Archimandrite Kyrillos Kostopoulos,
Preacher of the Sacred Metropolis of Patras
Preacher of the Sacred Metropolis of Patras
On Holy and Great Tuesday, a great multitude of people hastens to the churches in order to hear, with deep emotion, the hymn of the hymnographer Kassiani, which refers to the sinful woman of the Gospel and her profound repentance. Yet only a few from this crowd truly enter into the depth of the event, deciding to imitate the change of life and the love that the sinful woman showed toward the God-man Lord.
This sinful woman realized her sinfulness and the mire of immorality into which she had fallen, and, recognizing that the One before her was the Redeemer and Savior of souls and bodies, she decided to approach Him. She gave up her possessions and bought the most precious myrrh of that time in order to anoint His feet, thus showing her faith and love for Him.
Coming to our own time and to the personal life of each of us, let us ask ourselves: what do we offer to God as a sign of love for Him and of sincere repentance for our disobedience to His will? Do we offer Him, instead of myrrh, what is most precious to us? And the most precious thing a person possesses is his heart, that is, his inner world and his nous.
Through the heart, a person expresses his feelings and emotions and enters into communion and contact with his Creator God, as well as with his fellow human beings. “My son, give Me your heart,” our Lord says. He does not want our heart to be a mosaic made up of various fragments — such as falsehood, injustice, hatred, blasphemy, immorality, sensuality, worldliness, greed, and so on — with just one small piece dedicated to Christ. He asks for our whole heart, so that He may make it His throne and thus cleanse us, bring us peace, and unify us into whole and integrated persons.
The second precious thing we must offer to God is our nous. According to the Fathers of our Church, the nous is the eye of the soul. Therefore, through the nous we see God and our neighbor. If the nous is filled with thoughts of pride, wickedness, impurity, hatred, judgment, and the like, then it is darkened, and a person cannot behold either his Creator or even himself. He thus falls into a state of inner turmoil, confusion, despondency, and darkness, which prevents him from understanding what he is doing and where he is going. In this way he is led to actions that are destructive both to his neighbor and to himself, since everything — even murder — begins from a passionate thought that is neither checked nor cast away.
By offering our nous to God — through sincere confession, prayer, and the whole life of the Church — so that He may cleanse it, and by allowing Him to be enthroned in our heart, then our entire life, our words, and our deeds will become filled with God, constructive, and loving toward our neighbor and toward all creation.
If we enter deeply into this event which our Holy Church brings to our remembrance today, then the repentant sinful woman of the Gospel will become for us a radiant and eternal example of redemption and salvation.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
