"Breaking Chains" - January 2011

Good Morning!

I believe chains can be broken. The context taken from "The Great Horologion" comes from the book of Acts in the New Testament. The chains of St. Peter were eventually taken to Rome, the very city where Peter was martyred. All people born are born with the shackle of Adam's nature. This chain of Adam's nature is broken when we are Baptized and are given new life in Christ.

"Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great and king of the Jews, grew wroth against the Church of Christ, and slew James, the brother of John the Evangelist. Seeing that this pleased the Jews, he took Peter also into custody and locked him up in prison, intending to keep him there until after the feast of the Passover, so that he could win the favor of the people by presenting him to them as a victim. But the Apostle was saved when he was miraculously set free by an Angel" (Acts 12:1-19). The chains wherewith the Apostle was bound received from his most sacred body the grace of sanctification and healing, which is bestowed upon the faithful who draw nigh with faith.

That such sacred treasures work wonders and many healings is witnessed by the divine Scripture, where it speaks concerning Paul, saying that the Christians in Ephesus had such reverence for him, that his handkerchiefs and aprons, taken up with much reverence, healed the sick of their maladies: "So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them" (Acts 19:12). Not only the Apostles' clothing (which certainly touched the bodies of the sick), but even their shadow alone performed healings. On beholding this, people put their sick on stretchers and beds and brought them out into the streets so that when Peter passed by, his shadow "might overshadow some of them" (Acts 5:15). From this the Orthodox Catholic Church has learned to show reverence and piety not only to the relics of their bodies, but also to the clothing of God's Saints.

May the power of the broken chains of the Apostle Peter give deliverance to you, to those you love, and to all those who have need of God's power and freedom.

Fr. David