Sunday of the Samaritan Woman:
The Pitcher
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
The Pitcher
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
She came to Jacob's well with her pitcher to draw water. The water from which, whoever drinks, will thirst again. However, the Samaritan woman, in the depths of her existence, seeks some other water to quench her thirst. But she does not know it. She thirsts. "The well is deep." She begs the unknown, the great Unknown: "Lord, give me this water." What water?
But this unsatisfied feeling of thirst of the body also leads us to that other thirst, the spiritual thirst. Man thirsts for God. He has metaphysical restlessness and a constant upward journey. The soul’s need for eternity is greater than the biological one. He is created to “see God.” And of course, what Saint Augustine said is true: “You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You”! He seeks God. He asks, writes, rewrites, searches, struggles. He is a seeker of God. However, the Lord God is not known from the biographies of Encyclopedias, films, or the Wikipedia of the Internet. He Himself wants us to know Him through the unique knowledge of His divine Teaching, to quench our thirst with the eternal words, to transcend human speech in order to find the divine word. Moreover, He Himself hastens to come for this purpose. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” He waits for us to open the door of our soul to Him and for Him to enter and stay with us, to sanctify us, to deify us.
Modern man, in fact, runs to many springs, because he is thirsty. His pitcher is empty. Truly, with what water will he be filled? The false water or the true water? The polluted or the clean? The dead or the living.
However, the Samaritan woman did not go to the well with a goblet or a cup. She brought with her a pitcher. She wanted the fullness of grace.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
