Who is Israel - Fr. Gregory - November 16, 2025

In this Sunday’s Epistle reading from Romans, St. Paul addresses the topic of Israel. In his sermon, Fr. Gregory poses the question “Who is Israel?,” emphasizing its importance in shaping our understanding of God's plan for our salvation.Fr. Gregory addresses dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, explaining that these ideas are foreign to the Orthodox Church, which has always confessed that there is one covenant and one plan of salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As St. Paul writes, “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek.” There is one olive tree, the Church, grafted together from both Jews and Gentiles through faith in Jesus Christ.Fr. Gregory explains that, through Christ, the promises given to Abraham reach their fulfillment. The Church is not an intruder into Israel’s story, but its flowering. It is the realization of Israel being the people who live in covenant communion with God — not by the flesh but by the spirit and faith. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive not a new covenant that replaces the old, but the one covenant fulfilled. In this, every border and every distinction falls away, and we become what Israel was always called to be — a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people set apart for God.Fr. Gregory concludes by explaining that we pray for all people, including the Jewish people, the land of Israel, the Arab nations, and all who dwell in the Holy Land, but our allegiance belongs to the Lord, whose kingdom has no borders and no end.