Synaxarion for the Sunday of the Blind Man

On the sixth Sunday of Pascha, that of the man born blind, we celebrate the miracle of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, which was likewise worked by water, like that of the Samaritan woman and the paralytic.

Verses
O Bestower of light, Who art Light from Light, O Word,
Thou givest eyes unto him who was blind from birth.

It happened in this way: When Christ, conversing with the Jews, revealed Himself to be equal with the Father, and said: “Before Abraham was, I am”, they cast stones at Him; but, withdrawing from thence, He came upon a blind man stumbling along. He had been born thus, and had only empty eye-sockets, his eyeballs having sunk in. In such a condition was he when the Savior encountered him. The disciples (who had heard during the healing of the paralytic, “Lo, thy sins are forgiven; sin no more”, and also that the sin of parents falleth upon the children) asked Him: “Rabbi, who sinned —- he, or his parents —- that he was born blind?” In other words, there had spread (even among the Jews) the Epicurean teaching of the pre-existence of souls, and that it is because of sin that they come to dwell, though immaterial, in bodies. Dismissing all such concepts, Christ said: “It is not for such a reason, but that the works of God (that is, of Me) might be wrought in him”, for it was not the Father that was being spoken of. For the words “but that” do not stand in a probative sense, but indicate the ultimate reason. And having said this, Christ spat upon the ground, made clay of the spittle, and anointed the blind man’s eye sockets; and then commanded him to go to Siloam and wash, that He might thereby show that He is the One Who in the beginning took dust from the ground and fashioned man. And as the eyeball is of all the bodily members the most excellent, He fashioned it out of nothing, showing thereby that He gives movement to the power of the soul. He did not anoint the blind man with water, but with spittle, that it might be understood that all the power of grace dependeth on the spittle of the mouth, and because He wanted to send him to Siloam. And He commanded him to wash so that he would not ascribe curative power to the dirt and clay of that place. He sent him to Siloam so that there would be many witnesses to his healing; for, walking about with clay smeared on his eyes, he would encounter many. There are those who say that he did not wash off the clay made with spittle, but that the clay itself, with the addition of water, reformed his eyeballs. Siloam, by interpretation, means “sent”; for this pool was located outside the walls of Jerusalem. In the time of Hezekiah, when enemies were laying siege to the city and had taken Siloam, water ceased to flow there. Before the besieged dug wells and cisterns, it was thus: if anyone was sent on the orders of Isaiah, the water suddenly rose up and became accessible; but if anyone came on his own, or on orders from the enemy, the stream was not accessible. For this reason, Christ, wanting to show that He is God, send thither the blind man, and he immediately received sight there. There are those who think that Siloam means “sent” because this blind man was sent by Christ. And thus, the blind man who washed received eyes and sight through some ineffable might, though the sufferer himself did not understand the mystery. His neighbors and acquaintances, seeing him supernaturally provided with sight, were astonished; but the blind man assured them that he was the very one who had long been blind. And when they asked him the cause of his sightedness, he declared Christ to be the healer of his affliction. As soon as the Pharisees heard of the extraordinary miracle, they again began to accuse the Savior of blasphemy for failing to keep the Sabbath; for the miracle worked upon the blind man was performed, as usual, on the Sabbath. And so a division arose among them, so that some said that Jesus, judging from His working of wonders, was from God, while others maintained that He was not from God, since He did not observe the Sabbath. Then those who held Him in repute asked the blind man: “What sayest thou of Him?” He declared Him to be a prophet, which was among them a great honor. But again they expressed doubt that Christ had given healing to one who was completely blind. Then, as they did not believe the neighbors, they summed the blind man’s parents; yet the more they tried to cast suspicion over the event, the more light they shone upon it, for the parents confirmed all the circumstances, although, fearing lest they would be cast out of the synagogue, they cited the fact that the blind man was of age to speak for himself. Then the Pharisees again turned to the blind man, saying: “Give glory to God, because this healing was not worked by Christ; for He is a sinner, since He violates the Sabbath. But desiring to show that He is God indeed, he said: “This I known not; I do know one thing: that I was completely blind, but now, through Him, I enjoy sight.” Again they asked him how He had opened his eyes. But, vexed, he maintained not lightly, but sincerely, that if He were not of God, He would not have been able to work such a miracle. Then they began to reproach him for supposedly considering himself His disciple, and for saying that no one had ever opened the eyes of one born blind, for although others had restored sight to blind people, no one had ever done so to one who had been born blind., And so they mocked him and drove him from the synagogue. Afterward, Jesus came upon him and said to him: “Dost thou believe in the Son of God?” When he learned that it was the Son of God Who was speaking with him and Whom he saw (since before he had not seen Him, since he was blind), he worshipped him and became His disciple, proclaiming His benefactions. One may explain this in another sense, namely: that the blind man signifieth the gentile peoples whom Christ found, passing by, that is, living on earth, and not in heaven. In other words, Christ came down for the Hebrew people, but as He passed by He also came upon the gentiles. And spitting upon the ground, and making clay, He anointed—that is, He taught them from the beginning, because He came down to earth like a drop of rain, and became incarnate of the holy Virgin, and afterward preach divine baptism, which Siloam signifieth. Thus, the Christian people from the gentiles boldly preacheth Christ before everyone, endureth persecution and torture, but afterwards He is not accepted and glorified by His own people. In Thine infinite mercy, O Christ our God, Bestower of light, have mercy and save us. Amen.

Translated from the Church Slavonic by Monk Joseph (Isaac) Lambertsen. Copyright Lambertsen Foundation. All rights reserved.