How to Win the Whole Battle - Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (2025)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.

Understanding, O my soul, the difference between the Publican and the Pharisee, hate the proud words of the one, and eagerly imitate the contrite prayer of the other, crying aloud: God be merciful to me a sinner and have mercy on me. (Saturday Vespers, Tone Three at the Litia).

The Beginning of Lent

Today, we enter the period of the Lenten Triodion, which includes the three weeks before Lent begins and continues up to Holy and Great Saturday. The purpose of everything that takes place during this period is to remind us of the entirety of God’s benevolence towards us.[i] These first three weeks instruct us and prepare us spiritually and physically for the time of the Fast. On each of the Sundays before Lent begins, we are taught about a certain aspect of the spiritual life. Today, it is about humility and repentance; therefore, in the All-Night Vigil, until the fifth week of Lent after the hymn, “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ…”, (after the Gospel reading), penitential troparia are sung to draw our attention to, and instruct us about, humility which is the beginning of the Christian life and therefore, the beginning of Lent.[ii]

Repentance is the home in which all who enter the Great Fast find shelter, and humility is the foundation on which this home is built. The prophet-king David did not say, “I have fasted,” “I have kept vigil," or “I have lain on the bare earth,” but “I humbled myself, and straightway the Lord saved me.” Without humility, all the virtues turn to rubble. Such is the theme of this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.

An Explanation of the Readings

In today’s Gospel (Luke 18:10-14), Christ illustrates the difference between a proud Pharisee and a humble Publican. Both offer prayers to God, as did Cain and Abel, but only the prayer of the humble man is accepted, not the proud; the Publican is justified because of his humility, and the Pharisee is condemned because of his pride.[iii] How is this the case?

The Pride of the Pharisee

The Pharisee says, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” One could ask, “Should we not be thankful that we have not fallen into any of these sins?” Of course, but the error of the Pharisee is that he believes it is achieved by his own strength, and not by the grace of God. He distances himself even further from humility and, therefore, from God by comparing himself to other people, such as the Publican, then thanking God that he is not like them, His pride becomes still more apparent when he praises his virtues of tithing and fasting: “I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.”

St. John Climacus writes, “This passion [of pride] often draws strength initially from the giving of thanks, and at first, it does not shamelessly urge us to renounce God. I have seen people who speak aloud their thanks to God but who in their hearts are glorifying themselves, something demonstrated by that Pharisee with his ‘O God, I thank You’.”[iv]

St. Gregory Palamas sees in this passage that the Pharisee sets himself apart from all other men, thinking that “God saw fit to grant virtue to him alone.”[v] Moreover, in the Pharisee comparing himself to others, St. Cyril of Alexandria notes that even if he were better than many a bad man this does “not necessarily… prove him to be worthy of admiration.”[vi] Instead, as St. John Chrysostom says, “Even if we should have mounted the very pinnacle of virtue, let us consider ourselves last of all… because… even if [the Pharisee] was removed from [the] greed of gain and robbery he had rooted over his soul the mother of all evils – vain-glory and pride.”[vii]

The Humility of the Publican

The Publican, in contrast, prays with these words, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” “Without any other intention or thought, he paid attention only to himself and God, turning over and repeating the supplication of a single thought, the most effective of all prayers.”[viii]

The Publican reveals his humility not only by his words but also in that he was “standing afar off,” “would not lift up his eyes,” and “smote his breast.”

By his posture, presence, and speech, the Publican shows us humility and in this way, models what humility looks like, and this should be a desired goal for each of us because it is humility that will allow us to perceive the grace of God and to keep it.

In the Gerontikon, we read: “Humility has often saved many, even without effort; this is demonstrated by the Publican and the Prodigal Son, who said only a few words and were saved.”[ix] St. John of the Ladder says, “Those who possess [humility] have won the whole battle.”[x]

Abba Dorotheos writes regarding humility that “what its nature is and how the soul obtains it, as I often said, none found or could understand, but only the soul which became worthy to learn about it by actions.”[xi] “What actions?” we may ask. He answers:

i) Hard bodily labour accomplished with the full knowledge of what is being done,

ii) considering oneself under all, and

iii) ceaseless prayer.[xii]

Hard bodily labour because since the Fall our bodies tend toward pleasures and the love of bodily comforts instead of the enjoyment of spiritual pleasures.[xiii] Considering oneself under all because one will not think himself greater than his brother, thus overcoming pride.[xiv] Finally, ceaseless prayer to God, ascribing every achievement to God and always thanking Him, calling upon His help, trembling that he might lose His help.[xv]

Emphasizing our part that needs to be done, and the grace of God that is needed to accomplish any good thing, let alone to bring us to Christ, St. John Cassian writes:

For however much effort may have been spent in fasting, keeping vigil, reading, solitude, and withdrawal for the sake of laying hold of the prizes of purity and integrity, which are so magnificent and so lofty, this diligence and toil cannot of itself be sufficient to obtain them. For never will a person’s own effort and human diligence be equal to the divine gift, if it has not been granted by the divine compassion to the one who desires it.

I do not say this in order to nullify human effort or in an attempt to turn anyone away from diligence and intense toil. Rather I declare clearly and most firmly – not by my own say-so but by that of the elders – that without these things perfection cannot be grasped at all, yet that no one can attain these things alone and without God’s grace.[xvi]

…And so it is apparent that a person cannot attain the end of perfection and purity except by true humility… in the belief that, unless [God] offers him [H]is protection and help at every moment, he cannot ever reach the perfection that he desires and after which he is running with all his might.[xvii]

Conclusion

In conclusion, my co-strugglers, this is the reason we do not fast this week. Although you could possibly abstain from food and drink for seven days, this fast-free week is a reminder that it is only God’s grace that can sustain us and bring us into His Kingdom. May we lay the foundation of humility before constructing the house by our bodily and spiritual labours which will follow during this Lenten Fast, God helping us. Amen.

THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF OUR HOLY FATHERS, LORD JESUS CHRIST OUR GOD, HAVE MERCY ON US.