My Beloved the benevolent                                                                     July 2020

Grace and peace wishing every goodness and blessing

On Sunday July 12^th we celebrate the Feast of the Apostles which is the commemoration feast of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul; this feast comes at the end of the Apostle’s Fast. Our church sets for us the feasts and fasts to help us in our spiritual lives. Fasting is a worship that we offer to God, but the church named it the Apostle’s Fast and ended it with their feast to lift our minds to the life of our fathers the Apostles. We should use them as an example for their faith, love and their toil in spreading the gospel to the whole world. Christ our Lord after His resurrection appeared to His disciples and stayed with them for forty days; talking to them about the kingdom of God. He commanded them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mk. 16:15-18 And after the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, they preached to the whole world as the Book of Acts says, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” Acts 4:33 “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.” Acts 5:12 “And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. “Acts 5:14-16

• The healing miracles expressed the act of salvation that Christ performed to heal humanity from the ailment of sin, and the authority of death and corruption. These miracles express the merciful act to save those who are suffering with several diseases.
• The Book of Acts mentions many miracles performed at the hands of the Apostles.  St. Peter the Apostle -whose martyrdom we commemorate on July 12^th, along with the martyrdom of St. Paul the apostle- had performed many miracles, some of which were mentioned in a general way in Acts 5:15, that the shadow of St. Peter was healing many of the sick, and others were mentioned in greater detail. I would like to mention three of his miracles:

1. The healing of the paralytic from his mother’s womb: This miracle was mentioned in Acts 3 when St. Peter and St. John went up to the temple at the ninth hour, “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;” Acts 3:2. St. Peter gave the greatest gift to this sick man who was living in misery: a healing in the name of Jesus Christ, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So, he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them – walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.” Acts 3:6-9. He is the man that failed to walk in God’s way because of sin. St. Paul said: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 3:23- 24. Sin entered the world by Adam’s disobedience, and all came under disobedience and the wrath of God. “Therefore, just as through one-man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” Rom. 5:12.
2. The healing of Aeneas in Lydda: This miracle was mentioned in Acts 9 as St. Peter went down to Lydda and found a man by the name of Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. St. Peter said, “‘Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.’ Then he arose immediately” Acts 9:34. The sinner becomes incapable of the life of righteousness; thus, needs Christ to resurrect him from the ailment of sin, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”1 Jn. 1:9.
3. The healing of Tabitha: Tabitha was at Joppa and she was a righteous woman. “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.” Acts 9:36. Tabitha got sick and died, but St. Peter came and resurrected her. The righteous person may face trials and problems in their life that debilitates them from acts of righteousness, but God visits them with His mercy and resurrects them in order to once again keep doing good deeds.

We pray that God grant us to use our fathers the apostles as an example in doing good deeds; and to have a share and inheritance with them in the kingdom of heaven.

May the Lord bless your offerings to support Santa Verena Charity programs.

Metropolitan Serapion