In this week’s Epistle, the Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, discussing the difference between those who have the Law of Moses, and those who do not. As the Romans’ ancestors were once pagans, this distinction was certainly very important to them.
St. Paul begins by demonstrating how all are children of God: “Glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:10-11). The Apostle knows that it is just as possible for a Gentile to do good, as it is for a follower of the Law to sin. “When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts...” (Romans 2:14-15). Those pagans who had not observed the sacrifices and dietary commands are sons and daughters of God, simply by holding fast to the principles of loving God and neighbor.
In this Sunday’s Gospel we read how Christ sees the two brothers, Simon Peter & Andrew, casting their nets into the sea of Galilee. Looking at them, He says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, and the Evangelist tells us, that “immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:19-20). When Christ and His first Disciples come upon James & John, these brothers also leave their nets in their father Zebedee’s boat, and the four Disciples follow the Lord, as “…he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Christ only has to offer a few words for Peter & Andrew as well as James & John to give up everything. They were uneducated fisherman, but as faithful Jews, they felt the promise in those words, and they understood in that moment, that their awaited Messiah had found them.
St. Paul explains it perfectly when he says, “…it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Romans 2:13). Though we are no longer under the Law, and we know the Messiah, Christ calls us every day to become fishers of men. We who are in the world cannot give up our families, but it does ask us the question: what would we do for Christ? As sons & daughters of God, adopted through putting on Christ in our Baptism, how shall we live up to our promise as part of the one Body of Christ? Let us continue to seek Him through prayer and good works, so that we may testify to our discipleship is truly written on our hearts, in everything we say and do.
+SEVASTIANOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta
Greek Orthodox Nun Elucidates the Plight of Christians in the Holy Land
Dear Brother Archons and friends of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, a Greek Orthodox nun who has lived in the Holy Land for many years, recently granted a lengthy and detailed interview to journalist Tucker Carlson on the persecution of Christians in the Holy Land. If you have not watched this interview in its entirety already, I strongly urge you to do so, as Mother Agapia provides a uniquely illuminating perspective on the difficulties that our sister and brothers in the faith face on a daily basis.
As you watch this revealing and often shocking interview, please remain in prayer for the Greek Orthodox Christians of Israel and its environs, and for all the embattled Christians of that war-torn region.
Watch the interview here, and see a full transcript here.
If you need help creating an online giving account, or if you are not receiving communications from the church, please contact the office so we can update your information in our systems. (803) 252-6758 or htgocc@gmail.com
