The Holy Martyr Thaleleus (283-84)
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Acts 18:22-28; John 12:36-47
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
We are introduced to an interesting figure by the name of Apollos. Here is a man who is well educated and rooted in the Old Testament Scriptures. He was able to see the prophecies concerning our Lord and had great boldness in preaching Christ and yet he was not baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. St. Didymus comments, “it is knowledge of the Scriptures that makes him speak in the Spirit.” (Catena on the Acts of the Apostles 18.28). We see also that by being open to the Holy Spirit he is led into a fuller knowledge as he was not yet fully initiated into the faith. Notice also that humility allowed him to receive correction and further instruction: he was an educated man but received instruction from Priscilla and Aquila. They were uneducated by his standards and Priscilla a woman, this would have been unacceptable by most men of that time. Apollos shows us two important points about the spiritual life for us to contemplate. First, the importance of immersing ourselves into Holy Scripture for through the Word of God the Holy Spirit grows in us. Second, growth in the spiritual life is impossible without the good soil of humility.