‘The Confession of St Thomas’, an icon dating from the turn of the 16th century, kept at the Church of the Holy Trinity at the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery in the Vologda Oblast, northeast Russia.
Except I put my finger
into the print of the nails,
and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe.
See John 20:24-29
THOMAS’S unbelief in Christ’s resurrection was not unforeseen, but happened in the foresight of God; for his touch made believers of us. His doubt did us more good than the other Apostles’ belief. For when that touch brought him to belief, it carried our doubt away.
Christ could easily have risen from the dead with no scars, but he kept the scars so he could strengthen the doubtful. He said to Thomas, ‘Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.’ Thomas saw the body and those scars, and believed that he who raised the body from death was God.
The words that follow fill us with great joy. ‘Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ This saying acknowledges all those who have not seen Christ in the body, yet hold him in the heart through faith. He truly believes in God, who with works practises what he believes. Belief without good works is dead.* These are the Apostles’ words; let attentive hearts absorb them.
See James 2:26.
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