Homily on the Fifth Sunday After Pascha: The Samaritan Woman
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1964)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Christ is Risen!
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, taught people goodness and truth, gave us His gospel, showed the example of His life and promised not to leave us orphans without help and instruction. And therefore we must believe that there is no occasion in our life, no matter in which the Lord Himself, either by the Gospel commandment, or by the Apostolic commandment, or by the example of His life, does not teach us how to act. On the contrary, He teaches us daily and hourly how we should live in order to please God.
Thus today's Gospel reading serves as the greatest edification and guidance for us in our spiritual life, teaching us how to manage our path to salvation. The Gospel we read today contains a conversation between the Lord and the Samaritan woman. The reason for this conversation was the following circumstance. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after the Passover feast, was walking from Jerusalem to Galilee through the Samaritan region. Tired from the long journey and the midday heat, the Lord sat down to rest at a well near the city of Sychar. And at that time a Samaritan woman came for water. It was at the sixth hour, or according to our reckoning at the twelfth hour of the day.
The Lord turned to her, asking for water to quench His thirst, and a conversation took place between them, as a result of which the Samaritan woman not only believed in the Savior, but also became a preacher of His teachings and subsequently, baptized with the name Photini, accepted a martyr's death for her firm confession of the name of Christ.
In this conversation the Lord promises to give both to the Samaritan woman and all those who believe in Him living water, flowing unto eternal life. We know that without water everything dies. Where there is no rain, where rivers do not flow, no trees or plants grow, but everything is covered with sand, and such places are called deserts. By their very appearance they bring fear and despair to the soul of man.
Such is the significance of material water in our life and the life of the plant world. But there is also living, heavenly water, which is even more necessary and which the Lord commands everyone to seek. This water is, first of all, the grace-filled teaching of Christ: when it is accepted by the soul, it gives the soul blessing and life. On the contrary, when there is no such teaching in the soul, then the soul languishes, dries up, hardens, and all human life becomes like a desert, where for a person there is only fear, or sorrow, or torment.
When the Lord asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, she answered Him: "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). From this it is evident that she did not yet know that one must love everyone and help everyone: she had water to quench her physical thirst, but she did not yet have spiritual water – the grace-filled teaching of Christ – in her soul. She did not thirst in her body, but her soul was tormented by enmity and malice towards the Jews, and therefore did not have the joy of Christ, which is inseparable from love.
The water of Christ, which He gave to all who believe in Him, is love, truth, peace, and together with it joy. All this is given to man by the grace-filled teaching of the Gospel. Let the example of the Samaritan woman serve as confirmation of this truth. Not having heard this teaching, she did not want to give the Savior a drink, and later her heart, touched by His wondrous teaching, moved her to become not only merciful, but also a preacher and martyr for the Christian faith.
Only the teaching of Christ quenches the thirst of our soul and fills it with joy and love. The human body, no matter how healthy and strong it is, needs food and without food it weakens and deteriorates. And a garden, no matter how well-ordered and fertile it is, without water it dries up and becomes empty. So it is with the soul of a pious Christian: in order for it to be alive, it is necessary for it to diligently study the word of God. He who is from God hears the words of God (see: John 18:37), says the Savior. All true servants of God know that without reading and hearing the Divine word they could not stand firmly on the path of virtue. Therefore, dear ones, diligently resort to the word of God and draw from it consolation and spiritual drink for yourselves.
In today's Gospel reading, our attention is drawn to the words of the Savior about true service to God and true prayer. To the Samaritan woman's question about where one should worship God, in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, the Lord answered: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23–24).
With this instruction the Savior shows us what true service to God should be and what true prayer should be. The Lord primarily requires of us not bodily but spiritual service; likewise, prayer should not be bodily and external but heartfelt and spiritual. Prayer is not just bows and prostrations. To stand before an icon at home or in the temple of God and bow down is by no means real, true prayer. This is nothing more than one external accessory of prayer, just as reading printed prayers is also again not prayer.
The Lord demands from us, above all, spiritual, heartfelt service: after all, God is Spirit, and therefore, if you want prayer to be pleasing to God, pray to Him both at home and in church with all your heart. The truest, most genuine prayer in its proper sense is the ascension of the mind and heart to God, when a person reaches the highest spiritual state and forgets everything worldly and does not feel what is happening around him. An example of such a prayer can be seen in the life of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, who, immersed in prayer, often did not even feel how the shovel with which he dug the earth fell from his hands.
Therefore, if someone sets as his goal to read a certain number of printed prayers and make so many bows and considers this to be the fulfillment of his prayer rule, let him know that although he has outwardly fulfilled his Christian duty, in essence he has still not prayed. Bodily prayer without inner prayer is the same as a body without a soul: it is a dead prayer that does not reach God. Even in the Old Testament, the Lord spoke of such a prayer: "This people draws near to Me with their mouth and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me" (Matt. 15:8-9). It is not the words that come from the lips that implore God, and it is not our voice that God needs, but the sighing of a contrite heart. Prayer without attention is like a lamp without oil or a censer without incense.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, imitating the example of the Samaritan woman, who from the preaching of the Savior turned into a preacher of the faith of Christ, let us ourselves sincerely love our Lord and nourish our souls from the grace-filled source of living water, which is for us the holy word of God.
Come to this source, and you will quench the thirst of your soul, and give it joy and consolation both in this life and in the life to come. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John 7:37), the Lord calls to all. By giving our souls the grace-filled teaching of Christ, we will learn at the same time to serve God in spirit and truth and will be deemed worthy of eternal joy in the future life. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
