Dear friends in Christ!
Wishing you a blessed new week. This is the second weekly Newsletter of St Ignatius Parish in Belfast.
Contents of this Newsletter:
- Feast of St Gregory the Theologian
- Announcement: Weekly Online Faith & Fellowship Group
- Homily on next Sunday’s Gospel: God wants to save you!
St Gregory the Theologian:

On Saturday, the 25th of January, we will celebrate the memory of St. Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople. St. Gregory is one of the greatest defenders of the Orthodox Faith, particularly the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. His writings and public orations played a crucial role in upholding the Nicene Creed in the decades leading up to the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. In recognition of his theological contributions, his unwavering orthodoxy, and the profound depth of his knowledge of God, the Church conferred upon him the extremely rare title of “Theologian.”
Yet, the faithful remember St. Gregory not only as a great teacher of the Church but also as a model of the Christian life. St. Gregory’s life was marked by struggles, difficult choices, and moments of hesitation, but by keeping Christ at the centre of his heart and mind, he always returned to living out the Christian virtues of obedience, humility, and love. A priest who fled ordination, seeking a life of monastic solitude, but returned out of obedience to his father (also a Saint and Bishop). A philosopher by training and man at the forefront of the theological debates of his time, who preached humility of mind and cautioned against treating theology as an intellectual amusement. An Archbishop of the Imperial capital, who reluctantly accepted the position and happily resigned it for the sake of unity at the Ecumenical Council. You can read about the life of St Gregory in the Synaxarion for the day of 25th of January available here
May Saint Gregory intercede for us so that we also may desire and learn to live the life in Christ!
Announcements:
Last Wednesday, we held our first online Faith & Fellowship meeting. It was a true blessing to see many of you join us in prayer and conversation about the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday. I thank God for the good start to this initiative and warmly invite you to join us this week!
January 22nd, Wednesday at 7:00 PM UK time on Zoom: https://ucl.zoom.us/j/97707660214
We’ll begin by praying Little Compline, followed by a discussion on the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday: Luke 19:1-10 (the story of Zacchaeus). No preparation is necessary. If you’d like, you can read the Gospel passage in advance, and as always, the homily is included below for your reflection.
Next Sunday’s Gospel Reading and Homily:
The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke (19:1-10):

At that time, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see Who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus, for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Homily: God wants to save you!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.
One sentence particularly struck me as I read the Gospel passage assigned for the next Sunday Divine. Christ speaks to Zacchaeus, inviting him to come down from the tree: “I MUST stay at your house today.” Our Lord does not say, “I would like to,” nor does He ask Zacchaeus whether he would like to invite Him. Instead, He declares it as His duty: “I must!” That single word conveys the magnitude of God’s love for us and His desire to save each one of us. God so loved the world that He not only became man to dwell among us, but in perfect obedience to His Father, He—who is perfect and needs nothing—made it His sacred duty to save us.
Consider Zacchaeus and his circumstances for a moment. It is the profound wisdom of God to teach all of us through this encounter, which takes place in Jericho and involves this particular man. In Scripture, Jericho is often associated with sin, both in the Old and New Testaments. Thus, our Lord does not wait passively for sinners to come to Him—He actively seeks them out in the most troubled corners of the world. And in this instance, His eye falls upon someone despised by all: the chief tax collector, a man akin to the head of a local mafia. Zacchaeus not only treated people unfairly by overtaxing them, enabling his own lavish lifestyle (he is explicitly described as rich, Luke 19:2), but he did so to the benefit of the Roman Empire, the occupying force that oppressed the people of Israel. Zacchaeus, then, becomes the quintessential example of a sinner. And what does the Lord do? He feels compelled to save him.
But salvation does not happen without the sinner’s participation. The Lord looks for you, but you must also seek Him. Zacchaeus, being short in stature, could not see Christ through the crowd. The Holy Fathers interpret this crowd as symbolizing the sea of sins and temptations that can surround and overwhelm us, obscuring our vision of God. Zacchaeus could have easily given up and gone home, but he didn’t. Instead, he made an effort: he climbed the sycamore tree, disregarding the public shame this act might bring. Climbing a tree would have been seen as undignified, even scandalous, for someone of his status. But his desperate longing for communion with God overpowered his concern for appearances. Christ, of course, does see him, and in that moment, the repentance, healing, and spiritual transformation of Zacchaeus begins, so that he may be counted among sons of Abraham—signifying that he now belongs to the people of God.
But how can we be like Zacchaeus in seeking Christ, especially when physical or spiritual struggles weigh us down? One of the most powerful tools we have is prayer. Archimandrite Symeon, in his wonderful book Timeless Truths: The Annual Liturgical Cycle for Every Year, compares the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed to the Jesus Prayer. When we are overwhelmed by sin and passions, we must force ourselves to rise above despair, no matter how “comfortable” and easy can be just to give up. This does not mean beginning with lengthy vigils or exhaustive prayers. We can start simply by reciting the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” At first, it may feel mechanical or superficial, but as we shift our heart and mind away from worldly concerns and focus on the person of Christ, the passions begin to calm. It is hard to hate while calling on the name of Christ. It is hard to desire what is wrong while invoking His name. It is hard to act against love when asking for His mercy.
Let us then rejoice in the knowledge that God loves us so deeply that He feels it His duty to save us. Let us, like Zacchaeus, look above the crowd of worldly concerns, temptations, and struggles to seek Him. And let us speak to Him through prayer, especially in times of suffering, trusting that He will respond and come to us—just as He entered the house and life of Zacchaeus that day in Jericho.