“Blessed who believe without seeing”
On the first Sunday after, the Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Jesus Christ’s appearing to his apostles and the event in which St. Thomas is involved.
Ten students believe on Easter evening when Jesus Christ appears to them. But Thomas who didn’t see Jesus, did not want to believe him until he touched his wounds. This is why Jesus appeared to them then the doors of the upper room were closed and He said to Thomas: “Look and touch”, “Don’t be unfaithful but believe.”
For the occasion of this feast, the parish priest Rev. Fr. İspir Teymur said: “The knowledge is the first grade of the faith. The second grade of the faith is ‘wisdom’; through this wisdom which has the eyes of faith, man sees more than the eye. The third degree of the faith is the ‘perfect faith’. With that, man turns into a person of righteousness and prayer, lives in faith, and then his mind and his heart come together in the knowledge. In the second degree, faith is the basis of absolute trust, which raises faith to the level of being ‘perfect’.
The beliefs of the Apostles and Thomas reached at this third level only after seeing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Thomas had doubted our skepticism would eternally remain.The absence of Tomas, which Jesus Christ appeared on Easter evening, was a divine design that Thomas was suspicious of, and that Jesus Christ would appear again when he was present. His cry of ‘My Lord and God’ have cancelled out doubts.”
