33rd Sunday after Pentecost
Colossians 1:12-18; Luke 14:16-24

On this 33rd Sunday after Pentecost, an excerpt from the Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Colossians is read. People generally know about Ephesus or Ephesians, about Rome and the Romans. Therefore, when they would read or hear the apostle’s epistles (letters) to these communities, people would have an idea where those Romans, Ephesians or even Corinthians were. But where did the Colossians live? - The city of Colossae cannot be found on a world map.

During the time of Jesus Christ on earth, during the time of the Apostle Paul, there was a city of Colossae in Phrygia, which was one of the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire. At different times, Phrygia was either an independent state-principality or was a part of other states-empires. Now the territory of Phrygia is part of Turkey.

It is interesting here that Ap. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Colossians, that is, to the members of the Church of Christ in Colossae and the surrounding area, but he himself was never in Colossae. The church was founded there by the followers of the apostles who heard the good news about Christ in Jerusalem or other places.

But even in those times, Paul was recognized as a great authority of the Church of Christ, especially among Christians - outside the Jews. So, when the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome, one of the founders of the Colossian Church, Epaphras, came to him, and he recounted the troubles and perversions that were occurring in that Church. Epaphras explained to Paul that a false and untrue teaching had spread among the Colossians, which many Christians accepted as true.

Consider the distance and difficulties that Epaphras had to overcome in those days to travel from Asia Minor to Rome. In order to embark on such a long journey, Epaphras had to be a Christian of great virtues, distressed by and worried about the spread of false teaching among the Colossians, his countrymen. How highly he must have valued Paul's apostolic authority to go to him, then imprisoned in Rome.

The Apostle Paul, being imprisoned and under investigation, under the threat of death, not being able to personally come to Colossae to correct the deviations in the Church there, writes a letter – The Epistle to the Colossians, the text of which, by the grace of God, has reached us .

It is good for all of us to read that letter, because in it the apostle gives a true understanding of Jesus Christ. The apostle writes:

"He is the image of the invisible God, born before all creation", and further states: "For by Him all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible..." (Colossians 1:15,16).

We therefore understand from this that even the invisible angelic world was created by Jesus Christ, when He had not yet taken human form, but was, according to the Apostle John the Evangelist, the Word of God. The Gospel of John testifies: "All things arose through Him, and nothing that arose did not arise without Him" (John 1:3).

We must especially remember and keep this in mind, because the apostolic explanation is to a great extent helpful for us in the knowledge of the truth, not only for the Colossians. Apostle Paul warned against the misleading teaching of some Jewish scholars, who at that time substantiated the Jewish understanding of Christ with the help of pagan Greek philosophy and tried to establish in Colossae, Laodicea, and in the East in general, the concept that Jesus Christ is one of the angels.

A similar misleading teaching is now preached by Jehovah's Witnesses, who call Jesus Christ the Archangel Michael, that is, not God, but God's creation. And the Jewish teachers of that time, who also went to Colossae, choosing only certain places from the Bible, added their human reasoning, which denied the truth that Christ, the Son of God, is in the Heavenly Father, and the Father is in the Son (John 14:11).

We should recognize that Colossae and Laodicea in those days were located at the crossroads of trade and caravan routes, and that not only various goods were brought there, but also various ideas, all kinds of philosophical and theological speculations from different countries, including such ideas and theories as were brought and propagated by Jewish traders.

Now, of course, few people know about Colossae and Laodicea. The centres of trade have long since moved, but from the present trade centres, such as New York, false theories about Jesus Christ continue spreading, calling and recognizing Him only as a teacher of morality, or comparable to some archangel. So, these are devilish tricks - if one cannot deny Jesus Christ, then one must try to lower Him, belittle Him.

And it is perhaps possible and not by chance that the centre of Jehovah's Witnesses is located in Brooklyn, a part of New York.

The spread among Christians of the idea of celebrating the Sabbath, as well as the spread of the belief that for Christians, as well as for all people, circumcision is necessary for reasons of medical expediency, are all ancient efforts to spread Judaism among Christians with the help of various theories. This was done in the times of the Apostles, and Apostle Paul warned Christians:

"In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands..." (Colossians 2:11).

And before that, he warned everyone:

"Beware that no one misleads you with philosophy and vain delusion..." (Colossians 2:8).

The Apostle Paul calls on Christians, "as God's chosen ones", to put on "sincere mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering", and most of all he asks that Christians should:

"Clothe yourself in love, for it is the union of perfection" (Colossians 3:18,14).

And the apostle Paul calls on the Colossians, and after them, obviously, other Christians to "And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God and the Father." (Colossians 3:17)

Those instructions of the Apostle Paul are also good for us, in our times.

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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