CONTACTS:
To message Archimandrite Kyril or to arrange a baptism or wedding please email the Parish Priest@bristol-orthodox-church.co.uk (Tel. 01179706302 or 07944 860 955).
For more see: CONTACTS
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Every Saturday: 5.30 p.m. Vespers Every Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy
WEEKLY SERVICES & INFORMATION (Note: our Parish follows the “New” (Revised Julian) Calendar. For dates on the “Old” Julian Calendar, refer to an online calendar.)
Saturday 12th October 5.30 p.m. Vespers
Sunday 13th October. 16th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 7. Commemoration of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Readings: 2Cor. 6:1-10 Luke 8: 5-8a, 9-15, 8b 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy
Saturday 19th October. St Demetrius Commemoration of the Departed. 5.30 p.m. Vespers NEWS! Festival of Orthodox Arts The festival is free to attend will show world class art and icons from the Orthodox
FOOD BANK: Amidst our God-given sufficiency, DON’T FORGET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS. Bring contributions please.
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PARISH NEWS **Building update**: The painting of the walls has been completed. We need to clean the windows. Then the scaffolding will come down, a huge clean-up will ensue, and then we move back to our normal arrangement. THANK YOU for your generous donations. Without this, we would not have a space to worship in. We are extremely blessed to have our own space that does not need to be shared with other users. If we look after it, the building will be sure to last a few more hundred years and serve our community for many generations to come. Thank you especially for all the building fund sponsorship of Robert and Lauren’s walk last weekend.
GIFT AID |
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Some selected saints (AND FEASTS) of the coming days)..
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For those who wish to donate to our Parish online, our Facebook fundraiser can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/453504039824339/?fundraiser_source=external_url
Sermon for the Third Sunday of Luke
Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Luke 7:11-16
In today’s Gospel reading we heard the story of our Lord raising the dead son of a widow of Naïn. Our Lord, together with his disciples and a large crowd of other followers were approaching the city. They met a funeral procession coming out. Among the mourners was the widowed mother of the young man being taken for burial.
Our Lord meets the widow in her time of sorrow. On other occasions he meets people in times of joy, such as at the wedding feast in Cana. Whatever our situation, Christ comes to meet us, Saint Theophan the Recluse tells us: “The Lord sees a mother weeping over the death of her son and has compassion on her; another time he was called to a marriage, and rejoiced together with the family. By this he showed that to share ordinary everyday joys and sorrows is not contrary to his spirit.” (Reflection for the Third Sunday of Luke) If we truly follow Christ then we will also have a loving encounter with other people in whatever situation we find them.
This episode looks forward to our Lord’s own death and resurrection in many ways. It also reflects the customs of the place and of the period. The burial was to take place outside the city. It was not usual for burials to take place where people lived. Our Lord was buried outside the city of Jerusalem.
Naïn is in a very hilly area, and most burials there took place in caves in the hills around the city. Our Lord was buried in a tomb cut from the rock, that is he was buried in a man-made cave.
Social conventions of the time required that a woman should normally have a man as her protector. The widowed mother had lost both her husband and her only son, and now apparently had no protector left. On the Cross our Lord provided for his widowed mother by handing her over to the Apostle and Evangelist John to be her adopted son. Here, our Lord provides for the widowed mother by giving her back her son.
First, he recognizes her sorrow, and tells her not to weep. And then he goes on to change her sorrow to joy. He goes against the conventions of the time by touching the funeral bier, the carriage on which the body was being carried. Anyone touching a dead body or anything directly linked to a dead body became ritually “impure”, and had to remain outside the community for a period before undergoing the ritual bath for cleansing and being restored. Those who had to take the body for burial would have taken on this task voluntarily, knowing the consequences. Our Lord was outside this group, and so when he touched the carriage they were surprised and brought the procession to a halt.
Our Lord then went on to give the widow cause to stop weeping. He raised her son, not just by his words, but by his action. Saint John Xiphilinos tells us: “We see here the great God and Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, working a great miracle, the Life giving life, the Resurrection giving resurrection, and raising the dead at the time of the funeral. With this miracle he assures us and informs us about the expected general resurrection of the dead, and at the same time he shows in advance his own life-giving and divine Resurrection, revealing our redemption and freedom through it, as well as salvation and eternal life.” (Homily on the Resurrection of the Son of the Widow)
We first have the action: our Lord touches the funeral carriage. Then we have the words, to explain to the people around what was happening. He says: “Young man, I say to you, arise.” (Luke 7:14) The effect of the words and action are confirmed when the man sits up and begins to speak. Saint Theophylact reminds us: “The dead man sat up and began to speak, so that no one would think that his rising was only an apparition. Sitting up and speaking are definite proofs of resurrection from the dead. For how can a lifeless body sit up and speak?” (Explanation of the Gospel According to Saint Luke, Chapter 7)
Why did our Lord need both action and words? Saint Cyril of Alexandria tells us: “How was a word not enough for raising him who was lying there? For what is there difficult to it, or beyond accomplishment? What is more powerful than the Word of God? Why then did he not effect the miracle by a word only, but also touched the carriage? It was … so that [we] might learn that the holy body of Christ is effectual for the salvation of mankind. For the flesh of the Almighty Word is the body of life, and was clothed with his might. For consider that iron, when brought into contact with fire, produces the effects of fire, and fulfils its functions; so, because [the body of Christ] became the flesh of the Word, who gives life to all, it therefore also has the power of giving life, and annihilates the influence of death and corruption. May our Lord Jesus Christ also touch us, so that delivering us from evil works, even from fleshly lusts, he may unite us to the assemblies of the saints.” (Sermon on the Healing of the Son of the Widow from Naïn)
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Like all small communities we rely on the generosity of friends and well-wishers. If you would like to contribute to the continuation of our parish and the upkeep of our historic church building, you can make a donation here:
https://www.facebook.com/donate/679204386685133/?fundraiser_source=external_url
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