Today, the Orthodox Church is on the 33rd Sunday after Pentecost, also named of the <i>Tax collector and of the Pharisee<\/i>. The pericope of Saint Evangelist Luke, chapter 18:10-14, related to the example of <i>the tax collector and of the Pharisee<\/i>, was read in all churches.<\/p>\n
In the sermon delivered in the chapel of the Patriarchal Residence, with Saint Gregory the Enlightener as saint patron, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasised the teaching of the evangelical pericope of the day: “The Gospel of the 33rd Sunday after the Pentecost shows us a teaching of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, expressed as an example, namely of <i>the tax collector and of the Pharisee<\/i>. The Church scheduled this Gospel fragment for the first Sunday during the Triode period. This period lasts ten weeks out of which seven represent the Holy Easter Lent, and three the preparation or announcement of the Holy Easter Lent”. <\/p>\n
While referring to the way in which the tax collector and the Pharisee were praying in the example given by Jesus Christ, our Lord, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said: “We see two men and two ways of praying. Everything the Pharisee says is true, but his mood when praying is full of pride. He pretends he thanks God, but he quickly passes to self sufficiency, saying: <i>Thank God because I am not like other people<\/i>. Conceited, self sufficient, contented, this Pharisee thinks only of him even if he is in front of God. In fact, he considers God a witness of his moral and religious abilities. Thus, this self love and thinking of himself makes the Pharisee conceited, leaving no more room in him for the presence of the Humble Merciful God. Therefore, having been self sufficient, the Pharisee cannot love anybody else but him, and starts judging the others. So, the great sin of the Pharisee during the prayer is, besides self sufficiency, judging the others. He does not compare himself to other Pharisees, to people of his social category, but to other people considered from a moral point of view below his level, so that he may be higher than they. On the other hand, we see that the tax collector is in a humble position, looking down and admitting in this way he is too fond of the laic things, and so he prays God to forgive his sins which made him a slave of the earthly temporary things. But he sincerely admits he has no merit and that his salvation depends only on God’s mercy”. <\/p>\n
<b><i>Let us do good deeds out of lowliness and repent for all our sins through a humble prayer<\/i><\/b> <\/p>\n
Then, His Beatitude Daniel pointed out the fact that the Church urges us to do good things in a state of lowliness: “We see here a moral, virtuous and proud man – <i>the Pharisee<\/i> – and a sinner, but humble one who admits his own limits and his need to have God’s help to get rid of his sins and reach salvation, namely <i>the tax collector<\/i>. At first sight, this Gospel shows us that God prefers a humble sinner to a proud righteous. In other words, lowliness is greater than all the good deeds if they are done out of pride, or if they have become a source of pride. But the Matins of the Sunday of the tax collector and of the Pharisee shows us that if God loves the tax collector’s lowliness He does not agree with his sins too, and if God rejects the Pharisee’s pride it does not mean that He rejects his good deeds too. This is why the 5th chant of the Matins of the Sunday of the tax collector and of the Pharisee urges us to unite the Pharisee’s good deeds with the tax collector’s lowliness, saying: “<i>let us endeavour to follow the Pharisee’s virtues and long for the tax collector’s lowliness, but rejecting their mistakes<\/i>. So, this is the teaching of the Church: <i>to do good things in lowliness and repent for our all sins through a humble prayer<\/i>”.<\/p>\n
<b><i>Lowliness is the foundation of the Christian life<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel emphasised the importance of lowliness for the Christian life: “Lowliness is the foundation of the Christian life. Why? It is because man denies himself through lowliness, giving up his selfishness and being filled with the humble and merciful love of God. This is why no proud man can really love his fellow beings. Only the humble man, who bears the humble love of God can really love his fellow beings. The proud Pharisee does not love his fellow beings, but judges them. But a humble man who does good deeds out of lowliness and of love of God, can really love his fellow beings with the love God loves them. This is why he prays not only for himself, but also for those around him and for the salvation of all people. So, merciful love cannot be reached without lowliness, the love that does not mind only itself. This is why lowliness is the foundation of the Christian love, as well as the highest virtue, as Saint Isaac the Syrian says when he speaks of repentance. This is not one of other virtues, but one which supports all the other virtues. Lowliness supports true love too, because the humble man feels he is front of the Holy Good God and no matter how pure man may be, his purity can never be up to the highness of the Holiness of God and his kindness can never be up to the highness of God’s kindness. This is why he is always humble because he does not compare himself to other people, but to the Good Merciful God. When we compare ourselves to the people around we may have the feeling that we are higher than they, but when we compare to the Holy Merciful God we are always humble because we have not done all the good we should have done and we have not reached the lowliness of God.”<\/p>\n
“This Sunday of the tax collector and of the Pharisee urges us to the humble prayer, to the prayer that opens us to receive the grace of the Good Merciful God in our souls. Fasting is said to make prayer humble. When we fast, especially when we do not eat anything, the body is in a state of lowliness, and loses weight, but the soul is strengthened in prayer. So, fasting makes prayer humble, and humble prayer is the first food of the one who is fasting. When people fast they must pray a lot. They give up the material food, but they get spiritually rich and are fed through the spiritual food of the prayer which is the very presence of God in man”, His Beatitude said. <\/p>\n
Next week the Orthodox Church will be on the <i>Sunday of the return of the prodigal son<\/i>, the 34th one after the Pentecost. <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, the Orthodox Church is on the 33rd Sunday after Pentecost, also named of the <i>Tax collector and of the Pharisee<\/i>. The pericope of Saint Evangelist Luke, chapter 18:10-14, related to the example of <i>the tax collector and of the Pharisee<\/i>, was read in all churches. In the sermon delivered in the chapel of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romanian-patriarchate"],"yoast_head":"\n