by (†) Bishop Augustinos Kantiotes
Published by the Holy Women’s Coenobitic Monastery of St. Augustine
Florina, Greece
My beloved, I thank our Lord Jesus Christ who, now in my deep old age, made me worthy once again to preach His words. I will try to speak to you like a father speaks to his children, using simple words. Please give me your attention.
As we know, one of Christ’s twelve apostles, Judas, betrayed Him. After this he was remorseful and that’s why, in despair, he went and hanged himself. Suicide is a very bad thing. Those who commit suicide are like Judas... After the Lord’s crucifixion, the other apostles, scared and disappointed, hid in a house and locked the doors and windows. They were scared that the Jews would arrest them as well. But suddenly, on a Sunday like today, a little before sunset, a miracle occurred: Christ appeared in front of them! They were alarmed, since He came, the doors being shut (Jn. 20:26). As soon as they recovered from their surprise, the risen Christ told them three things. Just as when a father who has been away and then returns home, brings gifts for his children, in the same way the risen Christ brought them three precious gifts.
What was the first gift? One word. Oh that word! It is a sweet word: everyone, those in the North and South, East and West, everyone desires it, everyone has it on their lips. It is the word “peace.” Peace be with you, Christ told them (Jn. 20:19,21,26). What a wonderful thing peace is! So Christ brought them peace. He is the Peace of the world.
What is the second gift? “After you receive the Holy Spirit,” Christ told them, “don’t remain closed up here. Go out with courage and boldness. Scatter throughout the world, one in Europe, one in Asia, one in Africa... Fly like eagles, to preach the Gospel everywhere.” As the Father has sent Me, I also send you (Jn. 20:21).
So the first thing was peace, the second was to preach the Gospel, and the third? It is another nice word: forgiveness. We all sigh over our sins. Who is sinless? Nobody. From the seven-year-old child to the grey-haired old man, we are all sinful. And when we do something wrong, we feel guilty. Has a scorpion ever stung you? I was stung once - the pain was terrible. But as a certain saint says, it is better for a scorpion to sting you, than your conscience to sting you. That’s why Christ brought forgiveness. He told the apostles, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (Jn. 20:23). And from then on, truly, through apostolic succession, forgiveness is granted up until today in the name of Jesus Christ. Even if the priest is the poorest and most illiterate person, once he puts on the priestly stole, he is no longer a person – this is our faith. If he wears the stole and says “Blessed is the Father...” - did he do his cross? He is then an angel, you should consider him an angel. He is no longer Fr. Dimitri, Fr. Alexis, he is superior to an angel. Why? Because, as St. Kosmas Aitolos says, an angel doesn’t have the authority to forgive sins, but the priest does. So that’s why you should all rush to kneel under the blessed stole, to receive forgiveness.
These were the three gifts that Christ brought with His resurrection, and they are the alpha and the omega, they are absolutely everything to us. Close to Christ, we have everything. If we live far from Christ, our life loses its meaning.
But on that day one of the disciples was absent: St. Thomas. The others found him later on Thomas Sunday, and told him: —Thomas, we saw the Lord. —You’re lying, I don’t believe you. —We’re not lying, we saw Him. —Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe (Jn. 20:25). And the next Sunday, like today, Christ appeared again, the doors being shut. He entered and summoned Thomas. —Come here, He said to him. Put your finger in my wounds. And when Thomas touched Christ, he cried, My Lord and my God! (Jn. 20:28) and he also believed.
These are the lovely things that today’s Gospel preaches.
Since then, centuries have passed. But up until today, we still have doubting Thomas’. There are many people like him, who don’t believe. They especially doubt the significant event of the Resurrection, the miracle of miracles. “Listen to those story-tales,” they say “Is it possible for Christ to enter while the doors were locked?...”
What can we answer them? I will answer with three examples. When I was a young child going to school, we had a good teacher in my village. One day he told us: I will tell you an enigma and if you can solve it, well done: “I locked my little house but the robber got inside. Who got inside?” We couldn’t figure out how, since all the doors were locked, someone could get inside. But the teacher told us, it was the sunlight. So now we ask the disbelievers, how does the sunlight enter, and without breaking the windows is found inside the locked house?
Do you want another example? With the doors closed, air enters the house. No matter how much you close it up, air finds a way to get inside, and woe if it didn’t enter, we’d die of suffocation.
Do you want a third example? Television. We turn it on, and it brings into the room someone who is in Moscow, someone else who is in New York, another who is in Australia...Science, which a person’s mind created, has found a way to do it – so can’t God, who created man, do the same?
Since sunlight, air and all those who are on television enter, even though the doors are closed, how much more so can the Creator of all of those things, enter?
What do we need, my beloved? We need to have faith in Christ, and not let anything make us waver. Our faith should be living, not dead. When is our faith living? How will we know? We can judge a tree by its fruit; a pear tree by its pears, an apple tree by its apples... In the same way, if we have faith, we’ll show it in practice.
If you have faith, then you’ll rise in the morning to say your prayers. If you have faith, at lunchtime when you sit to eat, you’ll do your cross. If you have faith, at night before you fall asleep, you’ll pray again. If you have faith, you’ll work all week and on Sunday, as soon as you hear the church-bell, your legs will grow wings for you to rush to church. If you have faith, you will forgive your enemy. If you have faith, you’ll receive Holy Communion. If you have faith, you’ll go to confession at least once a year. Just as someone who is not baptized is not a Christian, in the same way, anyone who doesn’t confess, is not a Christian. Confession is one of the seven Sacraments of our holy Church.
If you have faith, you’ll also do something else: you’ll open the Gospel every day. Just as a day doesn’t pass without you eating, in the same way a day shouldn’t pass without you reading the Gospel, the holy words of our Christ.
And finally, we shouldn’t hide what we believe, but we should preach it. Have you seen the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They reach the edge of the world, abandoning everything so as to preach their satanic heresy. How much more should you do this, you who have the truth. Do you have faith? Don’t hide it, don’t be a crypto-Christian. 1.
Preach Christ, like the holy apostles and missionaries. Do you have faith? Speak about Christ. Do you have a tongue? Sanctify it by preaching to your neighbour. Are you a mother? Teach your children. That you nurse them isn’t so special, even a bear suckles her young. Speak to your child! Are you a grandmother? Speak. If I am anything at all —I admit it— I owe it to my grandmother, may her memory be eternal. When I remember her, my eyes well up with tears. She was illiterate, but she would cuddle us, and it was she who taught us to do our cross, to say the “Our Father,” to pray... Blessed grandmothers! They aren’t like that now, their minds are constantly on what’s in fashion. So talk about Christ. Are you a father? Talk about Christ. Are you a teacher? Speak about Christ. Are you a priest? Speak about Christ. Are you a priest? Speak about Christ. Are you a Christian? Speak, and that’s when I’ll call you a Christian. I will know it by your speech, I will know it by your hands, I will know it by your legs, and by all your being. That’s how I will know that you are a Christian.
A transcribed sermon, which was given at the Church of St. Cyril & Methodius, Prespes Greece on the morning of 5-11-1986
Crypto-Christians are people who externally appear to be Muslims, but at heart believe in God and practice their Christian worship secretly for fear of martyrdom in Muslim countries.
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