Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee and St Gregory the Theologian
January 24, 2026
The Church invites us to take the posture of the Publican—not as a gesture of despair, but as the doorway to grace. Humility opens the heart. Humility makes prayer real. Humility allows God to act. And this humility is not only for our private prayer. It is needed in our families, in our parishes, and in our society.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today, on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Church opens for us the great journey toward Holy Pascha. She begins not with rules, not with fasting, not with heroic deeds, but with the one virtue without which no spiritual life can stand: humility.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us of two men who go up to the Temple to pray. One is a Pharisee—religious, disciplined, respectable. The other is a Publican—a man whose life has wandered far from God. Yet it is the Publican who goes home justified. Why? Because he stands before God with nothing but the truth of his heart. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
St John Chrysostom once said, “Humility is the foundation of all virtue; without it, even the greatest good becomes empty.” The Pharisee’s problem was not his fasting or his tithing—these are good things. His problem was that he trusted in himself. He believed his righteousness was his own achievement. The Publican, on the other hand, knew that everything depends on God’s mercy.
This theme echoes beautifully in today’s epistle. St Paul reminds Timothy of the faith he received from childhood, a faith grounded in the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise unto salvation.” But Paul also reminds him of the persecutions, the trials, the hardships he endured. Why? Because the Christian life is not a path of self‑congratulation but of perseverance, trust, and humility before God.
The Eastern Fathers teach us that humility is not thinking poorly of ourselves; it is seeing ourselves truthfully. St Isaac the Syrian writes, “The humble man is he who has come to know the weakness of his soul.” The Publican knew his weakness. The Pharisee did not. And so the Publican’s simple prayer pierced heaven.
Today we also celebrate the feast of St Gregory the Theologian—one of the greatest minds in the history of the Church. His sermons shaped the very language we use to speak about the Holy Trinity. His brilliance was unmatched. Yet what does he say about himself? “I am a man of unclean lips,” he writes, “and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” For all his learning, Gregory understood that true theology begins on one’s knees. He teaches us that the deeper we enter into the mystery of God, the more we recognise our own smallness before Him.
This is the paradox of the spiritual life: the closer we come to God, the more we see our need for Him. The Pharisee stood far from God because he believed he was close. The Publican stood close to God because he knew he was far.
As we begin the Triodion, the Church invites us to take the posture of the Publican—not as a gesture of despair, but as the doorway to grace. Humility opens the heart. Humility makes prayer real. Humility allows God to act.
And this humility is not only for our private prayer. It is needed in our families, in our parishes, in our society. We live in a world that rewards self‑promotion, certainty, and pride. Yet the Gospel calls us to something different: to listen before we speak, to understand before we judge, to forgive before we condemn. St Basil the Great reminds us, “The first step toward God is to know that you are not God.” When we forget this, we become Pharisees. When we remember it, we become disciples.
My dear friends, the Publican’s prayer is short, but it contains the whole spiritual life: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Let this prayer accompany us in the weeks ahead. Let it soften our hearts, heal our relationships, and draw us closer to the Lord who “exalts the humble” and “casts down the proud.”
May the example of St Gregory the Theologian inspire us to combine humility with faith, learning with love, and prayer with sincerity. And may Christ, who justified the Publican, grant us the grace to walk this Lenten journey with contrite hearts and renewed hope.
Amen.
