At the same time that we Christians affirm the absolute centrality of the family to the Christian nurture of children, we are experiencing a general decline of family life (note, I did not say a decline of marriage) and those elements in Western society which have traditionally been supportive to the family. It will no doubt strike a familiar note when I say that the Christian family is under attack. Anyone - politician, child expert, or school board member - can gain a hearing for any hare-brained scheme by just referring to the "restoration" or the "salvation" of the family. "The family" has become a battle cry for both liberal and conservative.

The Holy Gospel has not given us the name of the Samaritan woman. But the Holy Tradition of the Church remembers, and calls her in Greek - Photini, in Russian - Svetlana, in the Celtic languages - Fiona, in Western languages - Clair. And all those names speak to us of one thing - of light.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

The "justice" of God is the other aspect of God's All-Righteousness; He will judge the peoples in uprightness (Psalm 9:9). The Lord "will render to every man according to his deeds, for there is no respect of persons with God" (Romans 2:6, 11).

Eternal. The existence of God is outside time, for time is only a form of limited being, changeable being. For God there is neither past nor future; there is only the present (see Psalm 101:26-28).

The fourth Wednesday after the Feast of Holy Pascha is commemorated as Mid-Pentecost. This feast marks the halfway point between Pascha and the Feast of Pentecost. As explained below this feast is closely linked to the Sunday of the Paralytic.