The relationship between Jews and Samaritans was characterized by hatred and enmity, even until the point of death. The reason for this is rooted in the Jews' pride and arrogance towards the Samaritans, because the latter married from the Gentile pagans in the post exilic period. This led the Jews to sever all ties and contact with them. This enmity started at the time of Nehemiah and Ezra the priest who refused to let them help in rebuilding the temple or even in worshiping with them. This led the Samaritans to building another temple on Mount Gerizim in 409 BC.

During the time of Christ, the Samaritans refused to receive Christ in their city. (Luke 9:52-56) However, Christ planned to meet with them by way of His meeting with the Samaritan woman. Thus, He spent some days with them eating and drinking, talking with them and showing them His gentleness and compassion, which ultimately led them to believing in Him and bearing testimony that He is the Savior of the world.

His Holiness Pope Kyrillos the 6th wrote to one of his spiritual sons saying:

Because it is a fact of life that a man will go through different temptations and spiritual wars, God arranged Fasting to deal with temptation and spiritual wars. As God commanded his people in the Old Testament to fast, He also commanded us in the New Testament to fast as the Lord said, “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry” (Matt. 4:2) The faithful is a soldier in the spiritual wars, our weapon, we the Christians is prayer and fasting.

As a horse got a bridle, the body also has to overcome its lusts and pleasures. This is what the apostle says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if the Spirit leads you, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Gal. 5:16-24)

A Beautiful Story of Repentance

The book of Jonah the prophet is full of wonderful spiritual contemplation. How beautiful is the Church’s choice! She chose this book to be the prelude of the forty days of Lent.

A beautiful story of repentance and fasting precedes the Great Lent by two weeks that we may approach the holy forty days with a clean heart attached to the Lord.

The Chosen Weak Put to Shame the Mighty

In the book of Jonah, God wants us to know an important fact: that the prophets were not of a different nature, but were ordinary people “with nature like ours” (James 5:17), having weaknesses, shortcomings and faults, and it was possible for them to fall like us. It was not their power, but the power of the Holy Spirit working to aid them in their weaknesses, that the power may be of God not of us, according to the Apostle’s word (2 Cor.4: 7).