Holy Metropolis of Ierapytni: The Sermon of St. Matthew's Sundaytranslated

Ecumenical Patriarchate HOLY METROPOLIS

HIERAPYTNIS AND SITEIA WRITTEN SERMON FOR SUNDAY 5 OF MATTHEW

(OF THE DEMONIZED OF THE GERGESINES)

(July 5, 2026) My brothers, in today's gospel passage, we heard that Jesus, walking with his disciples in the country of the Gergesenes, met two demon-possessed people, who lived in the tombs, and there was fear and terror for those who passed by. When the demon-possessed faced Jesus, they began to shout: "What business do you have with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before our time?' Of course, at that moment those suffering people were not talking, but the demons they had inside them. The demons recognized the divine quality of Jesus, that's why they begged him: "If you are going to cast us out, let us go to the herd of pigs". Jesus allowed them to go to the herd of pigs that was grazing nearby, and then the whole herd fell into the sea and drowned. The owners of the herd, frightened, went to the city and narrated the events; then the people came out of the city together to meet Jesus, and to beg him to leave his territory. A thing that happened:...