Raised from Despair

On the Sunday of the Paralytic, Bp. Irineos references one of the sticheron from the Vespers, where the paralytic compares his bed to a grave and suggests he has no need to live anymore. Examining both the patristic commentary on the despondency of the paralytic and the Church's understanding of baptism not only as a re-birth, but as a death to sin, Bp. Irineos reflects on what this vespers hymn should mean to us in light of the Gospel story.