From the May / June 2025 edition of “The Light”
The Gospel reading according to St. John (20:19:31) narrates us through the appearance of Jesus to the ten disciples in the upper room. Why just ten disciples? Judas Iscariot had betrayed Jesus and hung himself and Thomas was not present. He appeared to them, after He was crucified and died, in the flesh with the marks of the nails on His hands and feet. The mark of the spear in His side was still there as well. However, it is worthy to note that He walked into the upper room while the doors were closed. He walked through the walls and doors with His earthly body after His resurrection. This is a hint of how our earthly bodies will be after our resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ, immediately before the last judgment. We will have our present bodies except they will be illumined bodies. This is a reason the Orthodox Church does not accept cremation and actually, we, the clergy are not allowed to do a funeral for someone who is or will be cremated.
After Jesus walked into the upper room, He said to His disciples, “Peace be to you. As the Father sent me, I send you.” He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of someone, they will be retained and not forgiven.” He gave His disciples incredible authority to forgive or not to forgive sins. He had given these keys to the Kingdom to Peter (Matthew 16:19) and He now gives these keys to the ten disciples. It boggles the mind!! As God breathed life into Adam, the proto human (Gen 2:7), so Jesus now breathes the new spiritual life into his disciples. But not only that, Jesus gives them the power to forgive or retain sins in His name. As you might distinguish here, these words are among the Scriptural foundation of the Sacrament of Ordination as well as the Scriptural foundation of the Sacrament of Confession. He gave this authority to His disciples and through them to the bishops and the priests. That is exactly how a bishop can ordain a priest, or a group of bishops and the patriarch can ordain a bishop. By the same token, this is how a priest or a bishop, through the grace of God, can forgive and absolve a parishioner from his/her sins. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Now Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them. When he was told about the encounter with Christ, he said, unless I put my fingers in the mark of the nails on His hands and feet, and unless I thrust my hand into His side where the spear’s mark is, I will not believe. A few days later when Jesus appeared to the disciples again, He asked Thomas to do exactly what he requested. But at this point, Thomas without touching Jesus made the most complete affirmation of faith of anyone in the gospel, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). From this time forth, the faith of all Christians in all ages will rest on the testimony of the first believers.
Therefore, there are three types of people in this world! The St. Anthony the Great type who just need to hear it once, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). After hearing this, St. Anthony sold all his possessions, gave the money to the poor, and then went into the desert to follow Christ. Thomas the apostle is the second type. He needs to see and touch before he can believe and follow Christ. The third type includes those who need to hear the message repeatedly and for a long time before they truly follow Christ. That is one of the reasons why the Orthodox monthly and yearly liturgical cycles exist.
The Church, through Her witness of over 2000 years, has established a chain starting with touching and seeing to neither touching nor seeing for the faithful to believe. This chain is established by the disciples first, becoming apostles, who saw, touched, and believed to the later Christians who neither touched nor saw but still believed, as we do now.
On an administrative note, having been approved by Metropolitan SABA, I ordained Mark Naftel of St Ignatius Church, Franklin, TN to the dignity of the Holy Diaconate on March 2nd, 2025. On the other hand, registration for the PLC is open and I look forward to seeing you all in Jacksonville, FL, as St George Church hosts this year’s Parish Life conference. It is worthy to note that Camp St. Thekla is once again in a very healthy and abundant position to open its doors to staff and campers at the end of June. Don’t forget to apply for the DOMSE scholarship; applications are usually open on June 1st.
May God bless you and may the Holy Trinity protect you all!
+BISHOP NICHOLAS
