SUNDAY MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
SUNDAY K’
SAINT & ENDO
APOSTLE ANDREUS THE FIRST BORN
(30-11-2025)
WRITTEN DIVINE PROCLAMATION
In today's Apostolic passage, dear ones, the martyr's crown is presented, which the Church of the first centuries wears. The Church of the catacombs and the caves, the Church of the amphitheatre and the pyre is presented. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians «that we were born into the world as theatre, and as the periwigs of the world, we were born into the world, and as the periwigs of the world, we are the tops of all things.», i.e. the Apostles became a spectacle to the world and became like the garbage of the whole world and are considered the scum of society. And he adds the sufferings they go through, hunger and thirst, beatings and wanderings, mockery, persecution and slander.
It is true that Christianity, by entering the world as something foreign and divine, faced the rivalry and revulsion of the whole world and its members, as stated in the Letter to Diogneton, a 2nd-3rd century text, «They are fought by Jews as aliens and persecuted by Greeks». One reason for his persecution by the world was that Christians, consistent in their vocation and wanting to be «saints», lived their lives strictly, without coming into close contact with the world, so that, unjustly and slanderously, they were accused of being «haters of the human race».
It was the faith and worship of the Apostles, and of the rest of the Christians, in the true God that strengthened them in their contempt for the world and their despising of death through martyrdom. It was natural for them to despise all the adversities described by the divine Apostle, and even martyrdom, because of their eccentric conduct and the presence of divine power within them. Christians live with the world, but they come from another place, and are to it what the soul is to the body; they are the soul of the world.
Beloved, the Apostle calls us to be his imitators; «I beseech you, be imitators of me.». The description of the sufferings of that man, and of Christians in general, express the wonderful evangelical conduct, which is born of the right faith. Like life, the faith of the Christians also contains something mysterious, because of its divine origin.
One day the Church may again be led to the catacombs and caves. If we are not prepared, we will not be able to respond to our high calling. Let us not forget that we Christians are different from the world and that is why we are despised and persecuted by it. We, the members of the Church, are the ’disciples’ of Christ (Acts 6:1), the «saved» (Acts 2:47), the «of the way» (Acts 9:1-2), the «called» (1 Cor. 1, 24), «saints» (Phil. 4, 21), «Christians» (Acts 11, 26). Let us, therefore, be worthy of the names we have, in order to be worthy of eternal blessedness. Amen.
(Fr.Jerome Creticus Creticus)
