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ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
ARCHDIOCESE OF
THYATEIRA & GREAT BRITAIN

BULLETIN OF SPIRITUAL EDIFICATION
1ST SUNDAY OF LUKE
22 September 2013
4th Mode.
Mode No. 1302

A
22 2013
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. 1302

EPISTLE READING

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(1 Cor. 16 : 13-24)

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rethren, keep alert, stand firm in

your faith, be courageous, be strong.
Let all that you do be done in love. Now,
brothers and sisters, you know that
members of the household of Stephanas
were the first converts in Achaia, and
they have devoted themselves to the
service of the saints; I urge you to put
yourselves at the service of such people,
and of everyone who works and toils
with them. I rejoice at the coming of
Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus,
because they have made up for your
absence; for they refreshed
refreshed my spirit as
well as yours. So give recognition to such
persons. The churches of Asia send
greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together
with the church in their house, greet you
warmly in the Lord. All the brothers and
sisters send greetings. Greet one another
with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this
greeting with my own hand. Let anyone
be accursed who has no love for the Lord.
Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord
Jesus be with you. My love with all of you
in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Since we received a command to love God, we possess from the first moment of our existence an innate power and
ability to love. The proof of this is not to be sought outside ourselves, but each one can learn this from himself and in
himself. It is natural for us to want things that are good and pleasing to the eye, even though at first different things
seem beautiful and good to different people. In the same way, we love what is related to us or near to us, though we
have not been taught to do so, and we spontaneously feel well disposed to our benefactors. (St Basil the Great)

RESURRECTION APOLYTIKION
When the women Disciples of the Lord had learnt from the Angel the joyful message of
the Resurrection, casting away the ancestral condemnation, triumphantly they said to
the Apostles: Death
Death has been despoiled, Christ God has been raised, granting the world
his great mercy.

GOSPEL READING

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(Luke. 5:1-11)

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t that time, Jesus

Jesus was standing by
the lake of Gennesaret. And he
saw two boats by the lake; but the
fishermen had gone out of them and
were washing their nets. Getting into
one of the boats, which was Simon's, he
asked him to put out a little from the
land. And he sat down
down and taught the
people from the boat. And when he had
ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put
out into the deep and let down your
nets for a catch." And Simon answered,
"Master, we toiled all night and took
nothing! But at your word I will let
down the nets." And when they had
done this, they enclosed a great shoal of
fish; and as their nets were breaking,
they beckoned to their partners in the
other boat to come and help them. And
they came and filled both the boats, so
that they began to sink. But when
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at
Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he
was astonished, and all who were with
him, at the catch of fish which they had
taken; and so also were James and John,
sons of Zebedee, who were
were partners
with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon,
"Do not be afraid; from now on you will
be catching men." And when they had
brought their boats to land, they left
everything and followed him.

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SERMON ON THE GOSPEL READING

his Sunday's Gospel, on the first Sunday of St Luke, presents us with Christ's
calling of Saints Peter, James and John. The Gospel paints us a picture of everyday
working life, with the soonsoon-toto-bebe-called disciples working at washing their
their nets with
their two boats at the side of the lake.
Initially Christ asks very little of St Peter, and only wants to requisition his boat
so that He can teach those following him. However, Our Lord then turns to St Peter and
to find out whether he has
has the trust and faith, not just to follow Him, but also to
become a leader amongst the disciples, and asks him to cast his nets into the lake of
Gennesaret. St Peter's immediate reaction (like so often our own) is a negative one,
Master, we have toiled all
all night long but have caught nothing, but he finds his faith
and qualifies what he just said with Yet if you say so, I will let down the net. Through

his display of faith there are immediately so many fish in their nets that their nets
were beginning to break and St Peter's spiritual eyes are opened through this miracle
to whom Christ is. St Peter through his realisation is also made aware of his sinful
nature saying to Christ Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man.
Christ having opened St Peter's
Peter's spiritual eyes comforts him and having seen his
demonstration of faith commissions him as a disciple, Do not be afraid; from now on
you will be catching people. Saint Peter and Saints James and John, who were St
Peter's business partners, respond positively
positively to their call and follow Christ without
hesitation, leaving everything they have.
In this simple Gospel passage we are given an essential insight into how to live
experiences
nces
our life in Christ. Although some people will receive powerful conversion experie
like St Paul, for the majority of us Christ will reach out to us where we are. In other
words, Christ will find us in the everyday, at work, at University, at School or in our
dismissed
issed as
houses. This interaction with Christ amongst the mundane should not be dism
some kind of second class relationship with Christ, but is rather Him entering our
humdrum lives and transforming them. Many of us will begin that moving closer to
Christ in faith and prayer with that sense of I have toiled all night long and have
have
caught nothing but we should follow St Peter's example and convert this lack of faith
into Yet if you say so I will follow you. Once we have accepted Christ's invitation to
draw closer to him we should not look back. Instead, we should enter into a deeper
deeper
expression of the Orthodox Christian faith and practice as whole heartedly as we can,
remaining in the world, but leaving our old interior life behind. Like St Peter, through
the activity of the Holy Spirit, Christ will illumine us and allow us to see that we too are
sinful people and then give us the spiritual medicine to begin our healing and our
entering into theosis. We too will start to catch people, not necessarily through
purposeful missionary work, but perhaps simply by our example as St Seraphim
Seraphim of
Sarov says Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved.
SAINT JOHN CASSIAN ON REPENTANCE
The only form of dejection we should cultivate is the sorrow
which goes with repentance for sin and is accompanied by
hope in God. It
It was of this form of dejection that the Apostle
said: Godly sorrow produces a saving repentance which is not
to be repented of (2 Cor. 7:10). This godly sorrow nourishes
the soul through the hope engendered by repentance, and it is
mingled with joy.
It is very clear that disturbing urges are not always
aroused in us by other people's faults. Rather, we are to blame
- we who have stored up within ourselves the causes of our
offences and the seeds of our vices that, when the rain shower
of temptation drenches
drenches our mind, at once break forth into
buds and fruits.
For a person who is irritated by someone else's vices
is never compelled to sin if he does not have the stuff of
wrongdoing stored away in his heart. Neither should anyone
be believed to have been deceived all at once when, upon
having seen a woman, he has fallen into an abyss of wicked
desire; rather, at the sight there rose to the surface diseases
that had been hidden and concealed deep within.
Archdiocese of Thyateira & Great Britain, 5 Craven Hill, London W2 3EN
Tel.: 020 7723 4787. Fax: 020 7224 9301. E-mail: mail@thyateira.org.uk. Website: www.thyateira.org.uk

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