The Holy Hieromartyr Artemon and those with him.
Acts 3:19-26; John 2:1-11.
Read Acts 3:19-26
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19)
Today’s reading takes place after St. Peter performs the miraculous healing of a lame man. Upon seeing this wonder, Scripture tells us that “all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.”
For the crowd, something extraordinary had broken into the pattern of their normal daily lives — something that struck deep within them. Peter takes this opportunity to address them and call them to repentance and conversion.
We too, like the crowds, have just experienced something extraordinary. Our normal daily lives have been “interrupted” by the celebration of Pascha and the following Bright Week. Let us hear St. Peter’s words addressed to us as well.
Those who were baptised at Pascha are reminded that Pascha is not the end, but the beginning of their life in Christ. The same is true for the rest of us. Pascha can often feel like relief at the end of a long and arduous journey — especially because of the fasting, long prayers, and other ascetic works that characterize our practice of Great Lent. But after the extended paschal joy of Bright Week, as we step back into our familiar routines of daily life, it is a good time to intentionally recommit to our life of repentance and conversion.
This applies to all of us, no matter whether we were just baptised or have been Christians for many years. Even the great desert father, Abba Sisoes, as he lay upon his deathbed, entreated the angels who came for him to give him a little more time for repentance. His monks said to him, “You have no need for repentance, Father.” But Saint Sisoes said with great humility, “I do not think that I have even begun to repent.”
Conversion is not a “one and done” experience, nor is it solely an intellectual decision. True conversion to Christ is something ongoing. We must go through a furnace of repentance — of change and regeneration of our entire way of thinking and living. Otherwise the “old self” will remain, with the result that unbelief and the inclination to return to the old way of life will often recur.
Some people fear that turning away from sin will make life hard to bear, but we Christians know that through repentance, a life that was merely existing is transformed into real living — that is, living in faith, love, joy, and confident hope.
May God have mercy on us and always lead us on the path towards communion with Him, no matter where on that road we find ourselves.