My Beloved the benevolent                               July 2025

Grace and peace, wishing you every goodness and blessing

I am pleased to congratulate you all on the Feast of the Apostles, which we celebrate on Saturday, July 12^th; it is the feast of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul.  The Feast of the Apostles comes at the conclusion of the Apostles’ fast, allowing us to live a spiritual period in which we remember our Apostolic Fathers, who preached the Christian faith tothe whole world. We always look forward to the service of the Apostolic Fathers as a model to emulate in our lives and ministry.

One of the highlights of the ministry of our Apostolic Fathers is caring for the poor and needy.

+ Serving the needy, or as St. Paul calls it, the ministry of the saints (Romans 15:25), was not just an act of mercy and charity offered to the needy, but rather a fundamental relationship and conclusive proof that all believers are members of the one body of Christ. If one member suffers, all members suffer with it (1Cor 12:26). The book of Acts presents us with the model of one church in which each member cares for the rest of the poor and needy members, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” Acts 2:44-45. “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” Acts 4:34-35.

+ The Apostolic Fathers considered serving the needy as a sign of practical love. The believers are bound by the bond of love because Christ made love a sign of discipleship, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:35. The fathers, the Apostles, taught that true love is not just expressed by words but by deeds and truth, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth.” 1John 3:17-18.

+ The Apostolic Fathers considered caring for the needy to be evidence of practical faith, faith working though love. Saint James advises us, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17.

+The Apostolic Fathers considered serving the needy as a spiritual service that requires those who do this ministry to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Apostolic fathers ordained seven deacons to serve the needy widows when the Greeks complained about the Hebrews that their widows were overlooked in the daily service. The Apostolic fathers laid down conditions for those who would be recommended for this ministry: “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;” Acts 6:3.

In the view of the Apostolic fathers, the ministry is not divided into spiritual service, social service, or economic service. Rather, service is service to humanity as a whole, by caring for all human needs in a spiritual manner with wisdom which is not the wisdom of this world, but the wisdom that God gives to humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Wisdom.

+ St. Paul the Apostle went up to Jerusalem and met the holy Apostles, James, Peter and John, and they gave him the right hand of fellowship to serve the Gentiles, and they specifically mentioned the poor as an essential part of the ministry, “they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.” Galatians 2: 9-10.

+ Serving the needy was not limited to the Apostolic Fathers but a message to all believers, and the book of Acts gives us the example of Tabitha, “This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.” Acts 9:36. Therefore, when she fell ill and died, St. Peter went to raise her up, as mentioned in the book of Acts, “Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.” Acts 9:39.

We pray that God, through the intercession of the Apostolic Fathers, will grant us to care for our needy brothers and sisters and that we may all be filled with good deeds and benevolences to offer to everyone in need.

 May the Lord bless your offerings to support Santa Verena’s charitable programs.

Metropolitan Serapion