Orthodox readings for 26 October 2026

King James Version (en)

Colossians, Chapter 2, verses 13-20

⁸ to beware of philosophy and vain traditions, ¹⁸ worshipping of angels, ²⁰ and legal ceremonies, which are ended in Christ

¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

¹⁴Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

¹⁵And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

¹⁷Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

¹⁸Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

¹⁹And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

²⁰Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

Luke, Chapter 7, verses 36-50

³⁶ and showeth by occasion of Mary Magdalene how he is a friend to sinners - not to maintain them in sins, but to forgive them their sins upon their faith and repentance

³⁶And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.

³⁷And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

³⁸And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

⁴⁰And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

⁴¹There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

⁴²And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

⁴³Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

⁴⁴And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

⁴⁵Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

⁴⁶My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

⁴⁸And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

⁴⁹And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

⁵⁰And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

NOTES

And in the time of Paul, and later in the Church sounded various opinions as regards the rite and its role in the life of the church. And most of those who took seriously the spiritual life came to the conclusion that it should not be put in the first place. But does Paul speak only about it? Because in fact, he calls shadow of things to come all the existing Jewish religiosity at that time, and calls the Church literally only the body of Christ. And what thus: religiosity does not have a place in the Church? Probably, such a question sounds all the same a little bit categorical. It would have been more exact to ask: what religiosity could find a place in the Church? And of what could consist its role?

It is obvious to Paul Himself that the Church is not a religious community, as well as Christianity itself is not a religion. The Kingdom is Kingdom; it can’t be contained in any religious frame. But indeed, there are also again the forms, necessary for the non transformed world. Of course, for the very Kingdom they are not necessary. But they are necessary when the Kingdom through the Church enters our world, are necessary for this world, in order to receive at least a certain representation of what within the framework of the non transformed reality is impossible to imagine.

And here it is in particular the religious language that helps: because of all the existing cultural languages, it is the best adapted for the expression and the realization of the revelation received from God. That is why throughout our era, the era of the Kingdom to come, the Church speaks with the world in the religious language. But in the religious images and symbols, it puts new meanings, meanings connected already not to the religious life, but to the life of the Kingdom.

It is exactly in this meaning, apparently, that Paul calls the elements of the religious tradition, modern to him, the shadow of things to come, i.e. of what has to come into the world with Christ. And for Paul himself, the language of his religious tradition was close: all that was said by him about the Messiah, about the Kingdom, about salvation was said in particular in this language. And it is all the same very important not to confuse the tool of the acquisition of the purpose, even the most important, with the purpose itself, and that’s what Paul reminds us.

We would have hardly built this sentence in such way if it was necessary to us to express a similar idea. We would have surely said...

The story that took place in the house of the Pharisee, a man who was undoubtedly deeply religious, shows us once again how paradoxical the Kingdom and its life must have seemed to the religious mind. For a religious person, sin is something objective and absolute. To him, a sinner is only a sinner, and fellowship with that person is inadvisable for anyone striving to live righteously; sin can be caught like an infectious disease. To the religious mind, sin is a spiritual and moral classification that makes a person unfit for spiritual life as that mind understands it. Following this logic, Jesus should have driven away the sinful woman who approached Him, regardless of any repentance. All the more so because in this case the sin must have been not accidental but entirely deliberate, and its consequences insurmountable even if the sinner repented.

Jesus sees the situation differently. For Him, sin is not a person's spiritual and moral classification but his ordinary condition after the Fall. The issue is not whether a person is worthy to enter the Kingdom. Here everything is obvious: after the Fall no one can be worthy. The only question is whether a particular person can be saved, whether a particular sinner can be brought into the life of the Kingdom.

Naturally, to do this the sinner will have to cease being a sinner, and he will be able to enter the life of the Kingdom only to the extent that he can accomplish this task. Yet in principle it can be accomplished, if only the person himself wants it. The sole question is whether someone seeking the Kingdom resolves to enter a relationship with Jesus, who brought the Kingdom into the world. The woman who wept as she embraced Jesus' feet clearly had such a relationship. The Pharisee... it is hard to say with certainty. But he is plainly not drawn to Jesus as the woman in the evangelist's account is. After all, he thinks that everything is generally in order with him, not yet knowing that he is mistaken. The woman no longer thinks so; her sins are more obvious to her. She has something to ask of the Teacher.

And so, paradoxically, the one who has sinned more proves closer to the Kingdom than the one who has sinned less. Not because sin brings a person closer to the Kingdom, of course. It is simply that an evident and serious sin, once recognized, forces a person to think seriously about his destiny and to hold more tightly to the One who can help him. This really does bring a person closer to the Kingdom, despite the sins he has committed.

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