Sermon for Monday 21st September – online with the Anglicans connected to Skopje. Gospel: Matthew 22, 15-22.
Fr Leonard Doolan
Our village fisherman, Stavros, is facing a similar problem to all Greek fishermen. Due to warming seas a predator fish from the Red Sea has made its way into Aegean waters. The problem is that they consume the young fish natural to these waters, and they are poisonous if you consume them. The Greek Government has reached an agreement with Greek fishermen so that they get paid per kilo for catching these puffa fish in an attempt to control them. As if seals and dolphins feeding on fish stocks is not bad enough, there is this new danger in the seas around Greece. Ugly looking things too – though I have to say even the tastiest of fish are not always ‘good-lookers’ in the raw!
Thinking about ugly ravenous sea creatures, I am reminded that today, Monday 21st is the feast of St. Jonah in the Orthodox calendar. Now there’s a vivid story, about someone being consumed by a great fish, usually referred to as a whale. Jonah is running away, turning his back on God’s call to him. He doesn’t want to face up to the reality of acceptance that God has for him, a purpose. He tries to escape on board a small boat but the ship’s crew cast him overboard as a last resort to save themselves from danger. Swallowed by a large sea creature, Jonah spends three days in the stomach of the creature until he is spewed out into safety, and acceptance that he can’t any longer avoid God’s call. Jesus uses the well know story by way of an analogy of his forthcoming death and resurrection.
Anyway, back to our friend Stavros the fisherman. This Summer when he has not found himself on his boat, he has been visiting some wild fig trees that he knows, and has been dropping off at our gate some of his different type of catch – figs, some of which are so ripe, sweet and juicy they are almost like a marmalade. Wonderful – and good for keeping you ‘regular’.
The Greek word for a fig is syka. Astonishingly the word sycophancy comes from the word for a fig. A sycophant is someone who seeks to ingratiate himself by telling someone else how wonderful he is, with excessive dollops of sweet soundbites – usually lies. On the negative side a sycophant could also be a slanderer, and in ancient Greece there used to be groups of professional sycophants. The word means literally a ‘reveller of figs’ and it is debated how the phrase has developed.
I’m going with the more recent English understanding – namely falsely flattering someone to gain personal favour.
I can think of three very recent public examples, all of which involve a certain country’s President. The first example is where Mark Rutte, the General Secretary of NATO, referred to that President as ‘daddy’ in an attempt to ensure continuing support for NATO; the second is when Maria Machado of Venezuela handed over her Nobel Peace prize to that President. Shortly afterwards American military operatives arrested and removed President Maduro of Venezuela – and guess who is the acting President in his place? The third involves the President of FIFA, who created a new Peace award and presented it to President Trump before the World Cup. Shortly after the World Cup finished Mr. Infantino got into trouble for trying to sell off parts of the World Cup organization to wealthy businessmen including, allegedly, those with business interests related to the Trump family. One thing is for sure – if you eat too many figs there is a consequence!
