Our Holy Father and Wonderworker Tychon of Amathus (408-50)
Romans 7:14-8:2; Matthew 10:9-15
Apostles’ Fast
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Romans 7:14-8:2
We humans beings are not sinful by nature. Created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), we have within ourselves indelible goodness that can never be taken away from us or undone by our sinful actions. Sin is something external; a foreign force that dwells in us but is not who we are but rather what we do sometimes.
The power of sin is that it can lead us into despair when it becomes a habitual act. We may think that there is no way out of this sin, that it is a part of us that we have to come to accept and live with. These thoughts come from the devil, and we must not let them take root.
How? With the help of Christ. The passions that drive us to sin are too strong for us to repel on our own, and so we must call upon the name of Christ to help us fight the passions. Consider the following that we sing at Matins: “From my youth up, many passions have made war against me. But do Thou help and save me, O my Saviour.”
Brothers and sisters, may we counter the passions that incline us to sin by calling upon the name of Christ and praying, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”