Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden delivered a sermon at the Cathedral of Saint George in Stockholm on Sunday of Luke XII, 18 January 2026.
The starting point of his address was the Gospel reading of the day and the miracle of the healing of the ten lepers, which, as he noted, reveals both the depth of human suffering and the “divine philanthropy” of Christ.
The Metropolitan dwelt in particular on the moving cry of the afflicted to the Lord, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”, emphasizing that although all ten were healed, only one returned to give thanks to God and heard the words: “Your faith has made you well.” As he stressed, “the nine received healing of the body, but the one received the salvation of the soul,” thus highlighting the importance of thanksgiving as an attitude of faith.
Linking the Gospel message with the commemoration of Saint Athanasius the Great, which the Church celebrates on the same day, the Metropolitan of Sweden recalled the theological core of the Christian faith through the well-known saying of the Saint: “For He became man, that we might be made divine.” As he underlined, Christ “did not come merely to heal wounds, but to introduce us into new life,” calling the faithful to a path of thanksgiving, doxology, and salvation.
Read below the homily of Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia
Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today’s Gospel presents a scene both merciful and searching: ten lepers cry out to the Lord from a distance, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Their illness had made them outcasts, separated from worship, family, and the ordinary life of the community.
The Fathers see in leprosy an image of sin, a sickness that isolates and disfigures the human person.
Notice first the humility of the lepers. They ask for mercy, and Christ, in His compassion, responds at once, yet in a way that requires trust: “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
Saint John Chrysostom points to the wonder here, that they were not healed before they went, but “as they went,” they were cleansed. Obedience becomes the path of healing.
Only one, a Samaritan, comes back, glorifying God with a loud voice, falling at Christ’s feet, and giving thanks. The foreigner becomes the model, and those who seemed “closer” do not return.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria teaches that gratitude is not a small virtue, but the very sign of a heart that has begun to know God. The nine received a gift; the one returned to the Giver.
This is why the Lord says to him: “Arise, go your way; your faith has saved you.” Many receive benefits from God—health, provision, protection, consolation—yet remain at a distance.
Thanksgiving brings us near. It turns miracles into communion. It teaches us to see every mercy as a call to return.
For the true healing is not only to be cleansed, but to be saved: to be brought near to Christ, and to remain at His feet in gratitude and love. Amen!
