Recorded speech of protopresbyter
Konstantinos Stratigopoulos, on the verse of Luke’s Evangel, Chapter10,
38-42 and Chapter 11, 27-28, in context of the interpretation of the
evangelical text during of Sunday’s Divine Liturgy on November 21st
2004.
Celebrating today the feast of the Entrance
of the Theotokos into the Temple, somebody could ask what is the meaning
of this event to us, beyond its historical record, especially if it is
considered that this fact is not described in the Holy Bible, but it
comes from the tradition of our Ecclesiastical calendars (Synaxarion),
as it happens with the event of the Birth or the Dormition of the
Theotokos.
These great events, that are true, our Church
comes and presents them. And I ask «Is it just a historical repetition
of facts? Is it a remembrance?»
To find the answer via the liturgical and
interpretative ethos of our Church, we can examine at Evangelist Luke’s
Gospel. As you know, it is always read during each feast of Theotokos.
Either during Paraklesis or during feast days of the Theotokos, the same
passage is read, which is irrelevant to the Birth, the Entrance into
the temple, the Dormition or even the Paraklesis of the Theotokos.
This passage though is meaningful and I will
stand to a central point of it. There are many points that can be
analysed, but I will insist on its central and axial point, which can
help us to this quest as we get benefited deeply and literally healed
living in the Church.
I will reference this central phrase, which
while is understood it is also really challenging and because it is
challenging, it becomes incomprehensible. It is the phrase Jesus saying
to Martha «One thing is needful». There can be many approaches to
explain this phrase and someone can be provoked by the text and ask what
does this «one» mean?
Man is a being that engages in many activities.
This is how God created him. He walks, runs, sleeps, multitasks, sees,
hears, thinks, simultaneously.
What does «one thing is needful» mean? Are
humans able to quit everything and do just one thing? Can someone choose
only one task out of these? Can anybody put all the weight on one wheel
of a car or concentrate on only one mechanism of an engine?
What does «one thing is needful» mean? Many have
interpreted it and said «You quit everything and you do only this», but
whoever enters in the hermeneutic beauty of the text, will discover
something amazing that answers our question.
Pay attention by looking into the microcosm,
us, who are creatures having a lot of structures and functions and our
society, which is manifold too. The phrase «one thing is needful»
doesn’t mean «one» as a number. It means the event that will unite everything into «one»[1].
«One» does not always mean a number. It is unique, but there is
something second and third… -I would say- If the second and the third
didn’t exist, what would be the meaning of the «one»?
The hermeneutical approaches say that the phrase
«one thing is needful» this is a challenge of unity. Can I now apply
this element of unity of the «one» to myself or to social data?
I shall begin with the social data. You see,
we all live with any way we want, this is the freedom that defines and
qualifies us, and since we are all free and could end up living
demonically detached. If these various expressions of our lives -which
aren’t evil- someone does not link them to a common target, our whole
life will be a demonic, divided social life. What unites us together?
Jesus Christ and the Church. Turning to Him, we acquire a common,
uniform, unification target without quitting the individual structures
of our existence -as we live in our neighborhood,our city, our state-
because we have a common unification reference, we become «One» without
being one as a number and we are One.
One thing is needful
If I perform this to myself -which self is
multipartite with mind, heart, soul, thought, affect- many words the
Holy Fathers use for the human existence. -I will perform the same thing
and say . All these multivarious elements, even the multivarious
thoughts that I do every day – millions of thoughts come across my mind,
millions of moves, my whole body moves- all of these function may in
their own way, but they acquire that unification element of «One». All
are gathered and concentrated on the element of «One». To God and to
Jesus Christ. Beyond this, it isn’t a theoretical looking to Christ, but
a practical transformation in Christ and as Christ of man, while living
a life according to Christ, which unifies everything, you unite
yourself and everything. A Saint’s presence, who is a christinised, a
transformed in Christ and as Christ human presence on earth, unites the
world around him even when he becomes a martyr. Jesus Christ’s presence
in our lives unites everything and goes beyond any of our divisions.
One thing is needful
Because our Holy Mother turned in that direction
and united everything to Him, this evangelical passage is always read
during her feasts and is deeply challenging. In two levels -you could
find more- of our microcosm and the general social macrocosm, this could
be performed . It isn’t only a suggestion, but a deep eruptive solution
to our daily divisions in our society and furthermore of our personal
ones, where everyone does various things, which are divided, segmental
and they can’t be united to «One», to the unity of «One».
One thing is needful
I dare to say, finishing this brief reference
to this deeply healing and eloquent passage, precisely to receive this
unitive loving dimension that the Gospel presents in front of our eyes
and applying it, not only to overcome morally some differences that we
have with others. Christinised as transformed as Christ means uniting
everything in our life, to unite everything around us through Jesus
Christ, under the intercession of our Holy Mother.
