How many travelers passed through the desert and clung to the spring with parched lips in order to go on to the next spring? How many times a day did the Samaritan woman return to this well to satisfy the need for water for herself and her loved ones? The forefather Jacob himself drank from it, his children and his cattle drank, his descendants and the descendants of his descendants drew from the well, supporting life. But he (both then and now)

could not quench the constant thirst of those who came to him, for "... whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst for food..." — according to the word of the Saviour (John 4:13). But this single meeting of Christ and the Samaritan woman for the sinful woman and for the whole world turns into a meeting with the Living God, for here, at the fount of temporal life, for the first time the hitherto unknown source of Eternal Life began to flow into the world.

Here Christ for the first time discovers by Himself a new inexhaustible fount of living water flowing into Eternal Life. And this spring will not dry up and will not become impoverished, for it is not dug by human care, and nothing human can muddy its crystal purity and poison its life-giving properties. And this source on earth is the Holy Church of God, and its living water is the power of God's grace, forgiving, enlightening and sanctifying every person who clings to it.

And let us, our friends, talk today about this main thing. After all, for the first time in this meeting, at the beginning of His public ministry, Christ openly confessed Himself to be the Messiah, the Savior of the world. "I am" the Savior of the world – Christ. Christ, God and Man, came into the world to seek and save that which was lost. And He sows the first seed of the Gospel word among a people who do not belong in their beliefs either to the Jews, although they were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, or to the Gentiles.

Christ does not reveal Himself to the wicked Jews, but to the woman who did not know the truth, but was not malicious. The Samaritans did not know the True God, but their faith was alive, albeit unskillful and unconscious. And the question of where and how to worship God lived even in the heart of a simple Samaritan woman. Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other, living in close proximity.

But for Christ the Saviour, for His teaching, given to the earth, there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither slave nor free, but there is a man to whose heart His love is directed. And the love of Christ is so evident that it conquers in spite of the age-old enmity of their tribes. “... woman, believe in Me with them, for the hour is coming... and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth..." — she receives Christ's answer (John 4:21, 23).

Henceforth, not in Jerusalem, where the Jews worshipped, nor on Mount Gerizin, where the Samaritans gathered to pray, nor in Athens, where the altar to the Unknown God stood, but wherever there is a living human heart, thirsting for spiritual thirst, thirsting for truth, thirsting for God, it will meet God and worship Him in spirit and truth. And the thirst of the spirit will not be quenched by any of the earthly sources, but only by the living water of preaching the teaching of Christ and faith in Him as the Redeemer of the world.

And the woman believed, and immediately her faith became a source of living water for others as well. Abandoning all her worldly cares, forgetting her own and her need for water, she carried the living testimony of the miracle revealed to her to the city, and its inhabitants went out to the Source of living water – to Christ. And they also met the Living God and believed. And the wife was told: "... we no longer believe according to your words; for you yourselves have heard and known", "for this is truly Christ the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42).

The Samaritan woman's testimony about God stretched out in her to holiness. She accepted a martyr's death for her preaching of Christ, being thrown into a well. And the Saviour of the world is Christ, both yesterday and today, and forever the same. But why does this ancient Source of Life now remain forgotten by many, and rejected by many? And the words of the Saviour: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life...

” – остаются неуслышанными, непонятыми, непринятыми (Ин. 14, 6). Христос и это объяснил в свое время иудеям, и Его объяснение действенно во все времена. Они не могли веровать потому, что Он истину говорил им. Но ложь обратилась для них в плоть и кровь их и сделала истину несовместимою с ними, невместимою для них. Ложь! — не она ли и есть теперь и для нас та страшная болезнь, что ставит нынешний мир на грань катастрофы?!

Не ложь ли вытесняет истину из жизни и вокруг кладезя жизни — Церкви Божией — плодит многочисленные секты, ереси и разделения?! И несоответствие слова и дела — порождение все той же лжи — убивает дух жизни в нас. Други наши, совсем не случайно сегодня встал вопрос о страшной болезни в человеке — о духе лжи, овладевшем им, отец которому диавол. “...

Истинные же поклонницы поклоняются Отцу духом и истиною...” Истинные поклонницы поклоняются Истине. Мы можем быть плохи, мы можем быть много грешнее жены-самарянки, но мы не можем быть лживы, не должны быть лживы. Бог силен спасти каждого человека, но Он бессилен перед нашей ложью, когда мы опутываем себя ею, лжем пред собою, пред людьми, лжем пред Богом.

Христос может спасти кающегося грешника, но не может помочь мнимому праведнику, каким мы любим представлять себя. И вот теперь, когда обессиленные духовной жаждой люди, больные и отравленные мутью ядовитых безбожных учений, современные самаряне и язычники, ищут истинную воду жизни, чтобы оживить умирающий дух и укрепить ослабевшее тело, каждому надо найти в себе правдивость и силу увидеть себя без прикрас и лжи.

Ведь только тогда Господь — Истина, Правда и Жизнь — сможет откликнуться на нашу горькую правду и научить нас поклоняться Ему в духе и истине. Жажда истины — вот первое условие, необходимое нам, чтобы, подобно самарянке, встретить в жизни Живого Бога. И истина непостижимой святости Божией и Его милосердия поразит сердце наше, и в свете этой истины мы увидим и истину своего падения, истину своей греховности.