St. Photoni Living Water!
5th Sun after Pascha, May 14, 2023; St. Photini – Living Water! John 4: 5-42; Fr. Andrew
Today we have the Gospel reading from St. John of the Samaritan woman at the well, St. Photini “Equal to the Apostles” as the Church knows her. The Samaritans came from the “other” 10 tribes of Israel. When the tribe of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin returned from the Babylonian captivity (about 6th Cent. BC), and began re-building the Temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans’ offer of help was scornfully rejected. The Samaritans built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, famous as the mountain described in Deuteronomy as the place of blessing when the tribe of Israel was coming into the promised land. (27:12) “These shall stand on Mt. Gerizim to bless the people when you cross over the Jorden: Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, & Benjamin.” However their ancestors destroyed it in 120 BC. so we see there is no lasting peace even amongst the same Nationalities before Christ’s 2nd coming. We also see there was some serious bad blood between the Jews and the Samaritans after they crossed the Jordan.
It is remarkable that Christ being a Jew, is even here in Samaria, let alone addressing a Samaritan woman. The woman at the well says to Him is “…Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Quite the understatement. Christ earlier said, He was sent to minister to the Jews. But, we have many cases of Christ rewarding Samaritans and others when they demonstrate true humility. Remember the Canaanite woman, who asked Christ to cast away the demon that was afflicting her daughter? Jesus says, (Matt: 15:24-28) “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and “it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs?” Her wonderful answer, was full of humility, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Her humility was rewarded by Christ. All through the ages, the Fathers have seen humility as the virtue of virtues. It is a great protection against the mother of all sins, pride, which gives birth to all sins. St. John Climacus said, “An angel fell from heaven without any other passion except pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to heaven by humility alone, without any of the other virtues.” He gives us three essential properties of humility: (1) Acceptance of indignity with pleasure; (2) Loss of all bad temper and modesty regarding this accomplishment; (3) True distrust of one’s good qualities and constant desire to learn. (as opposed to “I already know…” in our proud closed off expert opinion.)
eHe goes on to say “Three properties of humility are In our present culture where self-promotion, self-confidence, personal fulfilment, and standing up for our rights are considered crowning virtues, humility is hardly considered at all, unless as a weakness to be corrected with positive thinking or assertiveness training. On the internet, even on so called “orthodox” sites, humility is in short supply. As usual, true Orthodox wisdom is paradoxy. Take any of the “self” prefixes, and replace them with either “God” or “Christ” and you start to move from pride to humility, as you do a direct U-turn into oncoming modern cultural traffic. Beginning to see just how completely dependent we are on God, and how tiny is our understanding of most everything is a start. St. Maximus summed up the desired attitude well, “A person is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan to him.” We should be mindful not to hold onto our opinions too strongly. We know so little of the big picture so we can easily be self-deluded. St. Ephrem’s prayer, “Allow me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother” is a good check to keep us on the path of humility.
Christ chooses to reveal to His precious future “equal to the apostles” St. Photini” – for the first time in the gospel accounts – that He is the Messiah, “I who speak to you am He (the Messiah)” clearly revealing Himself to be GOD. When someone tries to tell you that Christ was just a good man, a wise man, or a prophet, one of the enlightened “masters” elevated like perhaps Buddha, Mohamad, or Guru Dev, remember this, Jesus clearly said that He is GOD, and the Nicene Creed tells us that He created all things. This leaves us with only two possible choices. Either He is who He and the Church claim He is, the uncreated GOD incarnate, or He is a complete lunatic. The Jews understood what He was claiming and crucified Him for uttering blasphemy. If His claim to be God is not true, then Christ must be a raving lunatic, and certainly not worthy of being considered anything but deluded and mentally ill. There is no middle ground.
No other religious system has a founder that claimed He was the one and only God Who created all things. Christianity is not fundamentally a teaching on doing good. Christianity is all about the person of Christ. We surrender our lives to the living Christ, not some philosophy. Christianity is not a religion with rules, fasting work, and moral principles we must follow. Christianity is a living relationship with Christ, the one true and eternally living God who created us, and all that exists. We are all created in His image, and only in Him do we have life. Only Christ is the way the truth and the life, and only as we unite with Him in communion and in spirit and truth are we brought to life and able to truly find life!
In today’s gospel, Christ starts by breaking the rules of social engagement and addressing the future St. Photini. He offers her “living water,” an internal spring, a fountain of blessing, leading to eternal life if she recognizes who He is. She replies “Sir, give me this water,” Christ tells her she needs to correct her life and tells her about her past marriages and present relationship. Rather than excusing or defending herself, in true humility, she reveals her great thirst for spiritual truth. “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” Talk about a quick study! She then asks the question burning in her soul. “Who is right, the Jews or the Samaritans? Where does God want to be worshipped? How do we do it right?” Christ answers St. Photini’s question regarding where to worship, changing it from a “where” to a “how and Who” to worship. Christ’s humanity is descended directly from the Jew’s, so He answers, “salvation is of the Jew’s.” “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” Did you catch that? “The Father is seeking such to worship Him, in spirit and truth.” Are we responding? I hope so because the Father is seeking, we are being sought! Everything is changed! Christ has come and sent the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father, and we have this wonderful spring of living water bubbling up to eternal life!
We worship in spirit and truth in Christ. He said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” Truth is the solid doctrine coming from Christ and passed down to His apostles, which has been carefully passed down to us through all the ages, through all the saints. What we believe needs to square with what has always been taught by the Church, everywhere, always, and throughout all the ages. The wisdom of 2000 years of continuous Church understanding can be trusted. Our own new inspiration or the latest “revelation” of what God is doing “today.” – not so much.
Truth however remains dead and lifeless or even worse, cruel and judgemental without the warmth of the Spirit! But spirit running enthusiastically outside the boundaries of the truth, damages anything in its path. Spirit and truth in balance are key. The fruits of the Spirit are, (Gal.5:22) “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” Truth can be used as a weapon, a club to attack, if not permeated with love, it is then, at best hurtful, and can even be demonic.
St. Photini immediately ran off to begin her new lifeof bringing people to Christ. The whole town came to believe! Saint Photini followed Christ from this encounter and continued on to be a great evangelist, bringing countless others including her two sons, her four sisters, and even Nero’s own daughter Domnina to Christ. They all joined her as martyrs, St. Photini ironically by being thrown into a well and finally joining with her beloved Christ eternally back at a well. She recognized from her first encounter with Christ that which He had to point out to His disciples when they returned to the well with fresh provisions. “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.”
Through the prayers of St. Photini, may we answer the call of Him who seeks all to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Christ is Risen!