Prologue in Sermons: October 6

House Not Made With Hands

October 6

(Homily on the Holy Apostle Thomas)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

I will tell you the following story from the life of Saint Thomas the Apostle. After the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles cast lots to determine where each would go to preach the word of God. Thomas was assigned Parthia, Media, and India, and he began to prepare for his journey. Meanwhile, at that very time, an Indian merchant named Avan came to Jerusalem, seeking an artist to build a magnificent house for his king. He met the Apostle. Thomas told him that he himself was a skilled builder and set off with him to India. Arriving before the king, Thomas offered his services, and the king, believing him to be a truly skilled artist, entrusted him with the construction of the building and, after indicating the location, gave him a considerable sum of gold and silver for expenses. Taking the money, the Apostle distributed it to the poor, and instead of building a palace, he began to zealously spread the word of God. Some time later, someone told the king, who wanted to know how the work was progressing, that the roof was already under construction. Overjoyed by this news, the king sent Thomas an even greater amount of gold than before. The Apostle distributed this to the poor, but the palace was still not built. Finally, it was revealed to the king that Thomas was deceiving him, and the king, blazing with anger, immediately ordered him to be brought before him and he cried out, "Where is the house you were supposed to build?" The Apostle replied that the house was not here, but that he would see it after death and only then would he take possession of it. The king, seeing Thomas's words as mockery towards himself, ordered him thrown into prison, where he was threatened with a terrible fate. However, in reality, things turned out differently. The king's beloved brother fell dangerously ill and during his illness had the following vision. He was shown the dwellings of the saints and asked to choose the one he particularly liked. When he had selected one of the best and pointed to it, the angel accompanying him told him he could not occupy that dwelling because it had already been prepared for his brother, the king. Coming to his senses, he reported his vision to the king, who, convinced that the Apostle was truly preparing a heavenly dwelling for him, rather than an earthly one, immediately commanded to release him and, falling at his feet, begged his forgiveness. Saint Thomas then instructed him in the Christian faith and baptized him.

The Origin of the Gold-Diamond Cross on the Sacred Skull of the Apostle Thomas

 

Saint Thomas the Apostle is commemorated with honor and splendor by our Church today (October 6th). We in Patmos have the blessing of hosting his honorable and miraculous skull in the Sacred Monastery of Saint John the Theologian. It came to Patmos from the Metochion of Patmos in Chios, dedicated to the Apostle Thomas to protect it from the Genoese who eventually occupied the island (1346-1566) and since then it has been established as a symbol of our homeland.

As is known, when the Apostle Thomas traveled to the region of India as a missionary, he baptized into the faith of Christ the wife and children of the king, and the king, enraged, gave the order for him to be killed by being speared. His sacred relic remained there until the son of Constantine the Great transferred it to Constantinople. In 1204 the relic was transferred to Rome along with other Saints stolen as spoils from the Fourth Crusade. Ephraim the Syrian reports that the relics of the Apostle Thomas were first transferred to Edessa or Antioch in Mesopotamia.

Homily Four for the Sunday of Saint Thomas (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Four for the Sunday of Saint Thomas

By St. John of Kronstadt

“And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28)

So resolutely did Thomas believe in the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead, when he felt the wounds on His hands and the wound in His most pure side: "You are my Lord and my God!" that is:

You have conquered by the power of Your Divinity the universal death of fallen Adam and granted resurrection to the entire human race;

You are the conqueror of hades;

You have opened again the gates of paradise to the fallen and You restored the human race.

Homily Three for the Sunday of Saint Thomas (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Three for the Sunday of Saint Thomas

By St. John of Kronstadt

“Then the other disciples said to him (Thomas), ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hand, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’” (John 20:25).

Beloved! The Holy Apostle Thomas, by his unbelief and the sincere faith that followed in the Risen Lord, teaches the weak-believers and all unbelievers sincere faith in Jesus Christ. He especially teaches faith to people who are Christians of our time, who are very, very cautious in faith and are very afraid that they might not believe what they think may not really be, and they do not believe much that really is.

All such people are well taught by the example of the Holy Apostle Thomas. The Lord intentionally allowed him to doubt so much about His resurrection from the dead precisely because He, as God, saw in the future a multitude of unbelievers who needed to be convinced of His Divinity by the example of a man similar to them in unbelief: and such a man is Saint Thomas. He did not believe that Jesus Christ, as God, was resurrected by the power of His Divinity, although all ten Apostles unanimously said to him: "We have seen the Lord," and he promises to believe this only when he sees on Him the wounds from the nails, when he puts his hand into the wounds of the nails and into His side.

October: Day 6: Holy Apostle Thomas

October: Day 6:
Holy Apostle Thomas
 
(On Doubt in Matters of Faith)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Apostle Thomas, whose memory is celebrated today, nicknamed Didymus (the twin), a Galilean by birth, was one of the Twelve Apostles. When, after the resurrection of the Lord, Thomas was told that Jesus Christ was risen, Thomas did not believe it and said that he would not believe until he himself saw the Savior and touched His wounds. Eight days after the resurrection, the Lord, appearing to the disciples through closed doors, said to Thomas: “Look at My hands and put your fingers into My wounds, and do not remain in unbelief, but believe.” Thomas was ashamed of his unbelief and joyfully exclaimed: “You are my Lord and my God!” Then the Savior said to him: “You believed when you saw; but blessed are those who, not seeing, believe.”

Homily One for the Sunday of Thomas or Antipascha (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on May 13, 1945)

Not immediately and with great difficulty did all the holy apostles believe that their Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, had risen from the dead. Even for them, who had seen more than once how He raised the dead, it was not easy to believe that a dead man, immovable and lifeless, in whom there is neither thought nor feelings, can resurrect Himself. This is much more incomprehensible than the great miracle of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (see Mark 5:40–43) or the son of the widow of Nain (see Luke 7:11–15). Later, the holy Apostle Thomas believed in this. It was so difficult for him to fit into his consciousness the amazing fact of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus that he categorically declared: “I will not believe until I put my fingers into the wounds from the nails and my hand into the wound on His side” (see Jn. 20:25).