HOMILY
on the personal experience of all the apostles That… which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled, … declare we unto you
(I John 1:1). Behold, such is the apostolic preaching! The apostles do not speak as worldly sages or as philosophers, and even less as theoreticians who make suppositions about things in order to discover something. The apostles speak about things which they have not sought but which unexpectedly surrounded them, about a fact which they did not discover but which, so to speak, unexpectedly found them and seized them. They did not occupy themselves with spiritual investigation, nor did they study psychology, nor much less did they occupy themselves with spiritism. Their occupation was fishing—a totally experiential, physical occupation. While they were fishing, the God-man appeared to them and cautiously and slowly introduced them to a new vocation in His service. At first they did not believe Him, but ever cautiously and slowly—with fear, hesitation and much wavering—they came toward Him and recognized Him. It was not until the apostles had seen Him many times with their own eyes and examined Him and felt Him with their own hands, that they believed. What they experienced was supernatural, but their method of recognizing this was thoroughly sensory and learned through positive encounter. Not even one contemporary scholar would be able to use a more positive method to know Christ. The apostles saw not only one miracle, but numerous miracles. They heard not only one lesson, but so many lessons that they could not be contained in numerous books. They saw the resurrected Lord for forty days: they walked with Him, they conversed with Him, they ate with Him, and they touched Him. In a word, they personally had thousands of wondrous facts firsthand, by which they learned and confirmed the one great fact, that is, that Christ is the God-man, the Son of the Living God, the man-loving Savior of mankind and the All-powerful Judge of the living and the dead. O resurrected Lord, confirm us in the faith and ardor of Thy Holy Apostles. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
Velimirovich, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid (pp. 567-568). Sebastian Press. Kindle Edition.
on the personal experience of all the apostles That… which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled, … declare we unto you
(I John 1:1). Behold, such is the apostolic preaching! The apostles do not speak as worldly sages or as philosophers, and even less as theoreticians who make suppositions about things in order to discover something. The apostles speak about things which they have not sought but which unexpectedly surrounded them, about a fact which they did not discover but which, so to speak, unexpectedly found them and seized them. They did not occupy themselves with spiritual investigation, nor did they study psychology, nor much less did they occupy themselves with spiritism. Their occupation was fishing—a totally experiential, physical occupation. While they were fishing, the God-man appeared to them and cautiously and slowly introduced them to a new vocation in His service. At first they did not believe Him, but ever cautiously and slowly—with fear, hesitation and much wavering—they came toward Him and recognized Him. It was not until the apostles had seen Him many times with their own eyes and examined Him and felt Him with their own hands, that they believed. What they experienced was supernatural, but their method of recognizing this was thoroughly sensory and learned through positive encounter. Not even one contemporary scholar would be able to use a more positive method to know Christ. The apostles saw not only one miracle, but numerous miracles. They heard not only one lesson, but so many lessons that they could not be contained in numerous books. They saw the resurrected Lord for forty days: they walked with Him, they conversed with Him, they ate with Him, and they touched Him. In a word, they personally had thousands of wondrous facts firsthand, by which they learned and confirmed the one great fact, that is, that Christ is the God-man, the Son of the Living God, the man-loving Savior of mankind and the All-powerful Judge of the living and the dead. O resurrected Lord, confirm us in the faith and ardor of Thy Holy Apostles. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
Velimirovich, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid (pp. 567-568). Sebastian Press. Kindle Edition.
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