Our Holy Father Nicephorus the Confessor (829)
No fasting or abstention from foods.
Read
Romans 1:1-7, 13-17; Matthew 4:25-5:13
A number of years ago, I received an email from a priest that really jarred me. In the email signature, the priest wrote his name and the title “sinner+priest.” Many of us have email signatures with titles or favourite quotes but never had I seen something like this. While at first, I interpreted it as something self-righteous, over the years, having seen it many times from numerous people, I now see it as something humble.
St. Paul introduces his letter to the Romans with numerous titles: servant of Jesus Christ, apostle, separated for the Gospel of God. These titles may appear self-righteous to the casual reader of the Scriptures or 1st century Roman Christian but they are humble just like the title “sinner+priest.”
What these titles show is an understanding of one’s relation to God. No one who was not committed to continual repentance in an effort to living a saintly and holy life would call himself or herself a sinner with regularity, just like Paul would not call himself an apostle or Servant of Christ if he wasn’t committed to the preaching of the Gospel.
As baptized Christians, we are called “servants of God” when we approach for Holy Communion and will be likewise referred to at our funeral. We can easily substitute “sinner” for “servant of God” as they express one in the same thing: that we depend on God’s mercy. Among any other titles we may have, this one is most important as it’s implications extend far beyond this temporal life into our eternal life, where we desire to be “perfect servants of God” in constant communion with Him forever.