SUNDAY'S MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
SUNDAY AFTER LIGHTS
(11-01-2026)
WRITTEN DIVINE PROCLAMATION
In today's Gospel reading we heard about the beginning of the public action of our Lord with the phrase «Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.». It is characteristic that this was the basic content of the sermon of the Holy Baptist. But there is an essential difference. The motto «hengike» has for the Forerunner a future, imminent significance. It is as if he is saying, it is coming, it is arriving! The Forerunner here prophesies, that is, he preaches and foretells.
Our Christ, however, uses the word «English» in its literal sense. It is as if he were saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven has come, it is on earth. And if it is not yet established in its fullness on earth, it is here!
The Kingdom of Heaven and the heavenly King are near us, near us much more than we imagine, He is ’within us«, within us. From the moment of His incarnation He is among us and in us. «As many as have been baptized into Christ, in Christ you have received Christ», chants our Holy Church. And our God-Manly Lord Himself assures us that: «He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him.».
The Kingdom of Heaven has come, therefore, and it is a temporal reality, into which one enters through baptism and repentance. But it is not only spiritual and heavenly, nor only material and earthly. It is a reality that is both spiritual and historical. It is identified with the divine Person of our Christ. It is the new order of things, which Christ established in the world and is related to the demand of the Sunday prayer. «Thy will be done». That is, the state which is realized through self-surrender to the will of God through sincere repentance, faith and unselfish love for God and man.
First of all, repentance is the primary commandment of the New Testament, the commandment that introduces all the Christian virtues. Repentance is not a simple return to ourselves for our correction. Repentance here means man's return to God. Repentance means giving up the self-confidence that man has, the belief in himself. To abandon the darkness of delusion in order to be bathed in divine light. To recognize God as his only King. To accept Jesus Christ as his ONLY Lord.
Let us love repentance in order to receive salvation. Our Almighty God «grant repentance that we may gain life» the true and unending life. Let us seek in the Church of Christ the gift of lifelong repentance from God so that He may also give us the gift of eternal salvation, because «from the Lord comes salvation.». To Him belongs the glory for ever and ever. AMEN.
