Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
Categories: parish-life, feast-days, eurovision
Date: 17 May 2009 03:37:04
Kontakion [Tone 8]:
The Samaritan Woman came to the well in faith;
She saw You, the Water of Wisdom, and drank abundantly
She inherited the Kingdom on High and is ever glorified!
Today is the Fifth Sunday of Pascha [Easter], the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman. According to Tradition, after the the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this woman of Samaria, named Photine [meaning "enlightened one"], was baptized by the holy Apostles and became a great preacher and Martyr of Christ. Her feast is kept on February 26.
The Paschal chant "Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life!" is still ringing out in English, Arabic and Greek each week at our parish, as we continue the Paschal journey towards Pentecost. While Pascha may seem a distant memory, and the struggles of Great Lent seem ever further away, the joy of chanting this hymn helps me keep the joyful spirit and nature of Pascha alive in my heart and soul.
I was asked today if I wanted to look after the Church library: as an avid reader, nay devourer, of books I happily agreed. In what may be termed a Godincidence [thanks to Unordered for that word], it was discussed at our Parish Council last night and the current librarian was to ask me. Today, I bought in 10 or so Orthodox books I had read and was donating to our church library. So it was I who brought the topic up by handing the librarian a big back of books. God does move in strange ways.
From religious chant to pure fun, and I have been avoiding any mention of Eurovision results today: the broadcast starts here in 6 or so hours, and I intend to watch it all unfold without any idea of who won. I have loads of ironing to keep me busy, and even more ice-cream in the freezer to enjoy once the ironing is done.