Drink – Blisswood

Mid-Pentecost

Christ is Risen!

Today is the 25th day after Pascha, and we are midpoint in our journey to the upcoming Great Feast of Pentecost.

The Mid-Pentecost Icon above, illustrates the Gospel account of our Lord, Who at the age of twelve, taught and spoke with the Elders in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Today’s Troparion hymn, alludes to another Gospel encounter of Jesus Christ with the Samaritan Woman at the Well.

At MidFeast, give Thou my thirsty soul to drink of the waters of piety; for Thou, O Saviour, didst cry out to all: Whosoever is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Wherefore, O Well-spring of Life, Christ our God, glory to Thee. ~ Troparion of Mid-Pentecost

Our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is the Well-spring of our life.

He invites all thirsty souls to come to Him and drink from the waters of immortality; never to thirst again. (St. John 7:37).

Truly He is Risen!

River of Life

Mountain River and Jungle, Hawaii 2016

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the well of salvation. ~ Isaiah 12:3

“…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ~ St. John 4:14

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ~St. John 7:37-39

A fish that is alive swims against the flow of water. One that is dead floats down with the water. A true Christian goes against the current of this sinful age. A false one is swept away by its swiftness. ~ St. Philaret of Moscow

We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life… I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom! ~ St. Tikhon of Voronezh

Vivifying Strength

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who fills the whole universe, passes through all believing, meek, humble, good, and simple human souls, dwelling in them, vivifying and strengthening them. He becomes one spirit with them and everything to them – light, strength, peace, joy, success in their undertakings, especially in a pious life, and everything good – “going through all understanding, pure and most subtle spirits” (Wisdom of Solomon 7: 23). “We have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13). All pious people are filled with the Spirit of God similarly as a sponge is filled with water. ~ St. John of Kronstadt

Living Water

Osios Loukas Monastery – Greece 2017

Nothing is more thirst-quenching than drinking at the Spring of Living Water!

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. ~ Isaiah 12:3

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. ~ Isaiah 58:11

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. ~ John 4:14

In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. ~ John 7:37

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. ~Revelation 21:6