A Reflection for the Sunday of All Saints

On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem celebrates all the Saints. The following Sunday is dedicated to the Local Saints—those specific to each land or people, who bore witness to Christ in their lives and often in their deaths.

These saints lived by the power of the Holy Spirit, walking the path first trodden by Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). No one can truly confess Jesus as the Messiah unless called to Him by the Spirit. The Triune action of the One God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—works together inseparably. It is granted to some, whether many or few, to recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah who gathers all peoples and generations. To deny any Person of the Trinity is to diminish the fullness of the One God’s reign. It may be confusing for numerous people, challenging at all times.

All who draw breath from the Creator can echo Paul: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). And: “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba—אבא—Father’” (Gal. 4:6).

The word Abba (אבא) in Aramaic and Hebrew speaks with rare intimacy, evoking both natural fatherhood and the name of the Heavenly Father. Like “Papa,” “Daddy,” or “Tata” in various languages, it reveals a tenderness often lost in formal liturgical translations. While Aramaic “Abun” (ܐܒܘܢ) means “Our Father” in a reverent tone, Haitian Creole’s “Papa nou ki nan syèl la” and Yiddish’s “טאטיענו, וואס דו ביסט אין הימל” (Tatyenu, vus du bist in himl) recover the loving closeness that Jesus conveyed in His prayer.

The Orthodox Church teaches that holiness is not for the few—it is a path open to all. The saints defy human classification; they live the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)