4th Sunday After Pascha
May 18th, 2014,
(John 4: 5-42)
“With the Samaritan Woman the Lord spoke two words”
If ever the Lord should approach and begin to converse with you, the first thing He will do is give you to understand how sinful you are, what terrible sins you have and that if you do not confess them and repent, you will not be saved. With the Samaritan woman the Lord spoke two words and she let everything out. This is not easy for a person to take because many times you need to hurt, to be stretched. Deciding to reveal yourself is painful, to truly see your sins, to repent and to return to Christ. People backtrack. They flee because they do not have the courage to allow the Lord to reprimand them, to expose and to reveal before their own eyes the true reality of their soul. How many things have we buried deeply within our souls that we don’t even want to be reminded of?! Sins and more sins; the death of the soul. The Lord wants to bring these to light so that we can confess them and he can forgive us. The Lord will not berate us. He came into the world to save the sinner – not to condemn him, provided that this sinful person repents for his hidden transgressions.
It is very painful to be shown your errors. But release comes and you feel freed from your bonds. The reason is that each time we do this it is an exposing, a manifestation of the hidden things of our soul, and simultaneously there is a more ardent approach of Grace. This rejoices the soul and fills it with hope, with faith, and with the presence of God. On the one hand the tatters of the soul are removed one-by-one, and on the other the soul is being filled up with Grace. This is exactly what took place with the Samaritan woman. Despite the great sinner she was, she had the valiancy to respond positively to the Lord. Then immediately and without hesitation she accepted the message of the Messiah and followed him to the point of martyrdom. And this Samaritan woman we now know as St. Photini.
Transcribed talks by Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos
From: Holy Hesychasterion “The Nativity of Theotokos” Publications.
Translated by fr. Matthew Penney
Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
