EIGHT DAYS LATER

This article is a homily delivered by Archimandrite Lev Gillet in 1964, on the occasion of Thomas Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter in the Byzantine liturgical calendar. Drawing on the Gospel episode of John 20:27-28, the author develops a theological meditation on the nature of paschal faith. He first rehabilitates the figure of Thomas, unjustly associated with doubt, by showing that unbelief was common to nearly all the apostles. He then explores the distinction between faith through sight and faith through signs, drawing on the case of John at the empty tomb. The central theological contribution lies in the articulation between the Passion and the Resurrection: the wounds of the risen Christ simultaneously reveal his true humanity and his divinity, thus anticipating the Nicene confession of faith, which Thomas personally formulates in his cry of adoration.