The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian; Our Venerable Father Arsenius the Great (408-50); Arsenius the Great (450)
All-Night Vigil Feast. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read
Acts 10:44-11:10; 1 John 1:1-7
John 8:21-30; John 19:25-27; 21:24-25
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
We are leaving the study of COVID 19 to professionals. Rightfully so. To rely on the information of experts is a function of human life. Most of our knowledge is based not on direct experience, but from the experience of others. It’s how we fashion judgements, outlooks, and decisions. Why should faith, particularly apostolic faith, be any different? In today’s epistle, John the Theologian tells us that they are handing to us, in words an experience: What he has heard, seen, and handled with his own hands is presented to us a gift. While the Gospel of John is at pains to remind us that he is an eyewitness testimony, nevertheless, Jesus himself blesses those who “have not seen, yet still believe.” Why is that, because our human way of knowing is both experiential and faith-based. Every word of the creed is not based on experience but stands on the testimony of the apostles, carried on by the church through apostolic succession, to us. To pretend that we need to experience to believe would deny something fundamental about human nature.