COVID-19 CATECHESIS

THE BOAT WE ARE WAITING FOR

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to help those impacted by Covid-19

Reflections and Daily Inspiration
Christ Raises the World

Christ does not save you individually, in isolation, apart from everyone else. You do not find yourself alive in the middle of a cemetery or a morgue. You are not a shipwreck survivor surrounded by shattered wreckage. That is not a gift of life, but a death sentence.

The Lord raises man up and saves him because in His Resurrection, He raises the world with Himself. He raises up the human universe. “And there is none dead in the tomb” (St. John Chrysostom, The Catechetical Homily ). Everything is full of light and life: “heaven and earth and all that is under the earth” (St. John of Damascus, The Canon of Pascha, ode 3). And the whole of the saved world becomes in a way an extension of man, the body of man.

He came to give man the possibility of knowing God in a way worthy of God, of seeing, of feeling His presence as a light that enlightens and comforts every man coming into the world (Jn 1:9); to allow people to realize the spiritual nobility and status of man; to open their eyes; to sanctify them in both soul and body; to bestow on them their ancient beauty and adoption as sons; to make man a child of God, a free person, a priest of creation.

- Elder Vasileios  
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SAINT OF THE DAY
The Holy Great-martyr, Victory-bearer, and Wonderworker George (303)

This glorious and victorious saint was born in Cappadocia, the son of wealthy and virtuous parents. His father suffered for Christ, and his mother then moved to Palestine. When George grew up he entered the military, where he attained, in his twentieth year, the rank of tribune, and as such he was in the service of the Emperor Diocletian. When Diocletian began his terrible persecution of Christians, George came before him and courageously confessed that he was a Christian. The emperor had him thrown into prison and ordered that his feet be placed in stocks and that a heavy stone be placed on his chest. After that, the emperor commanded that George be tied to a wheel, under which was a board with large nails, and he was to be rotated until his whole body became as one bloody wound. After that, they buried him in a pit with only his head showing above the ground, and there they left him for three days and three nights. Then George was given a deadly poison to drink by a magician. But through all of these sufferings, George continuously prayed to God, and God healed him instantly and saved him from death, to the great astonishment of the people. When he also resurrected a dead man through his prayers, many accepted the Christian Faith. Among these were Alexandra, the wife of the Emperor Diocletian; the chief pagan priest; the farmer Glycerius; and Valerius, Donatus, and Therinus. Finally, the emperor commanded that George and his own wife Alexandra to be beheaded. Blessed Alexandra died on the scaffold before being beheaded, and St. George was beheaded, in the year 303. The miracles which have occurred over the grave of St. George are countless. Numerous are his appearances, both in dreams and openly, to those who, from that time to today, have invoked him and implored his help. Inflamed with love for Christ the Lord, it was not difficult for this saintly George, for the sake of this love, to leave all: rank, wealth, imperial honor, his friends and the entire world. For this love, the Lord rewarded him with a wreath of unfading glory in heaven and on earth, and with eternal life in His Kingdom. In addition, the Lord bestowed upon him the power and authority to assist all those in afflictions and difficulties who honor him and call upon his name.