports or listen to music because we like to.  We don’t often think of these activities as religious at all.  So what do they have to do with growing in holiness or fulfilling the commandments?

            Well, the answer is found when we remember that the Incarnate Son of God became a human being with a real body in order to bless, heal, and sanctify us and everything about us and our world. In His resurrection Christ conquered every corruption and distortion of our fallen humanity, and has now ascended into heaven as the God-Man, showing us our destiny for life eternal.  The good news of the gospel is that every single bit of our life presents an opportunity to share in His sanctification of our humanity, to grow in love of God and neighbor, to continue on the path trod by our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

            For example, who isn’t worried about the economy these days and how it impacts our businesses, our livelihood, and our personal finances?  We don’t like to hear or say it, but bad economic times remind us not to worship the Almighty Dollar and not to look for fulfillment and peace in money or possessions.  We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, not to love wealth or worldly success.  And when times are hard, we are reminded to place our trust in Him, not in what is here today and gone tomorrow and can never truly satisfy us.

            If we want to love our neighbors as ourselves, we never have to look far at all.  Every person whom we meet is a living icon of Christ and is called to life eternal.   No matter the circumstance, whenever we put someone else’s interest above our own, whenever we are generous with our time, our attention, or our resources, whenever we help someone in any way, we serve Christ and grow at least a bit in the divine likeness.   No matter our age, gender, occupation, or circumstances, we all have the opportunity each day to love our neighbors as ourselves and Christ in our neighbors.

And in relation to the Church, let’s remember above all not to be like the Pharisees.  They loved to keep score on how righteous they were in comparison to others.  They thought that obeying laws was an end in itself.  Unfortunately, it’s possible to go through all the motions of religion without love for God and neighbor.   It’s possible to miss the point entirely and to become a self-righteous, legalistic judge of others.   But that’s to miss the point entirely, for we fast, pray, come to Church, and lead upright lives not in order to impress God or other people.  Instead, in humility and repentance, we want Christ to train our souls, to shape our lives in His image.  The point is not simply to follow a bunch of laws, but to grow in love for God and neighbor through the worship and way of life taught by the Body of Christ, the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we make the time to pray daily and to come to Liturgy on Sundays and Feast days; when we confess ours sins and prepare conscientiously to receive Communion; when we wrestle with our passions through fasting or other forms of self-denial; when we humble ourselves to serve others and to ask for their forgiveness when we offend them; when we live faithfully—though imperfectly—as Christ’s followers, we grow in the love of God and neighbor, and we shine a bit more brightly with the holy light of Christ.  Then we grow in union with the Lord and His righteousness and, despite our unworthiness, we share in Christ’s fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  That is what our life as human beings is about, and it is possible because the Son of God really has become one of us so that we may become more like Him, being truly perfected in love.     

Arleen Spenceley on Chastity

I'm very glad to have heard from Arleen Spenceley about her blog and especially her postings on chastity.  It takes courage, discipline, and great faith to live out historic Christian teaching on these matters in our culture. Check out her article, "Why I'm still a virgin at age 26" By Arleen Spenceley, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Sunday, June 24, 2012, as well as the blog itself:  http://www.arleenspenceley.com/p/my-work.html.

Homily for the Translation of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom

          

          On all but a few Sundays of the year, we celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.  This coming Wednesday, we will celebrate his memory as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs together with Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian.  And today we remember the return of his relics to Constantinople in 438, thirty years after his death in exile due to his prophetic criticism of the abuses of the Empress Eudoxia.

            St. John plays such a prominent role in the history of the Church because his ministry combined bold preaching, faithful biblical interpretation and doctrinal teaching, asceticism, rigorous oversight of the clergy, liturgical reform, love for the poor, and fearless opposition to evil in high places.  A very popular preacher in Antioch where he was not afraid to make clear the tension between God’s requirements and popular forms of behavior, he was essentially forced to become the Archbishop of Constantinople, the capital city.  St. John tightened discipline in the church there and continued to speak the word of the Lord without compromise, which is a dangerous thing to do around powerful people.  He was first deposed and banished for offending the empress and certain church leaders, but was then allowed to return after she took an earthquake to be a sign from God.  Nonetheless, St. John denounced the celebrations surrounding the dedication of a silver statue of the empress near his cathedral.  She exiled him again, and he died as a result of the very rough treatment he received.

            During the reign of the empress’ son Theodosius the Younger, St. John’s relics were returned to Constantinople.  St Proclus had preached a sermon praising St John in which he said, "O John, your life was filled with sorrow, but your death was glorious. Your grave is blessed and reward is great, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, O graced one, having conquered the bounds of time and place!" At the request of the people, St. Proclus got the approval of Emperor Theodosius to bring St. John’s relics back to Constantinople.  But those sent to carry the coffin literally could not move it until a letter of apology from the emperor was placed on it. 

            When the coffin was opened, his remains were incorrupt, which in the experience of the Church is a sign of holiness, for the bodies of the saints share already in Christ’s victory over death and decay.  (Recall that in the Old Testament a dead man came back to life after contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha.)  The emperor spoke as though he were his mother, begging St. John’s forgiveness and asking for his intercessions for her soul.  When St. John’s body was placed on his episcopal throne, the people heard him say, “Peace be with you all as he blessed them.”

            It may be hard for us to process such an astounding account, but we must remember that those who have died in Christ are alive in Him.  We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  Though it is completely beyond our rational understanding, we encounter in these miraculous events a sign of our salvation, a foreshadowing of the resurrection of the body, and a reminder that there is one Church in heaven and on earth.

            Think for a moment about what kind of person God has magnified in these ways in the memory and experience of the Church.  St. John Chrysostom is not someone who made it easy on himself or on others.  He did not water down the faith so that it would fit easily with a conventional life. He did not seek power, fame, or wealth.  He was not afraid to give his own life for the sake of God’s kingdom or to go against the dominant trends of his society.  His homilies still speak to us with clarity and challenge us to live a holy life in a world that really has not changed that much morally and spiritually since his day. 

            Too often, we remember saints only with a few minutes of chanting and reading or with a good meal.  There’s nothing wrong with those sorts of commemorations, but they should be just the beginning.  For the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us is not simply an interesting part of our religious calendar, but a vital dimension of our life in Christ.  We are members of the same Body with them.  We benefit not only from the fine example that they set and their contributions in theology, liturgy, and hymns, but also from their ongoing prayers on our behalf.  If you doubt that, read the book of Revelation with its portraits of so many martyrs around the throne of God who beseech Him on behalf of those suffering persecution.

            Those whose lives have so clearly manifested the holiness of God are not simply dead and gone, but alive in Christ, worshiping Him constantly and praying that we will join them.  Of course, we do not join them only after our own death, but already now in the worship of the Church.  The Divine Liturgy is our collective participation in the Heavenly Banquet together with all the saints and the heavenly host, but the Christian life does not end there.  As those who have entered into the worship of heaven and been nourished by the Body and Blood of our Savior, every dimension of our lives should manifest the holiness of God seven days a week.   No, we cannot all do everything and no two people are totally identical.  But the even as St. John displayed faithfulness in so many ways, we too are called to offer every bit of who we are to the Lord.  In other words, we cannot pretend that holiness is for this part of our lives, but not for that part.  We cannot compartmentalize who we are, for Christ came to bring us—body, soul, and spirit-- into His.  The Lord wants us all to become incorrupt, to be healed from the decay of sin and evil in all its forms.

            When we proclaim belief in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, we surely want the Lord to remember us as whole persons in His Kingdom, and that includes every dimension of who we are.  We cannot understand it rationally, but eternal life encompasses the whole person and even the whole creation.  If we want an example of how to participate already in that all-encompassing blessedness, we should look to St. John Chrysostom.  He did not keep true Christianity confined to services, sermons, or what was socially acceptable; instead, he lived out what he taught and believed with integrity.  He staked his life on faithfulness to Jesus Christ, Who has magnified him in the memory of the Church.  Let us all follow his example of obedience to the Savior in thought, word, and deed, for that is how we too may become living icons of His salvation together with all the saints who have gone before us.                                    

Different Kinds of Occupation: Palestine and American Materialism

What Occupation  is Better for the Soul?

Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.  1 Timothy 6:11

It is a new year so it is always good to have a new beginning.  A new hope for the struggles I have so that I may overcome them with the strength Christ offers me. The good fight in keeping the faith gets challenged every day.

I am still trying to figure out which side of the concrete “Wall” is the wrong side since most of the time I am feeling locked up behind an official  26 feet high “Separation Barrier” on Palestinian land  but when I am  in my husband’s village of Taybeh,  I end up speaking to God more. Thus,  I have always felt living in the Holy Land  under military occupation with no basic human freedoms  is surely the wrong side of the wall.   Having escaped  to America for a couple of months, I noticed I am talking to God less since there so much here to keep me busy from shopping, sports and entertainment.  It is really a struggle to squeeze God in on Sundays. I am sadly coming to the conclusion that living under oppression might be better for my soul because prayer was the answer to everything out of my control.

I have been feeling that there is no perfect place on earth especially  because some people in free countries sometimes abuse their freedoms and commit acts of violence in schools and shopping malls.  I make every effort to always keep my focus on God’s Heavenly Kingdom  no matter what news I hear.  Surely military occupation  is not a good thing and for sure until the day I die, I will be promoting a free Palestine. However,  I am feeling a different type of occupation in the USA.  My challenges on the other side of the wall are  so evident and physically easy to spot with guns and military uniforms but I think the evils that exist in free society are subtle. They are unnoticed occupations.

Have you ever been bothered by materialism or is just my imagination that the majority of Americans want too much..  I am always overwhelmed by all the luxuries and wonderful things America provides because materialistic things are so easily accessible.  It seems one credit card is the answer to everything.  And, I guess it is ok if you spend the rest of your life paying for it.

My family gatherings have completely been transformed because before or after dinner every single family member sits around without any eye contact but with their iphone, Ipad or some computer devise.  Maybe this is not a technological occupation but I feel strange that my children prefer to send me emails while I am sitting in the same room.  There is a type of pre-occupation that I noticed many friends have because there is so much media pressure from the TV ads, the magazine ads, the radio ads to have ; to buy; to spend; to go;  How is it possible that your neighbor will go to Aruba; so you need to be thinking of going to Bermuda or something. This social competition  is nerve wrecking.   Maybe I am wrong but all of the materialism, consumerism and the luxury made me so dizzy I continue to see the world only as the ones that have and  the ones that have not.  The Gospel constantly challenges our lifestyle.  I am always wondering what God wants me to have.

 I am very ashamed of  myself because I don’t always see Christ in the other, especially when the other is a beggar in the middle of New York City.  I use the excuse that I am too freezing cold to open my pursue and give an offering or I am too scared  someone will rob me if I stop to pay attention  to the one  in need.  So this world is getting very complicated for me because I see the person  who pays $75 to have tea at the Plaza but who is un-willing to give a dollar to have a crown in God’s Heavenly Kingdom.  We really need to reevaluate  our treasures. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).    

In this new year can we re-new our hope of finding our space where God can be first in our life.  Can we get to a comfortable point of focusing on Christ since the end goal is truly to be in God’s Heavenly Kingdom no matter what color pursue or brand name boots we buy.  Let us open a new page  of seeing Christ in the other no matter how difficult it may seem.  Let us try as hard as possible to make every effort to understand God’s will in our life. Are we able to make our decisions according to God’s understanding of what is holy?  In this way we help our soul be occupied with the focus on eternal life.   It can only  lead one little step closer to God’s Heavenly Kingdom.  

“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”  (Matthew 25:23)

 http://www.soundingblog.com/index.php/missions/international/cloud-of-witnesses/what-occupation-is-better-for-the-soul.html

The Healing of the Samaritan Leper: Homily for the 12th Sunday of Luke in the Orthodox Church

            

            The gospels of the New Testament give us many accounts of Jesus Christ doing and saying things that shocked and challenged people who thought that they were better than others, who thought that they were holy and blessed and that others were evil and condemned. And today’s gospel reading is no exception. We read that the Lord healed ten lepers, but the only one who came back to thank Him for the life-changing miracle was a Samaritan.  Samaritans were hated by the Jews as religious and ethnic half-breeds who had mixed the worship of the true God with paganism.  And since lepers were also outcasts and considered unclean, this Samaritan leper surely had no standing at all in that time and place.  So imagine how shocking it was that he alone returned to Christ to thank Him for this miracle and to give glory to God.

            Perhaps this man was so thankful precisely because he knew who he was and how others viewed him.  He would never have thought that a Jewish messiah would help him in any way.  He had probably learned the hard way to expect little compassion from anyone and that he could take nothing for granted in any area of life.  He likely felt out of place walking with Jewish lepers to Jerusalem to show themselves to a priest at the temple.  But as he went along, he was healed.  And he alone gave the sacrifice of praise by taking the time to return to thank the One who changed his life.   And then Christ said to him, “Your faith has made you well.”

            This man’s healing is a sign, a glimpse, of the fulfillment of the good news that we celebrated at Christmas and Theophany (Epiphany) and that is at the very heart of our faith.  The healing of the Samaritan leper from a terrible disease is an icon, an image, of our salvation, of our fulfillment and transformation in the God-Man Jesus Christ.  And of course, this great blessing extends to all who have put on the New Man in baptism, regardless of their nation, race, sickness,or health. 

            As the healing of the Samaritan leper shows, God’s mercy extends to everyone who receives Jesus Christ with faith, repentance, and gratitude.  We want to be like that leper, receiving the blessing in humility and responding with true thanks—regardless of what anyone else does.  We want our lives to be signs, glimpses, icons, of the eternal life that Christ has brought into our world of death.  But in order to do that, we have to put to death the sins, the corruptions and diseases of soul, that have taken root in us.  These are the ways of the old man, the ways of corruption that lead only to despair and death.  They are like spiritual leprosy which distort and disfigure us, that destroy marriages, families, and friendships, that lead us to worship only ourselves, and make it impossible for us to become icons of the glory of the Lord.

            The leper in the gospel is a model for all of us who struggle to embrace Christ’s healing, for all of us who wrestle with the ways of the old man.  The Samaritan joined with the other lepers in calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  In other words, he began with humility, openly acknowledging that he was sick, needed to be healed, and could not work his own cure.   We should do the same thing in our prayers every day, confessing our sins and asking for the Lord’s forgiveness.  We should also acknowledge our weaknesses daily and pray for His strength to resist temptation, to overcome our bad habits, to calm our passions, and to help us grow in holiness.  And the more we say the Jesus Prayer, the better.

            The struggle to live faithfully can certainly feel pretty lonely at times.  There is nothing like sin to isolate us from one another and even from ourselves.  Even if it’s something that we somehow keep secret from others, the burdens of guilt and shame are profound and can separate us at a deep level even from those closest to us.  They can become unhealthy obsessions that make us feel as unclean as a leper.  That’s one of the reasons why the sacrament of Confession is such a blessing, such a source of strength in our journey to live the new life in Christ.  In Confession we are reminded that we are not left alone to struggle with our sins, for the priest is an icon of the Lord, conveying His mercy and providing guidance for the healing of our souls.  If we want to be healed like the Samaritan leper, we will come to confession regularly, naming our sins, especially those of which we are most ashamed and which threaten to destroy our relationships with the Lord and our neighbors.  We will kneel before Christ in humility, bare our souls, and be assured of His forgiveness, if we are truly honest and repentant.   Confession is a therapy for our healing, and a reminder that we are members of a Body united together in love and mercy. As we all know, there is great power in hearing a human voice say that we should give no further care to the sins we have confessed, for they are forgiven.  Christ says to each of us in Confession through the voice of a priest, “Arise, go your way.  Your faith has made you well.”

            The Samaritan is also an example for us in his obedience because he did what Christ told him to do, to head toward Jerusalem to show himself to the priests.   One would imagine that Samaritan lepers were surely not welcome there, but he went nonetheless.  And as he was going, he was healed.  Here we have another powerful image of the Christian life, for we open our lives to the Lord’s healing by obeying Him, by keeping His commandments. 

            A thief does not become an icon of Christ’s salvation by continuing to steal.  An alcoholic does not become sober by continuing to drink.  And we will not experience victory over any sin in our lives if we simply give into it or make up excuses to justify ourselves.  In other words, we have actually to repent, to reject actions, thoughts, words, and habits that we know are wrong.  Of, we will not find perfect spiritually health instantly; we may fail a thousand times, but we must be headed in the right direction.  The Samaritan was going toward Jerusalem in obedience to Christ’s command and we also must be on the path to a holier life through obedience, doing what we know we must do in order to live as those who have put on the New Man Jesus Christ in baptism.

            It’s a hard truth: We can’t expect to find healing for the corruptions of our souls if we do not obey the Lord.  If we do not pray, fast, give to the poor, forgive those who have offended us, keep a close watch on our thoughts and actions, and struggle mightily against our besetting sins, we really cannot expect growth in the Christian life.   If we are not actively seeking to become living icons of Christ’s salvation, we won’t grow in holiness.  Of course, we will not heal ourselves any more than the leper did.  But we must cooperate with the Lord, we must do our part in order to open ourselves to the mercy of Christ, to put ourselves in the place where His new life shines in ours.  And that is the place of humble obedience.

            Finally, we learn from the Samaritan leper to be grateful for every bit of progress that we make in the Christian life, for every step of progress in the healing of our souls.  It was not walking toward Jerusalem that healed him; it was the mercy of Christ for which he could take no credit at all.  The leper certainly knew that, which is why he returned to the Lord to thank Him. 

            And what thanks should we offer God for our blessings, for our healing, for our salvation?  Well, we should offer our lives to Him and thus become epiphanies of His salvation in every word, thought, and deed.  For He is the Alpha and Omega Who created all reality out of nothing and on Whom our life is entirely dependent.  We have nothing and we are nothing apart from His mercy, love, and grace.  And nothing fits in its proper place in our lives until it is offered to Him for blessing and fulfillment.

            So just as we offer bread and wine in the Liturgy, let us offer thanks to the Lord by living lives that are pleasing to Him, by living according to the New Man Jesus Christ, and killing the habits of death and darkness that can so easily destroy us and harm others.  For Christ was born and baptized in order to heal us and to bring us into the new life of His Kingdom.  He made a wretched Samaritan leper an icon of His salvation and He will do the same with us, if we follow that man’s example of humility, obedience, and gratitude.