9th Sunday After Pentecost 4 August/17 August

[尼古拉前执事]

Since I hand write these out from the Orthodox New Testament, I hope people are getting something out of these. Any chance we could have all the people who have a copy of the Orthodox New Testament take turns writing out the Sunday Readings each week? PLEASE?

Matins John 20:19-31; Liturgy 1 Corinthians 3:9-17; Matthew 14:22-34.

Matins Gospel: John 20:19-31
Then, when it was evening on that day, the first of the week -- and the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews -- Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith to them, "Peace be to you." And after He had said this, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, after they saw the Lord. Then Jesus said to them again, "Peace be to you; even as the Father hath sent Me forth, I also send you. And after He said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
"if ye forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven to them; if ye retain the sins of any, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymos, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I should see in His hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, in no wise will I believe." And after eight days again His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Then cometh Jesus, the doors having been shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you." Then he saith to Thomas, "Bring thy finger here, and behold My hands; and bring thy hand, and put it into My side. And cease being unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus said to him, "Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that did not see, and yet believed. Then indeed Jesus also did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these things have been written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in His name.

Liturgy Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:9-17
For we are God's co-labourers; ye are God's cultivation, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise architect, I have laid a foundation, and another buildeth upon it. But let each one be taking heed how he buildeth up; for no one is able to lay any other foundation beside the One being laid, Who is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grassm straw, the work of each shall become manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it is being revealed in fire; and the fire shall put to the test the work of each, of what sort it is. If the work of anyone abide which he built upon, he shall receive a reward. If the work of anyone shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, but so as in the midst of fire. Know ye not that ye are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If anyone corrupt the temple of God, God shall bring this same one to corruption; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are.

Liturgy Gospel: Matthew 14:22-34
And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to embark into the ship, and to go before Him to the other side, until He should dismiss the crowds. And after He dismissed the crowds, He went up into the mountain apart to pray. And evening having come to pass, He was there alone. But the ship was already in the midst of the sea, being tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. But in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went toward them, walking on the sea. And after disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a phantom"; and they cried out from fear. But straightway Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good courage; I am; cease being afraid." And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it be Thou, command me come unto Thee on the water." And He said, "Come." And after Peter came down from the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me." And straightway Jesus stretched forth His hand, and laid hold of him, and said to him, "O thou of little faith! Why didst thou doubt?" And after they stepped into the boat, the wind abated. And those in the ship came and obeisance to Him, saying, "Truly, Thou art God's Son." And after they went across, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

[尼古拉前执事]

9th Sunday after Pentecost - Jesus Walking on the Water
From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Matthew
by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria

1. By saying constrained, Matthew suggests how inseparable the disciples were from Jesus, for they wanted to be with Him at all times. He sends the multitudes away, not wishing to draw them after Him lest He appear to vaunt in His powers.

23-24. He went up on the mountain to show that we should pray in an undistracted manner; everything He did was for our sake as He Himself had no need of prayer. He prayed on into the evening, teaching us not to cease praying after a short time, and also to pray especially at night, for it is very quiet then. He permits the disciples to be caught in a storm, so that they might learn to endure trials bravely and know His power. The boat was out in the very middle of the sea so that their fear would be greater.

25-27. He did not appear immediately to them to calm the storm, but at the fourth watch, [that is, as the night was coming to its end], teaching us not to ask for a swift solution to our misfortunes but to endure them bravely. The night was divided into four parts by soldiers who stood guard in shifts, each "watch" lasting three hours. So then, sometime after the ninth hour of the night, the Lord appeared to them as God, walking on the water. But they thought it was a phantom, so extraordinary and strange was the sight. For they did not recognize Him by figure, because it was night and because of fear. He first strengthens their resolve by saying: "It is I Who can do all things; take courage."

1. As Peter had the most fervent love for Christ, he desires immediately, before the others, to be near Him. For he believes not only that Jesus Himself walks on the water, but that He will grant this to him as well. Peter did not say, "Bid me to walk," but rather to come unto Thee. The former would have been ostentation; the latter is love for Christ.

29-30. The Lord laid the sea down beneath Peter's feet, revealing His power. See how Peter prevailed over that which was greater, the sea, but was afraid of the lesser peril, the wind; such is the weakness of human nature. And it was as soon as he became afraid that he began to sink. When his faith weakened, then he went down. The Lord did this so that Peter would not become puffed up, and to console the other disciples who perhaps envied him. Whereupon Christ also showed how much greater He was than Peter.

31-33. Showing that the cause of his sinking was not the wind but faintheartedness, Christ does not rebuke the wind, but the fainthearted Peter. This is why He raised him up and set him on the water, but allowed the wind to blow. Peter did not doubt in everything, but in part. Inasmuch as he was afraid, he showed lack of faith; but by crying out, Lord, save me, he was healed of his unbelief. This is why he hears the words, O thou of little faith, and not "O thou of no faith.." Those in the boat were also delivered from fear, for the wind ceased. And then indeed, recognizing Jesus by these things, they confessed His divinity. For it is not an attribute of man to walk on the sea, but of God, as David says, In the sea are Thy byways, and Thy paths in many waters [Ps. 76:19]. The spiritual meaning of the miracle is this: the boat is the earth; the waves, man's life troubled by evil spirits; the night, ignorance. In the fourth watch, that is, at the end of the ages, Christ appeared. The first watch was the covenant with Abraham; the second, the law of Moses; the third, the prophets; and the fourth, the coming of Christ. For He saved those who were drowning when He came and was with us so that we might know and worship Him as God. See also how Peter's later denial, return, and repentance were prefigured by what happened to him here on the sea. Just as there he says boldly, "I will not deny Thee", so here he says, Bid me come unto Thee on the water. And just as then he was permitted to deny, so now he was permitted to sink. Here the Lord gives His hand to him and does not let Him drown, and there, by Peter's repentance, Christ drew him out of the abyss of denial.

34-36. Jesus stayed for some time in Gennesaret, and the people recognized Him not only by sight but by the signs which He worked, and they showed fervent faith. So much so that they even desired to touch the hem of His garment, and indeed, when they did so, they were healed. You also, O reader, touch the edge of Christ's garment, which is the end of His sojourning in the flesh. For if you believe that He ascended, you will be saved. The garment means His flesh, and its hem, the end of His life on earth.

[Justin Kissel]

For the patristics on Jn. 20:19-31 I'm just going to link to a thread that I posted a couple weeks ago on Doubting Thomas. That has at least a dozen links that would be relevant to this discussion, so anyone who is interesting can just click on the links in that thread I just linked to (I don't see much point in listing them all here since I already have them linked to there). Will try to get to more patristics tomorrow.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

For the duration of the fast I am confining my activity to the scripture study threads…

I’ve been reading about doubting Thomas tonight, perhaps later this week Christ walking on water (I always thought blessed Theophylact has an elegant way with words).

I’m writing about my study so every detail sinks into my think head.

The Gospel of St. John describes Thomas as not being present when the Lord appeared. He was the one, more than anyone else, who sunk into despair with the crucifixion of the Lord. He tried to persuade the Lord not to go to His martyrdom, and to him before the Lord appeared, it seemed like everything was in ruin. But it was not only because of Thomas’ despair that he was not present when the Lord appeared, one has to believe that God’s providence is in the details of everyone’s life, much more in those of the faithful, and even more with those of the Apostles. Thomas’ absence that evening was not by chance: it was God’s plan.

So Thomas was not present. But when he met the disciples they told him: “Thomas, we have seen the Lord. We heard His sweet voice which calmed our hearts…”

After this testimony, what would you expect? Do you think Thomas would have believed? Because the witnesses were not strangers to Thomas, but his fellow disciples who had come to know well in the course of three years. He had no reason to doubt their sincerity. The testimony of 10 trusted witnesses should have been enough. Truly, if we didn’t trust those closest to us, but had to see everything ourselves, our lives would be very different. We often hear and see through the eyes of those we trust. For Thomas, were there any others who were more trusted than his fellow disciples? Why did he doubt their words? He said: “Unless I see…I will not believe”

How saddened the ten must have been at Thomas’ response. Ten of his most trusted friends. The word of God says that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established” (Deut. 19: 10(?)). And a gathering of many more are not trusted?!

And the Lord, with His infinite love did not let Thomas sink into a sea of doubt and disbelief – the following Lord’s day, He appeared again in the same way. This time Thomas was also present. Of course we know what the Lord said, but we don’t know if Thomas actually dared to touch the Lord, it does not say anywhere, although our icons show him reaching (this could be allegorical).

So did His revelation serve to convince Thomas that He had risen? I tend to believe that Thomas did not touch Him. The vision of the Lord as well as the words heard from His mouth must have made every trace of doubt vanish from Thomas’ heart, and he must have considered touching Him entirely foolish. He therefore immediately cried out: “My Lord and my God!”

The same thing happens to me, when I doubt enough to attempt to explain Christianity with the aim of defining Christ’s person and work down to the last detail – that is, to touch Him. But as soon as I begin my investigation the words of the Gospel grab me and leave me with wonder and belief, leaving further details to the wind, and I feel like crying out, “My Lord and my God!”

[Justin Kissel]

1 Corinthians 3:9-17
Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians: (Homily 8) (Homily 9)

"I rejoice, sir," I said, "to hear this explanation." "Hear," again he replied: "Keep this flesh pure and stainless, that the Spirit which inhabits it may bear witness to it, and your flesh may be justified. See that the thought never arise in your mind that this flesh of yours is corruptible, and you misuse it by any act of defilement. If you defile your flesh, you will also defile the Holy Spirit; and if you defile your flesh [and spirit], you will not live." (1 Cor. 3:16-17) "And if any one, sir," I said, "has been hitherto ignorant, before he heard these words, how can suchman be saved who has defiled his flesh? ""Respecting former sins (Acts 17:30) of ignorance," he said, "God alone is able to heal them, for to Him belongs all power. [But be On your guard now, and the all-powerful and compassionate God will heal former transgressions, if for the time to come you defile not your body nor your spirit; for both are common, and cannot be defiled, the one without the other: keep both therefore pure, and you will live unto God." - Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude, 5, 7

"If, then, the whole creation is supported by the Son of God, what think ye of those who are called by Him, and bear the name of the Son of God, and walk in His commandments? do you see what kind of persons He supports? Those who bear His name with their whole heart. He Himself, accordingly, became a foundation (Is. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11) to them, and supports them with joy, because they are not ashamed to bear His name." - Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude, 9, 14

Whence also he says, that this handiwork is "the temple of God," thus declaring: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man, therefore, will defile the temple of God, him will God destroy: for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are." (1 Cor. 3:16) Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to Himself, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spake this, however," it is said, "of the temple of His body." (Jn. 2:19-21) And not only does he (the apostle) acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ, saying thus to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? " (1 Cor. 3:17) He speaks these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do with an harlot: but he declares "our body," that is, the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity, to be "the members of Christ; "but that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot. And for this reason he said, "If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy." How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege, that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ, do not partake of salvation, but are reduced to perdition? Also, that our bodies are raised not from their own substance, but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians, "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. But God hath both raised up the Lord, and shall raise us up by His own power." (1 Cor. 6:13-14) - Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5, 6, 2

Handmaids of the living God, my fellow-servants and sisters, the right which I enjoy with you-I, the most meanest in that right of fellow-servantship and brotherhood-emboldens me to address to you a discourse, not, of course, of affection, but paving the way for affection in the cause of your salvation. That salvation-and not (the salvation) of women only, but likewise of men-consists in the exhibition principally of modesty. For since, by the introduction into an appropriation (in) us of the Holy Spirit, we are all" the temple of God," (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20) Modesty is the sacristan and priestess of that temple, who is to suffer nothing unclean or profane to be introduced (into it), for fear that the God who inhabits it should be offended, and quite forsake the polluted abode. - Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women, 2, 1

For inasmuch as the Apostle Paul says again, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? " (1 Cor. 3:16) -even although love urged us less to bring help to the brethren, yet in this place we must have considered that it was the temples of God which were taken captive, and that we ought not by long inactivity and neglect of their suffering to allow the temples of God to be long captive, but to strive with what powers we can, and to act quickly by our obedience, to deserve well of Christ our Judge and Lord and God. For as the Apostle Paul says, "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," (Gal. 3:27) Christ is to be contemplated in our captive brethren, and He is to be redeemed from the peril of captivity who redeemed us from the peril of death; so that He who took us out of the jaws of the devil, who abides and dwells in us, may now Himself be rescued and redeemed from the hands of barbarians by a sum of money-who redeemed us by His cross and blood-who suffers these things to happen for this reason, that our faith may be tried, whether each one of us will do for another what he would wish to be done for himself, if he himself were held captive among barbarians. - Saint Cyprian, Epistle 59

"'But he himself shall be saved,' that is 'he shall be preserved whole.'...The sinner, that is to say, is preserved whole, enduring everlasting punishment." - Blessed Theophylact (ONT, Vol. 2, p. 177)

For those interested in the interpretation of Saint Mark of Ephesus (who essentially follows Saint John Chrysostom), see Appendix One (pp. 205-207) in A Soul After Death by Fr. Seraphim Rose (where Fr. Seraphim translates some of the words of St. Mark from the Council of Florence regarding purgatory).

Matthew 14:22-34
Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew: (Homily 49) (Homily 50)

Never is Christ without water: if, that is, He is Himself baptized in water; inaugurates in water the first rudimentary displays of His power, when invited to the nuptials; invites the thirsty, when He makes a discourse, to His own sempiternal water; approves, when teaching concerning love, among works of charity, the cup of water offered to a poor (child); recruits His strength at a well; walks over the water; (Matt. 14:25) willingly crosses the sea; ministers water to His disciples. Onward even to the passion does the witness of baptism last: while He is being surrendered to the cross, water intervenes; witness Pilate's hands: when He is wounded, forth from His side bursts water; witness the soldier's lance! - Tertullian, On Baptism, 9

Blessed Augustine, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testmaent: (Sermon 25) (Sermon 26)

[Julianna]

1. We're more blessed since we've believes without seeing. That's Faith. We shan't demand signs or miracles to believe

2. If you'll try to build up the church for power or money or anything other than for Christ your false steps will darn you.

3. Jesus didn't have a boat so he'd walked across the water and proved he was God. The disciples shouldn't have had to've seen that to believe.

[Justin Kissel]

OOD

(Btw, are you alright with people referring to you as OOD, or would you prefer the whole user name? I don't want to offend)

After this testimony, what would you expect? Do you think Thomas would have believed? Because the witnesses were not strangers to Thomas, but his fellow disciples who had come to know well in the course of three years. He had no reason to doubt their sincerity. The testimony of 10 trusted witnesses should have been enough.

I think you make a good point, here. In fact, such seeking after of "seeing for oneself" is often looked down upon. It is generally a bad idea to seek after seeing "signs and wonders," since it will probably lead to either despair or spiritual delusion. Or perhaps a worse thing, we will become ungrateful for all that God does for us and get hard hearts (indeed, after daily miracles in the desert, how many of the mixed multitude entered the promise land? or consider how Jesus healed 10 people one time, but only 1 came back to thank him, and Jesus said "I healed 10, where are the other 9?") Perhaps the actions of Thomas are an indication that this seeking is not always bad, however. Not that doubt is good in itself, but God can use weaknesses for good; He said to Saint Paul: "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9)

There's something else to consider regarding the point you make about witnesses here, and I do not mean for this to contradict what you said, but I merely bring it up so that we can get a better sense of how Thomas, and the other Apostles, were handling their doubts. It is recorded in the 24th Chapter of Luke that Saint Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary (the mother of James [the Apostle]), and other women (v. 10) found the sepulchre empty and that Jesus was not there (vv. 1-8 ) on that glorious third day. They went to the eleven apostles to tell them these things that they had seen (v. 9-10), but yet "their words seemed to them [the apostles] as idle tales, and they believed them not." (v. 11) However, Peter nonetheless went to the sepulchre to investigate and saw that it was so (v. 12).

So while Thomas himself voiced his doubt even after the Apostles had seen Christ our God resurrected, we must also admit that the other 10 Apostles also had doubts. In fact Peter, and apparently the other Apostles, needed to see some evidence for themselves (cf Lk. 24:12; John 20:1-10), "For as yet they [the apostles and disciples] knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead." (Jn. 20:10)

So while perhaps Thomas is not wholly right in having had doubts, we should undestand this within the context of the other Apostles having doubts as well. And as I said in the other thread, Jesus had warned: "if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect," (Matt. 24:23-25; Mk. 13:21-23) which makes the caution of Saint Thomas even more understandable.

Indeed, is it not a basic principle of spiritual warfare in Orthodoxy, that is someone or something supernatural appears before you, that you should be cautious and not just accept the claims outright? that if it is of God He will not keep any blessings from you that He had planned to give just because you are on your guard; whereas, caution will make the devil and his tricks leave quickly when they come up against a Christian who does not automatically accept their deceitful tricks?

I tend to believe that Thomas did not touch Him.

I think that that is the belief that has the most support (especially considering Jn. 20:17).

Justin

More on the other passages later...