Today, 22 January 2012, the Orthodox Christians are on the 32nd Sunday after the Pentecost. In all the places of worship of the Romanian Patriarchate the evangelical periscope of Saint Evangelist Luke (19:1-10) was read presenting the impressing repentance of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector. The Gospel emphasizes the fact that the chief tax collector Zacchaeus renewed his soul after Jesus Christ, our Saviour, entered his house.

In the sermon delivered in the Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence with Saint Gregory the Enlightener as saint patron, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, showed that in the case of Zacchaeus, the Saviour forgives his sins not because of his tears, but because of his repentance deeds.

“Zacchaeus did not say: ‘God, I’m sorry for what I did’, certainly he was sorry, but he did not express this only as regret, but showed his repentance through his desire of improvement, through mercy, through his firm decision to share half of his fortune to the poor and give four times more to those whom he did injustice. Here we see that the true conversion or change of man is not only an emotional, sentimental one, but also one that changes behaviour. It is not only the repentance, the regret, that matters, but also the repentance manifested in deeds proving improvement, a change of the life, of man’s relation with his fellow beings, because he changed his relations with God”, explained His Beatitude.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also emphasised the fact that the kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord, healed Zacchaeus of malice, avarice and greed: “How can one explain this change so firm and fast of the soul of the chief tax collector Zacchaeus? This is because the kindness and mercy of Jesus Christ, shown through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, are so strong that they go beyond the soot of sin and of the darkness of greed and relight the Image of God in man, namely the bit of kindness remained under the passion of greed and the harsh behaviour to his fellow beings. So, the kindness of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, heals Zacchaeus of malice, avarice and greed. Here is a conversion not because Zacchaeus was punished, threatened, scolded or reproved, but because he was overwhelmed by kindness and by an honesty that he never expected.”

The evangelical text also shows that the Saviour does not estimate man according to the public opinion, most times unable to know the human soul in its depth.

“Everybody knew that Zacchaeus was a greedy unjust man, but only Jesus read in his soul the desire to change. We see here that Jesus Christ, our Lord, teaches us all not to consider a sinful man doomed, already sentenced to eternal death, but He gives us the hope that any sinful man can return to God, change his life, get rid of selfish passions and can change his behaviour to his fellow beings”, also said the Patriarch of Romania.

Today’s Gospel urges us to mercy, also said the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Zacchaeus is the only rich man about whom the Holy Scriptures makes us understand that he was certainly saved. And he reached salvation through generosity, through his desire to change his life and to repair the mistakes he had made, also explained His Beatitude Daniel, according to Trinitas Radio station.