ALL SAINTS: NOTICES -- SUNDAY OF THE TEN LEPERS, 2026
GREETINGS IN CHRIST!
Beloved Christians,
Christ actually does relatively little in today’s Holy Gospel (Luke 17:11-19), but He announces that faith in Him heals, and in saying so, demonstrates that He is God. Holy Scripture tells us that faith heals, death is overcome, and Christ is triumphant. And yet we still remain ungrateful...
God has come. Death is defeated. The Holy Spirit is with us. Mankind is saved. We can partake of eternal life, but it remains for each one of us to respond and to act, to respond to the gift of salvation, so as to be able to experience the fullness of salvation; God allows us the freedom to choose or to reject.
Within the Holy Church we "are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
If we are to be healed of our own personal forms of leprosy (psychological, spiritual problems) then we must plunge into the cleansing life of the Church- become involved and active in our parish. In our activities we can show that we are grateful for our many blessings.
THE LAW
The lepers are the only ones in scripture whom our Lord sends back to the Jewish priests. Christ is hereby respecting the Law and the directives issued in Levitikos (Levitikos 13:46) regarding lepers. This is an example of our Lord’s humility and equally of His love - for the only hope for the lepers to be readmitted into society is for a priest to certify them as clean. Our Lord, as he states emphatically, does not come to abolish the law but to complete it. We, together with Christ, move beyond the Law to a far deeper truth: to love God with our whole heart and to love our neighbour as if she or he were our self.
HERETICS
The nine Jews walk away...The Holy Fathers teach that the ungrateful lepers represent heretics. As heretics, their disease is that of false belief. Saint Beda [Bede] the Venerable of Northumbria writes--
They who, while having no true knowledge of the faith, profess a variety of heretical teachings may well be described as lepers. For such people do not hide their ignorance, but proclaim it as the height of learning...Such persons are excluded from the Church so that, if it is possible, placed afar off, they may cry out to Jesus. And rightly if they are to be saved do they call Jesus their Master.
UNGRATITUDE
The lepers call upon Christ in faith and humility, and most probably in desperation. And Christ heals them. But, only ONE of the TEN (the Samaritan) follows this up and says thank you.
This is not simply a matter of good manners, because the nine heretics separate and exclude themselves from God by both departing, and through their ingratitude.
THE GRATEFUL LEPER
The grateful leper reveals a deeper meaning to the Gospel episode. The one who returns, devout and humble before Christ, is an eikon of the Holy Church. The grateful leper shows the importance of humility and thanksgiving in our relationship with God. The nine, ungrateful, lepers are blind to the real nature of their healing, and remain outside the Church. Sadly, their healing was not as complete as it could have been.
‘Thanksgiving’, εὐχαριστία [efharistia] in Greek equates with the English word ‘Eucharist’. This refers to the Body and Blood of Christ, our Holy Communion. We receive the Holy Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the eternal Kingdom. In the Holy Eucharist, in thanks, we show ourselves to be utterly dependent on God and we make manifest our true self as a creature in relation with our creator. Humans are “eucharistic beings”, created according to ‘the image and likeness of God’. We receive our lives and all that is in the world around us as a gift from our Creator.
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ALL GLORY TO GOD!
Those having their home blessed! (And thank you for your hospitality and generosity.)
New volunteers for the vacuuming rota: Andrada, James, Cristian, Evie, Reece, Fred (note that the latter three volunteers are katechumens).
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YOUR HOLY PRAYERS
For Christians suffering in Kosovo, Gaza, Ukraine.
Reader Aaron - proposed for ordination to the holy Diaconate, he is sitting before the Axios [ordination] committee on 27th January.
Muroslav - suffering from liver failure.
Harry (non-orthodox) - young man, suffering from leukaemia. Coming to the end of his life.
Elizabeth, Jo (both non-orthodox) - seriously ill.
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With love, In Christ,
the sinner and unworthy priest,
Father Jakob
please post these notices online, and share them with your friends and family
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LOOKING AHEAD -- TWELVE GREAT FEASTS
To help you plan ahead, for those of you who are able to take time off work, etc., here are the dates of GREAT FEASTS for the year ahead.
These are dates upon which we should try to be in Church (sadly, many of us do not always have this choice).
These are days upon which the Divine Liturgy should be served at All Saints. Servers, singers, helpers- please do what you're able.
14th SEPTEMBER -- EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
21st NOVEMBER -- ENTRY OF THE THEOTOKOS INTO THE TEMPLE
25th DECEMBER -- NATIVITY OF CHRIST
6th JANUARY -- HOLY THEOPHANY
2nd FEBRUARY -- PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE
25th MARCH -- HOLY ANNUNCIATION
5th APRIL -- ENTRY OF OUR LORD INTO IERUSALEM*
12th APRIL -- HOLY PASCHA*
21st MAY -- HOLY ASCENSION*
31st MAY -- HOLY PENTEKOST*
6th AUGUST -- HOLY TRANSFIGURATION
15th AUGUST -- FALLING-ASLEEP OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
[ * The dates of these feasts vary from year to year. ]
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ORTHODOXY 101 : ATTENDING THE DIVINE LITURGY
Christianity is experiential; it is not just 'read about', it must be lived. The Holy Eucharist is at the centre of our worship, at the centre of our Life in Christ.
We come to the Church, we remain in the Church in order that our souls be saved. That is all. It is our soul's salvation - there is nothing else.
The Holy Services are a store-house of spiritual treasures. To be saved, we need to gain knowledge of ourselves. We do this by discovering our sins and weaknesses, and by fighting against their pull. Our faith is war on personal pride. When our pride is wounded in the course of Church life, we should thank God!
We fight best when we are supported. For support we have the Holy Gospels; the Holy Fathers, their Lives and Teachings; we have God and we have each other.
The Church Community (both living and departed) is our Family in Christ. Our God is LOVE. And we are giving of our best, when we give love to God and to each other.
The Holy Eucharist is the body and Blood of Christ. It is life itself, it is Salvation. It is our treasure: "Where your treasure is there will your heart be also"(Matthew 6:21). We spend time with - we are attentive to - the people, the things we love the most.
Canon LXXX (Sixth Oecumenical Council) reads, "A cleric or layman shall not go three consecutive Sundays without attending church, unless some necessary business requires him to leave his town. The usual penalties apply: deposition for a cleric; excommunication for a layman".
It is not always possible to come to every holy service, but our good practice, and simple good manners, is to notify the priest of our absence, or if we have moved away. Notification demonstrates love and humility, and allows the priest and community to pray for us, for example - when we are sick.
We pray for those who are absent from the divine services for legitimate reasons. The others, who come infrequently or have not attended for long periods, have become prodigal sons, wanderers. They have distanced themselves from Christ and from their Christian family. Their love has become luke-warm. A full and proper return to Church requires a full and proper repentance, taking responsibility for our failings.
Church life is about responsibility. It is about stepping up and being adult. This is done by singing, standing throughout the holy services, fasting, making regular confession, reading in Church, serving, cleaning and tidying, cooking, reading the morning and evening prayers every day, preparing properly for confession and communion. Above all it is about praying.
To be blunt, Church (parish) life is about giving time and money to the glory of God. Church life is about commitment. Without commitment, we will never become deeply Orthodox or even remain Orthodox.
Love of God and love of neighbour are entwined. We cannot love God if we do not love our neighbours, especially our fellow Christians; and we cannot love our neighbours if we do not love God (1 John 4:20).
We spend time with God, we spend time with each other. We do so not because we feel 'obliged' or even because we 'want to' but simply because our heart draws us, and we follow Christ's new commandment (Luke 10:27): "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself".
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AΓAΠH = CARITAS = CHARITY = LOVE
John 4:16: Ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη (koine Greek) = Deus caritas est (Latin) = God is Love (English)
GIVING TO OTHERS
All glory to God! Our small parish has been able in little ways to help the poor, offer love to the stranger, to help heal the wounded.
GIFTAID
This past year we received more than £4,000 from the UK government. Our parish trustees have authorised this, and future monies, raised through giftaid to be passed on to our poorer neighbours. If more of us donated by giftaid we could do even more to help the poor, the wounded, and the marginalised who are our neighbours.
'HOW CAN I HELP?'
Every penny helps! Donate to our parish via giftaid. If you pay tax in the UK you can use giftaid. It's free, it's easy, and as you can see above, it helps us to help others. The UK government pays us back for what you give to us via gftaid. This is the only official help that UK charities receive.
Our hope and ambition is that every penny given to us by you comes through giftaid.
LAZAROS, OUR NEIGHBOUR
The dying Lazaros is lying outside our door (Luke 16:20). We Christians have a duty of care (John 21:17), this is a constant in our life (Matthew 26:11), we must not ignore him (1 John 3:17). Let us do all that we are able to help to help our neighbour (John 15:12). May I ask you - please make a start, and donate to the parish by giftaid.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
In the Risen Lord,
Father Jakob
Presbyter, All Saints North Benfleet
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