” On this day we remember the painful exile of the first Adam from Paradise”.
“If you leave to men their transgressions, may your Father leave you also”.
Today February 26th 2023 Quinquagesima, a day of bitter remembrance "of the bitter exile of the Proto-Creator Adam from Paradise", the High Priestly Commissioner of Delos and Mykonos His Holiness Fr. Petros Maragos celebrated the Holy Mass and then the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Great Panagia, in Mykonos Town, with his co-officiant the elder Fr. George Kousathanas, with the praying presence of pious Mykonian believers.
The sacred lectern was served by the cantors Kostas Kantanis and Stelios Brygos.
Gospel Reading – Gospel reading: Matthew in 14-21
The Reading is from the Gospel According to Matthew 6:14-21 – Gospel reading: Matthew in 14-21
[The passage in the Gospel of Matthew that refers to the value of forgiveness and fasting.]
"The Lord said if you leave people their transgressions, let your heavenly Father also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. When you are not fasting, do not be like the hypocrites, sullen; for they destroy their faces, as seen in fasting people. Amen I say to you, that they are deprived of their salary. You are not fasting, anoint your head, and wash your face, as you do not see people fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father is seen in the secret place, pay you in the open. Do not store up treasures on earth, where you sit and eat it destroys, and where it is stolen they steal and they steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither, nor does it destroy food, and where it is stolen, let them be appointed, nor do they steal. Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart is.
In his sermon, Reverend Petros Maragos spoke about the topic of Tyrini Sunday, the exodus of the original Adam and Eve from paradise".
” Sunday of Tyrini! The fourth Sunday of the Triod is dedicated to the expulsion of the originals from the paradise of truphi. Man was created by God as God's most perfect creation, as "image and prof’ likeness". He was created to live eternally in God's grace and blessings. Man misused his free will and chose evil. The arch-evil devil lured him into downfall and destruction. This deprived him of heaven, that is, the perpetual and life-giving presence of God and the fellowship of His unfailing blessings. The Holy Bible symbolically mentions that the first creatures were expelled from the garden of Eden and two angelic beings were assigned to guard the gate with fiery swords, so that they cannot violate it. The endless drama of the human race has begun!
Adam and Eve then sat across from the garden of thorns and mourned the evil that befell them. They reflected on their former bliss, they compared it to their present misery, they predicted a bleak future and’ that's what they were crying out loud.
But unfortunately the mourning of the pioneers was not the result of repentance for their disobedience and rebellion against God. It was not an act of repentance and a request for forgiveness from God. They did not mourn for lost innocence and holiness, but for the lost material wealth of heaven. Not a single word of repentance was heard from their lips! The Fathers of the Church tell us how if at that tragic moment our forefathers had sincerely repented and humbly asked for forgiveness from the perfectly benevolent God, they would have been restored to their pre-fall state”.
We sincerely wish you a Happy Lent and a Happy Resurrection!
