Eastern Christian Insights

Think for a moment about how we mark the passage of time in our lives. We all know how old we are. Students know what grade they are in. Workers know how long they have been employed. Married people count their anniversaries. Some of us remember America’s bicentennial. Perhaps we pay attention to such markers to try to make sense of the meaning of our lives as those caught up in the inevitable cycle of birth and death, of one generation passing away as another arises. As we read in Ecclesiastes, “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccles. 1:9)

Fr. Philip LeMasters calls us to keep our faith firmly fixed in Jesus Christ on St Timon Sunday.

The themes of exile and return are prominent throughout the entire narrative of the Bible. Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise. The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt until Moses led them back to the Promised Land. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah went into exile in Assyria and Babylon, respectively, with only Judah returning home. The Jews endured a kind of exile when the Romans occupied their land and longed for restoration through a new King David. Our Lord provided the true restoration of a kingdom not of this world, leading all with faith in Him back to Paradise through His Cross and glorious resurrection. The canon of the New Testament concludes with the Revelation or Apocalypse, which portrays the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the joyful fulfillment of all things in Him.