Romanian Orthodox Church in Edinburgh

edited by Nepsis Youth Association, UK & Ireland

Sunday, 3rd of September, 2017: Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost: of the Parable of
the Vineyard, Saints of the Day: Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomidia, Holy Martyrs
Teophilus the Deacon, Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes, Gorgonius, Zeno,
Domna and Euthimius of Nicomidia, Venerable Theoctistus.

Troparion of the Bishop Anthimus of Nicomidia- 1st Tone

You protected your flock with your blood, not fearing your adversaries. Now you rejoice in heaven
standing before the throne. Glory to Christ who has strengthened you; glory to your courage; glory to
your endurance, O holy Hieromartyr Anthimus!

The first reading. From Corinthians I 16, 13-24

13Brethren, watch, stand, fast in the faith, be
brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done
with love.15 I urge you, brethren—you know the
household of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits
of Achaia, and that they have devoted them-
selves to the ministry of the saints— 16 that you
also submit to such, and to everyone who works
and labours with us.
Therefore acknowledge such men.19 The
churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla
greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church
that is in their house. 20 All the brethren greet
you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.21 The saluta-
tion with my own hand—Paul’s.

I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, For-

17  If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ,
22 

tunatus, and Achaicus, for what was lacking on let him be accursed. O Lord, come!23 The grace
your part they supplied. 18 For they refreshed my of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24 My love
spirit and yours. be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The second reading. From the Gospel according to Matthew 21, 33-34

“Hear another parable: There was a certain

33  “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard
40 

landowner who planted a vineyard and set a
hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a
tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went
into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time
drew near, he sent his servants to the vine-
dressers, that they might receive its fruit.
35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat
one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he
sent other servants, more than the first, and they
did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent
his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my
son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son,
comes, what will he do to those
vinedressers?”41 They said to Him, “He will de-
stroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his
vineyard to other vinedressers who will render
to him the fruits in their seasons.”42 Jesus said to
them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing,

And it is marvellous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God
43 

they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. will be taken from you and given to a nation
Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on
39 So they took him and cast him out of the vine- this stone will be broken; but on whomever it
yard and killed him. falls, it will grind him to powder.”
 PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD
Today's Gospel, interrupting, so to speak, a se-
ries of joyful readings, is a very terrifying one: the
story of the workers in the vineyard who turned out
to be traitors. And indeed this parable reflects the
whole history of the human race, but in the context
of all the readings that have gone before, it tells us
also of the terrible, in the full sense of that word, in-
gratitude of mankind, including all of us, to God. In
the face of all His love, all His miracles, in the face
of everything that He has accomplished, we remain
unmoved and self-centred; we think of ourselves, we
do not think of our neighbours, still less do we think
of God; ingratitude, self love, concentration on our-
selves, on what we want, what appeals to us, what
seems necessary to us.
From generation to generation the Lord has sent
His messengers: patriarchs, prophets, angels, preach-
ers, the Forerunner; and finally He came Himself to
remind us that the world was created for love. And as
in the parable the workers led the son out of the
vineyard and killed him, so mankind treated the in-
carnate Son of God. And when I say ‘mankind’, I am
speaking not of others, but of us ourselves, because
life is entrusted to us to make of it a triumph of love,
brotherhood, harmony, faith and joy, and we do not
do so, because we think only of ourselves. In re-
sponse to everything that God has done for us, creat-
ed us, revealing Himself to us, pouring out all His
love on us and finally giving us the life and death of
His Son, we produce hardly anything but a brief
‘Thank you’ and instantly forget.[…]
Consider all this and ask yourselves, ‘am I not a
worker in the vineyard, and am I not one of those
who pushes Christ away every time He enters my
life? Do I not say: get off my path, get out of my life
— I want to be the God, the master, I want to man-
age everything.’ Thus speaks each one of us, not so
rudely, not so blasphemously, but in actions, in rotten
words.
We must come to our senses. […] Let us there-
fore stand before the warning, the reminder in to-
day's Gospel and face the question, ‘where is my
gratitude? Do I embody it not only in words, which
are rare enough but in deeds?’ Let us pass judgement
on ourselves and start a new life. Gratitude to God
consists in being a joy to Him, and to our neighbour
a support, a saviour and a joy. Let us begin today to
bear the fruits of what we have just learned from
God through Christ. Amen.
(Metropolitan Anthony Bloom - Parable of the vineyard)
THE WORD ‘GOD’
The words used to refer to ‘God’ in different lan-
guages are related to various concepts. The peoples
of antiquity attempted to find in their languages a
word to express their notion of God or, rather, their
experience of encounter with the Divinity.
In the languages of Germanic origin the word Gott
comes from a verb meaning ‘to fall to the ground’, to
fall in worship. This reflects an experience similar to
that of St Paul, who, when illumined by God on the
road to Damascus, was struck by divine light and
immediately ‘fell to the ground... in fear and trem-
bling’ (Acts 9:4-6). In the Slavic languages the word
Bog (‘God’) is related to the Sanskrit bhaga, which
means ‘dispensing gifts’, and which in its turn comes
from bhagas, meaning ‘inheritance’, ‘happiness’,
‘wealth’. The Slavonic word bogatstvo means ‘rich-
es’, ‘wealth’. Here we find God expressed in terms
of the fulness of being, perfection and bliss. These
properties, however, do not remain within God, but
are poured out onto the world, onto people and onto
all living things. God dispenses the gift of His pleni-
tude and endows us with His riches, when we turn to
Him.According to Plato, the Greek word for God,
Theos, originates from the verb theein, meaning ‘to
run’. St Gregory the Theologian identifies a second
etymology beside the one of Plato: he claims that the
name Theos comes from the verb aithein, meaning
‘to be set alight’, ‘to burn’, ‘to be aflame’. St Basil
the Great offers two more etymologies: ‘God is
called Theos either because He placed (tetheikenai)
all things, or because He beholds (theasthai) all
things’.The Name by which God revealed Himself to
the ancient Israelites was Yahweh, meaning ‘The One
Who Is’, that is, the One Who has existence and be-
ing. It derives from the verb hayah, meaning ‘to be’,
‘to exist’, or rather from the first person of this verb,
ehieh — ‘I am’. This verb has a dynamic meaning: it
does not simply denote the fact of existence, but sig-
nifies a living and actual presence. When God tells
Moses ‘I am who I am’ (Ex.3:14), this means ‘I live,
I am here, I am together with you’.
At the same time this name emphasises the superiori-
ty of God’s being over all other beings. He is the in-
dependent, primary, eternal being, the plenitude of
being which is above being. The ancient Jews knew
well that there was no name or word in human lan-
guage that could convey the essence of God. In re-
fraining from pronouncing the name of God, the
Jews showed that it is possible to be at one with God
not so much through words and descriptions, but
through a reverential and trembling silence.
(Fragment from “The Mystery of Faith”, by Bishop Hilar-
ion Alfeyev)