Doers of the Word: The Calling of the Apostles and the Living Tradition

A Reflection on the Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after Pentecost – (Romans §81a (2:10-16) / Saint Matthew §9 (4:18-23)).

Beloved in Christ,

On this Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Holy Church sets before us the divine call by the Sea of Galilee. Our Lord Jesus Christ, walking along the shore, beholds Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen. To them He saith: “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And straightway they left their nets and followed Him. Passing further, He sees James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the ship with their father, mending their nets; He calls them also, and they immediately leave their nets, their boat, and their father, and follow Him.

Here is no hesitation, no endless deliberation, no weighing of earthly advantages. The Apostles hear the voice of the Master and they act. They abandon the familiar: their daily toil, family obligations, the security of their trade, and they obey without delay. This immediate response marks the beginning of their apostolic labor, a pattern repeated throughout the history of the Church among all who have truly heeded the Gospel.

The Apostolic reading for the day echoes and deepens this truth. The Apostle Paul writes: “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Glory, honor, and peace await every one that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. There is no respect of persons with God. Even the Gentiles, who had not the written Law, show by nature the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness. Knowledge alone does not justify; it is the doing, the active obedience of faith, that bears fruit unto life everlasting.

In our own time, this word strikes with particular force. The spirit of the age urges passivity: endless discussion without resolution, emotional experience without commitment, and a spectator’s religion shaped by modern comforts and ideologies. Against this, the example of the holy Apostles stands as a rebuke and an invitation. True discipleship is active. It demands leaving behind the nets that entangle us, whether worldly cares, attachments to convenience, or the subtle poisons of contemporary thought that weaken family, tradition, and the ordered life of piety.

The Apostles’ calling reveals something deeper still. Though they left their nets and followed, it was Christ Who remained the true Worker. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healed every sickness and infirmity among the people. The Apostles became instruments of His ongoing ministry. So it continues in the Church He founded. Apostolic succession is not merely a formal chain, but the living transmission of obedient faith and labor in the vineyard of the Lord. The hierarchical priesthood, preserved from the Apostles, ministers the Holy Mysteries, above all the Divine Liturgy, that “common work” (leitourgia) in which the faithful participate with body, mind, and soul. Yet the entire life of the Church is liturgical in spirit: the domestic church of the family at prayer, the formation of children in the fear of God, the study of the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers, the works of mercy, and the preservation of our ancient Slavonic patrimony against the leveling forces of modernity.

Even in seasons of trial, when the visible ministry of a priest may be hindered by persecution, distance, mortality, or the disorder of this world, the corporate life of faith need not wither. History bears witness: scattered communities have endured by clinging to prayer, the reading of the appointed services, mutual support, and fidelity to the Tradition. Such times call not for innovation, but for deeper rootedness in what has been received. The family altar, the daily cycle of prayer, the singing of the ancient hymns, and the raising of pious generations become the very means by which the light of Christ is kept burning.

This is no counsel of despair, but of sober hope. The same Lord Who called the fishermen by the sea still calls His people today. He Who arose on the third day, granting life to the world, raises us with Himself. As the Resurrectional hymns proclaim, death is vanquished and human nature is exalted. In Him, our ordinary labors, whether in the home, the workshop, or the gathering of the faithful, are transfigured into service of the Kingdom. We become fishers of men not by our own power, but by His.

Let us, therefore, my beloved, examine ourselves. Are we hearers only, or doers of the word? In our homes, let the domestic church flourish with regular prayer, the reading of the Gospel, and the nurturing of children in the uncorrupted Faith. In our communities, let us strengthen one another in charity, guarding the old piety and our precious cultural and religious inheritance from every modernist corruption. Let us leave behind whatever nets hinder us, be it comfort, distraction, or compromise with the spirit of the age, and follow Christ with ready obedience.

Through the prayers of the Holy Apostles Peter, Andrew, James, and John, of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and of the Most Holy Theotokos, may the Lord grant us all to be true doers of His will, steadfast in the ancient Faith until the day of His glorious return.

14 June 2026