In the video above, listen to his audio message. His Eminence Seraphim, Metropolitan of Kythira and Antikythira, for Sunday V’ Luka (30-10-2022).
The following is the written Divine Sermon of the day, by Fr:
In today's Gospel passage, Christ in a parable commands us to turn away from arrogance and the arrogance of wealth, which gives birth to sensuality and inhumanity; but to love and to seek the charitable disposition and the poverty combined with virtue.
One man was rich and dressed in precious garments. He entertained himself every day in splendor. He was a good sport. On the one hand, by the way he dressed, we can easily understand that he served, to a large extent, vain self-indulgence. On the other hand, the good looks and the piercing revealed his softness, his confusion, and his negligent hedonistic pleasure. Nothing else interested him. He was a soul that you could say drank the water of forgetfulness. He was forgetting what his nature was, what the account of his life would be, and how useless his repentance would be after death. For repentance is beneficial when the one who changes his mind has the possibility of correction. But when correction becomes impossible, i.e. after separation from the body, regret is useless and repentance is futile, as we shall see below.
There was also a poor man named Lazarus. Not only poor in money and in the necessities of life, but also sick. A painful illness with no cure kept him fallen at the gate of the rich. There, without a home, without a family. A sight for those who went in and out of poverty. And if the little dogs were allowed a free hand to gorge themselves on the crumbs of rich meals, for Lazarus, even that was not allowed. The image of God was seen by passers-by, but cast down and neglected. Nailed to the ground.
The hour of death has come for the poor and for the rich. Then angels came to the poor man to protect and serve him and to lead him to his resting place in the arms of Abraham. And the rich man died and was buried. This is literally the glorious end and the end of the wealthy, who sin without mercy in this life.
In vain the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue with a little water. Abraham, neither does his weeping bend, nor does it bring him out of his anguish. With a stern attitude he affirms God's righteous judgment, saying that God has placed everyone where he deserves to be.
It's obvious. Not every rich man is condemned, but that rich man who lives by the same intention as his contemporary Lazarus. Neither is every poor man righteous, but he that is like Lazarus. The Bible here blesses the poor man who endures pains and labors with a philosopher's soul. And he endures with bravery, modesty and humility of morals the various circumstances of life. To him is finally granted eternal enjoyment in the presence of the Judge and Mediator of virtue, the Lord, who invites the righteous, saying: «Ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you» (Matt. 25:34). Amen.
Fr. Pavlos Kalliikas
