"Homilies". Priest Daniel Sysoev by mission shop

P R I E D A N I S Y S O

S T E L E V

HOMILIES Part 1

Daniel Sysoev Inc. New Jersey, 2016

Approved for publication by the Publications Board of the Russian Orthodox Church PB 11-116-1697

Priest Daniel Sysoev. Homilies — New Jersey, Daniel Sysoev Inc, 2016. — 208 pp.

ISBN 978-5-4279-0003-4

The gift of eloquence is not given to everyone; and there are very few who have mastered the art of producing a homily that nourishes the mind of the listener and fills him with divine truth. This book is composed of the homilies given by Priest Daniel Sysoev in the church of the apostle Thomas. In reading these homilies filled with the spirit of joy, the reader will feel himself in the presence of a pastor who with all his strength preached to people the word of God, eternal and vital for all times. Protected by copyright law. Reproduction of this book in whole or in part is prohibited. Any violations of this law will be prosecuted.

Contents On God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 On Paradise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The Day in Remembrance of Adamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Banishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 The Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 On the Ark and the Flood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 On the Prodigal Son. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 On Tithing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 On the Messiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 On the Miraculous Power of Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . 80 On Those Being Saved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 On Wealth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 On Combat with the Devil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 On Unity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 On Spiritual Kinship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 The Litrgy of the Great Teachers and Hierarchs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 In Commemoration of Basil the Great . . . . . . . . . . 129 The Day in Commemoration of the Prophet Daniel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 The Day of Commemoration of John the Baptist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

In Commemoration of Gregory Palamas. . . . . . . . In Commemoration of Gregory the Theologian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In Commemoration of Theodore of Tyre. . . . . . . . The Day of Commemoration of Alexis the Man of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Day of Commemoration of John Climacus . . The Day of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Day of Commemoration of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . In the Iveron Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. . . . . Explanation of the Icon “The Apocalypse”. . . . . . The Eve of Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. . . . . . . The New Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God “The Gatekeeper” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Day in Honor of the Robe of the Lord. . . . . . . The Day of the Veneration of the Chains of Apostle Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antipascha. The All-Night Vigil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antipascha. Liturgy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

144 154 160 167 171 179 187 195 200 203 211 212 217 228 232 237 246 256 266 275

On God

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Whom do you imagine God to be? When we speak of God, we have in mind the Holy Trinity, One-in-essence and Indivisible, abi ding in the fullness of His glory. In speaking about the divine nature, we frequently do not understand it correctly. Often people create themselves a mytho logy: they either say that God is everything, or on the contrary, that God is Something higher. This results in something most frightening: people begin to imagine God in their own image and likeness. They begin to search for, come to know, and serve not the actual living Lord, but rather a created one; they claim to have a sort of exalted concept of the Godhead, in which they are going to believe. This is, however, the God that they created themselves in their minds. It is of course extremely harmful for one’s soul to believe not in the actual Lord of the universe, but in an idol of a person’s own making. It is with good reason that the book of Psalms says: The Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves ... and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand (Ps. 100:3; 95:7). What does “the sheep of His hand” mean? Here the Most High is likened to a shepherd who feels

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to see whether or not a sheep bears his brand. If the brand is someone else’s, he leads the sheep aside; but if the brand is his, he takes it. The Lord likewise put His mark on us in holy baptism, which makes us the sheep of God’s hand. The Lord by feel, so to speak, recognizes us as His Own, as those faithful to Him, as those who act according to His holy will. When we speak of God, the first thing we must understand is that God is the Creator of the universe. Why is this important? Because in speaking of God, we must separate Him from that which is not God. There is the actual God, and there is that which is not the Lord God, but rather His creation. Therefore, when people say that God is everything, they are saying the direct opposite of reality. Nothing of what exists in rea lity is God. Because God is not a stone, not water, not air, not electricity, not the earth, not the stars, not a star combination, not outer space. God is the Master of stone, air, outer space, and everything else. God is the great Creator, the Ruler and Lord of the universe, and He Himself is not confined by anything that exists. Blessed Augustine gives the following poetic description: “I went in search of God and asked the air, ’Perhaps you are God?’ The air answered, ’No, I am not God.’ I asked the sun, ’Perhaps you are God?’ But the sun said, ’I set; how could I be 6

On God

God?’ I asked the sea, ’Perhaps you are God?’ But the sea said, ’I rage; filth of every kind pours into me; I cannot be God.’ And when I asked who then is God, all these elements told me in their movements, ’God is our Creator.’” When we speak of God, we must understand that God is not confined by any material form. This is why you will not see an icon of God the Father. Because no one has ever seen God the Father; the Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him.1 Thus, the only depiction of God that is blessed by the Church is the depiction of God incarnate. When God became a man He became depic table. Up until then there was a commandment given not to depict God because God is invisible by His nature, and any depiction of God would have been a distortion of Him. All earthly chara cteristics are nonapplicable to Him: He is without form, volume, color, odor, weight, or mass. What then should our attitude be toward icons of God the Father? There is only one depiction of God the Father that is permitted: the depiction of Him in the form of the Trinity—not the New Testament Trinity, but that of the Old Testament, that is, the appearance of the three angels to Abraham, who saw God in the form 1

Cf. Jn. 1:18.–Tran. 7

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of the three angel travelers. In the guise of these travelers the Trinity appeared to him mystically, and this symbolical depiction is based on an actual event, an actual vision, but is not a depiction of the divine nature itself. The depiction of God the Father as an old man (and you do come across these depictions in some places) is forbidden by the church councils. This tradition came to us in Russia from the West, and our Church has always rejected it. The depiction of God the Father is not in accordance with the Orthodox Church’s views, and you should not have such a thing in your home. However, there are depictions of God as an old man that are perfectly legitimate: Christ revealed Himself to John the Theologian with white hair because He is the ancient of days (Dan. 7: 9, 22), since He as God is beginningless in time, although He has His origin in God the Father and is born from the Essence of God the Father. But that being said, we must not think of God in His divine nature in human terms. God is not circumscribed by earthly forms; He is not circumscribed by earthly depictions; and when God is said to be sitting, this means that He is at rest; God flying means that His power is coming to our aid. When God is said to be walking, He is showing His might in some specific place. When God is said to have a head, it means that He sees 8

On God

all things. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons says: “God is all sight and all hearing; that is, in Him there are no separate organs; He is All-seeing and Allhearing.” Why is man said to be created in God’s image and likeness? Because man was not created in God’s form; he does not share a common body with God; rather, it refers to man’s spirit, man’s soul, being god-like, in the image of God. God is Reason, and we possess reason; God is free, and we possess freedom; God is the Creator, and we have the ability to create something new. Thus, it is in this sense that we are said to be created in the likeness and image of God. There was a certain heresy in the 4th century—anthropomorphism—according to which God literally has a beard, feet, hands, and stomach; and that was how they imagined Him, even though Scripture says that God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:24). Therefore, the Church rejected this false doctrine. And one of these deluded monks, on being convinced of his error, said that his God had been taken from him; although in actuality they had not taken away his God, but the idol which he had been worshiping in place of the Lord God. We need to understand that God is a spiritual being; He is immaterial: He is pure mind, pure 9

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intellect, pure will, pure feeling, free of the bonds of matter. Material characteristics are in no way applicable to Him. In addition, we need to understand that since the world created by God exists within a definite space and time, God Himself is not inside them. An artist, naturally, is outside the picture he has drawn. This is why we say that God is located outside the world, outside space, and outside time. When we talk about God being outside space, we must understand that God is not limited by any spacial characteristics. How many kilometers does God take up? None. None whatsoever. He is altogether indescribable using such characteristics. Neither one, nor one million kilometers: to attempt to measure God using distance is the same as measuring distance in kilograms. How many kilograms are there in a kilometer? An absurd question. Measuring the Divine nature using kilometers is exactly the same thing. This is very important, because when we say—and the Bible itself tells us—that God is omnipresent, we must understand it thus: that God in His essence is everywhere; He upholds all things by His hands, by His might. We must not say, however, that God is omnipresent in the way in which gas fills the earth’s atmosphere. God help us! 10

The Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! On these days God created the luminaries from out of nonexistence. By His will the primordial light created on the first day of creation was gathered into luminaries as into vessels. The planets were placed as mirrors, so as to shine on the earth. We also heard about the creation of the first beings possessing a living soul. On this day I would like to give some thought to that which is being opposed by some of today’s teachings. There are many people today—ones who even consider themselves Christians—who confess a false teaching concerning planets. How many people are there now who think that their lives are somehow governed by the position of the luminaries in the vault of heaven! Also, due to the newfound trend of celebrating the Chinese New Year, many Christians have begun to name themselves after all sorts of animals. And the insanity in our country reaches its apogee with the arrival of the civil New Year. This would be understandable were these people godless, for a godless man is “a slave to all the elements,” as the apostle Paul says. Such a person serves all the elements of the world. 11

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But a Christian who has been freed from slavery to the world’s elements by the blood of Christ the Savior—how dare he return to these powerless elements and think that they somehow affect him? Nevertheless, I have encountered dozens, if not hundreds, of Orthodox Christians who sincerely think that the stars affect, if not one’s fate, then the nature of things, as though there were bad days and good days (if the day begins badly, that means the whole day will be bad). All these superstitions are spread about in a most serious fashion. There are countless numbers of people who consider themselves Orthodox, but are actually worshiping not God, but the luminaries. Can an actual person who believes in horoscopes and believes himself subject to the voices of these luminaries really be called a Christian? He is an idol-worshiper in the direct, not the figurative, sense of the word. How did paganism itself come into being? People worshiped the luminaries. On seeing the terrible, catastrophic results of the effects of the celestial bodies on the earth (asteroid attacks and floods caused by objects in outer space were fresh in people’s minds), people decided that the celestial bodies themselves governed the world and, allegedly, were living entities. There were even heretics in the Church—Origen, for instance—who claimed that the Moon, Sun, 12

The Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World

stars, and the planet Earth itself were living, rational bodies. And there are such theories today—that Earth is a living planet, that the stars and other luminaries are alive. All that is untrue. The Lord says that He decided to create luminaries in the heavenly firmament so that they would separate the day from the night, as signs for the seasons, days, and years. The Lord put luminaries in place for man, and they were created specifically as luminaries. What does “luminary” mean? A lamp. A light, nothing more. The Lord does not even mention them in this narrative, which came directly from His mouth—for the six days of creation, the Hexaemeron, could only be described by an eyewitness. And who was an eyewitness to the creation of the universe, to these six days? Only the Creator Himself. There are angelic writings concerning the appearance of the universe; they came from the rebellious angels. This is pagan mythology. It found its beginning in the dark mind of Lucifer, who remembered something of the first days of creation. That is why there are certain similarities between pagan mythology and God’s revelation. The Hexaemeron narrative is a text received from God without any intermediary. God Himself says that the luminaries were created for man, for governing day and night, for appointing the seasons for the church feasts 13

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(that is why it says they are for seasons—sacred seasons), for determining the time of Pascha, the time of Christ’s Nativity, which takes place after the solstice; the day of the Annunciation of the Lord, which comes after the equinox. All these feasts are held on these specific days not by chance, but because the luminaries created by God designate them. We have now gone into outer space, and the Bible foretold that mankind would go into outer space: Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord (Obad. 1:4). And in outer space people also use the stars to navigate. That is why these lumina ries were given to us: so that we could navigate by them, move about, determine the seasons for various farming operations, and not so that we could determine people’s fate. The luminaries are not God; they are not used by God to correct men’s lives, because man was created as something greater than the luminaries. The luminaries were created for man, and not man for the luminaries. Therefore, when astrologers say that a person’s fate can be determined by the luminaries and that the luminaries govern the world, remember that this is complete madness. What is the reason that a person’s nature can sometimes be determined by the sign of the zodiak associated with his date of birth? The 14

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person is being influenced by evil spirits who want to bring him to destruction. It is common knowledge that schizophrenia intensifies during a full moon; this is because this disease is the direct influence of Satan on a person. The devil wants the person to blaspheme God’s creation, the Moon in particular. When the Lord healed the lunatics He did not say that the Moon was to blame: He drove out the evil spirits. Remember that he who blasphemes creation is not in agreement with God: for when God created the Sun, Moon, and stars, He said that it was good. The luminaries are good things regardless of whether I think they are affecting me negatively, and that since I was born under the sign of Scorpio, I have to sting everyone. No, that is not true. Each person has to remember that he was created by God, and that if he is superstitious, the superstition will come to pass. This has long since been proven: if people believe in the black cat superstition, it will certainly prove to be true. And superstition proves to be true precisely because there are certain beings which begin to foster it. The devil begins to fix things so that water pours into the gristmill of superstition. This is precisely the way astrology appeared. Concerning astrologers God says in the book of Isaiah: “Let your astrologers gather in Babylon and foretell the day on which they themselves 15

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will perish.” But they are incapable of doing any such thing. Their knowledge will be the wood, and their stars will be a flame that devours them, and nothing will remain of them. In another place God says through the prophet Jeremiah, “Do not believe the harbingers from the sky. Do not emulate the pagans”: Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. ... the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens (Jer. 10: 2, 11). For our Lord is truth, and before Him tremble all the tribes of the earth. And the movements of all the celestial luminaries are by His will. God is commander of the luminaries; He rules over them. But God did not give anyone authority over man because man was created in the image of God. Therefore, do not submit yourselves to the powerless elements of the world! The constellations in and of themselves are unimportant; in reality they serve as decorations for the sky. For instance, the Bible mentions Orion and Pleiades; it says that God brought forth the Great Bear with her children, that God suspended Orion, and that He suspended the constellations in the sky: Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion (Amos 5:8). He suspended them as an adornment. And for that reason, no matter where the stars are in the expanse of the 16

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sky, they are all made to shine on Earth. No matter what you think, it did not take the light from the stars millions of years to reach Earth. They shone immediately on Earth because it was for Earth that they were created. In a spiritual sense the center of the universe is the planet Earth because it was here that our Lord was crucified. What the center is in the physical sense is of no significance. Because if we consider that everything in the universe is moving, then the center will be the point where the observer is, that is, Earth. If the Sun were stationary then one might be able to say that the Earth revolves around the Sun; but considering that the Sun revolves around the galaxies, and the galaxies around the metagalaxies, then due to the endless movement there is no way we can see the actual center. Therefore, the center is the place where the Lord was crucified and rose from the dead. If you go to Jerusalem you will see in the temple of the Lord a place called the “Navel of the World,” on which is located the Lord’s tomb. This is the actual center of the world. And the luminaries are for its benefit! And therefore, when people say that one can have a cosmic consciousness, remember that this is untrue! We should not have a cosmic consciousness. The planets are inanimate; and Earth, too, is irrational. It is a stone that is completely 17

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obedient to God and does not possess any sort of reason, just like the stars and luminaries. It was with good reason that the Church placed an anathema on those who believe the luminaries to be living entities. By the rules of the Church such people are to be denied Communion. In the spiritual sense, the cosmos is all the human passions, all the people who live according to the laws of death, of corruption, and all the beings that oversee this “life.” The cosmos has its own prince, the prince of this world—the devil. But that being said, the prince of outer space is not the creator, because outer space is in God’s hands, and He commands all the elements. It is inhabited by good angels, as John the Theologian says. There is a guardian angel for the Sun, who is mentioned in Revelation. The other stars have guardian angels, as well. And “the cosmos” is what we call all the people who live according to the law of death—a worldly society, a cosmic society. And when occultists tell us that they are inviting us to connect with cosmic reason, they are telling the absolute truth, only we often do not suspect what sort of truth it is. The devil is very crafty: he lies without even telling a lie. When people talk about cosmic reason, this refers to Lucifer, not God. For our God is called supercosmic reason. He is higher than the cosmos; He commands all worlds. Hence, we must serve the 18

The Fourth and Fifth Days of the Creation of the World

Creator rather than creation, and remember that since the luminaries are for our benefit, we must act in accordance with God’s will. We should learn from them concerning order. Look at the stars in the sky: they perform according to their individual orders; no star moves from its place without God’s will. In a magnificent, beautiful dance they whirl about before the eyes of God! The starry sky is truly a marvelous adornment that reminds us of God. The stars speak of the creation of God’s hands. The stars reveal the glory of God, and the creation of His hands tells of the expanse of the heavens: When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained (Ps. 8:3). And if the stars obey God, then we must obey Him, as well. As Saint John Chrysostom says, “Look at the stars: they all move according to their order.” The enormous luminaries—they are all submissive to God; while man, a tiny piece of dust, does not submit. Learn from the stars. Do not worship them. Just learn from them. Learn to serve God, learn to praise God as the luminaries praise Him. Do you remember what we read at matins? Praise Him [the Lord], ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 148: 4-5), says King David. Let us likewise learn to praise God as He is praised by the 19

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universal luminaries, as He is praised by all these enormous sea monsters, the whales, fish, all the animals created on the fifth day, which were endowed with a soul, albeit a mortal one, and which glorify and magnify God for that reason: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl (Ps. 148:10). All creatures serve God; therefore, we need to learn to join in this hymn, and let us submit ourselves before God. May God help us in this! Save us, O Lord! The Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! We see how wisely the Church guides us, showing us God’s greatness in the finest detail and from every aspect. Today we are going to conclude the narrative of how the world appeared. We will talk about the sixth and seventh days of creation: about Friday, the day that concluded all of creation, and about Saturday, which received the title of the day of rest. On the sixth day, when the beasts were created, the earth brought forth the fruit of life, possessing feeling and movement, but not yet possessing reason. The Lord, in a way, breaks off speaking 20

The Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World

about the creation of the world and starts to take counsel with Himself. Why? The fact is that the Lord decided to make an amazing, undreame d-of hybrid. He decided to combine two worlds: the visible, material world and a world which is not perceived by the sense organs, which is called the invisible or intelligible world. The Lord decided to unite these two worlds by creating an angel clothed in flesh and fed by milk. An angel that feeds on milk? What an amazing combination that God decided to create! Having shown His beauty and might in the invisible world by first creating the blessed spirits who are similar to Him, though, naturally, nowhere near Him in majesty, He decided to create a world in no way similar to him—a world of matter. And the Lord decided to unite these two worlds and create a new worshiper of sorts for Himself, as John Damascene says; an amazing worshiper who combines within himself both greatness and meanness. And the Lord creates a certain living being, a certain self-portrait. He creates him with His Own hands out of dust and a soul. Addressing someone, the Lord says: Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness (Gen. 1:26). God the Father is addressing God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Let him have authority over the beasts of the field, over the reptiles who crawl along the earth, over the birds of the skies, 21

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and let him govern the material world. In this way the Lord decided to create not just a ruler for this world, but a living image of authority over the earth. For God by His nature has authority over the world. God draws authority from His very Self. He is the Sovereign and genuine Source of His very Self. He is the Master of all because He created all. And so, for this reason the Lord decided to make a being similar to Himself, who would rule over the world. With what must authority begin? With authority over oneself; hence, He created man in His image, that is, in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is the eternal image of God the Father. Not without reason did the Lord say: He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). The holy Gospel speaks about this directly. Hence, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit created man in the image of Christ, the eternal Son of the Heavenly Father. And God gives man the task of becoming a likeness of the eternal likeness of God the Father. The eternal likeness of God the Father is the Lord God, the Holy Spirit, and therefore, a person must become holy in order to become like the Holy Spirit. In man is embedded this amazing gift from God—both a gift and a task. Man is truly great, but not because he is a microcosm. The wise men of old and many 22

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modern-day people say that man’s greatness is in the fact that in him everything is united. This is the truth, and in this the majestic hand of God is truly manifested. Imagine that you and I have within us something of the stones, that we have something like a river flowing within us. If the planet Earth has rivers of water, then we have rivers that provide us with fluid—blood— flowing along special channels, which the Lord God has most beautifully and wisely implanted in us. If we look at the structure of our body, we will see a most amazing picture! We will see the brain, the center of rational activity. In the entire universe, there is nothing more sophisticated than our brain. And this astounding device, which helps the soul communicate with the body, which produces thought whereby the soul controls the body—this device is protected, as if by a fortress, by the braincase. Such complexity could not have appeared on its own! We have sense organs that give us the ability to perceive the world. When we thank God after Communion, we say, “Enlighten the simple substance of our senses.” What does “simple” mean? All our sense organs give us a comprehensive picture. Sometimes a drunk’s senses are compromised: he sees two doors instead of one, ten windows instead of five. A normal person’s senses, however, show a single, common picture. 23

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Who is the great arranger of this? Our Great God, naturally, Who implanted in us our luminariesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;our eyes which allow us to see the light of the world; Who gave us the capacity to hear the wonderful sounds with which the Lord has filled the world. He gave us the ability to sense fragrance and taste; He covered us with skin, which is both an adornment and protection; He tuned our senses to the finest degree. The entire world is reproduced in us, as it were. We have bones, like the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mountains, which form us; as this world has soil, so do we have muscles; as this world has vegetation, so do we have growth on our heads. In other words, we can discern a direct connection with the world. But manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatness does not consist in this. Why is there such a connection at all? Because God planned for man to be lord over the world, for him to be to a certain degree akin to this world, but at the same time above it. The very greatness of man consists in the fact that he is created in the image of God. It is vain for man to be proud that he was created as a microcosm; there is nothing especially great in this. As Gregory the Theologian said, when a person boasts that he is a microcosm, a cosmos, he is boasting that he is related to mice and lice. And since the time of the Fall, man has had within him something of the foxes, snakes, and pigs as well. Originally there 24

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was nothing of the sort in him. Originally man was in accord with the chief task. The most important thing man has is that we were created in the image of God; we bear on ourselves the imprint of Jesus Christ, the imprint of His person. And for this very reason you and I were destined for eternity from the beginning. This is why man cannot be satisfied by anything on the earth. If he were only earthly, he would be satisfied by the things of the earth. But man can never be satisfied by anything. He is insatiable in his craving for money; he is insatiable in lust. At times he tries to find pleasure in the things of the flesh and does not find it. Because man was created insatiable, since he will only be satisfied when he appears in God’s glory. In the book of Psalms David says: “I will be filled when I appear before the face of God” (cf. Ps. 42:2). This is truly the imprint of God’s image in us. Our spirit, created in the image of God, breathed into us by divine breath, raises us toward God and does not allow us to grow complacent here. In this is our greatness—in that we are created as “distant worshipers,” in the words of Gregory the Theologian and John Damascene, that is, worshipers of the Heavenly God while standing on the earth. We were created as beings meant to serve no one besides God. That is not how animals were created: they were created to serve 25

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us. We, however, were created to serve God alone. We were created with the magnificent task, the magnificent honor of serving God alone; of worshiping Him, glorifying Him, and having His life in us; for since we are created in His image, this means we have a certain affinity with Him. We have the task of attaining God-likeness, of attaining theosis, by becoming like God and communing of divine life, divine glory, by adhering to the holy gospel virtues and by participation in the holy energies of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the holy sacraments. Thus a person gradually transforms into a superhuman, into God by grace. Because he who loves the Son, himself becomes the Son. He who loves God will become Godâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;by grace. There is a reason that the Lord said, Ye are gods (Jn. 10:34). Man is endued with awesome greatness. If we think about it, each one of us is an image of God, that is, each one of us carries in himself immeasurable depth. God is, after all, eternal. By His divinity Jesus Christ is also eternal. As God fills the world, the Word of God fills heaven and earth. And as our Lord said: And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man Which is in heaven (Jn. 3:13). Christ is omnipresent by His divinity but is limited by His humanity. And because of this, man likewise has in himself a longing for what is eternal. He 26

The Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World

has an immeasurable abyss hidden in the depths of his heart. When we examine ourselves we see this abyss, and those who are mindful know that if we are cleansed of our sins, we will become radiant beings. We have a certain luminance of our own. As Gregory the Theologian said, we are the third light. The first light is God, the second light is the angels, and the third light is man. We have an inner radiance, and this radiance can be shown forth for the eternal God, the first Radiance. We are able to see God face to face by virtue of the fact that by means of our faces, we are divine. The face of God was imprinted on us at the moment of creation. It is for this very reason that man cannot be satisfied on earth; from the beginning he has been drawn by a heavenly attractive force. What is surprising is that, regardless of that, man can be capable of terrible cruelty! Because the abyss can be so great that a person is prepared to go against God infinitely as well, destroying himself. But on the other hand, in the saints there is a much larger abyss. A saint is a larger abyss than any sinner, even the most cruel. In him is revealed not only a created, human infinity, but he is privy to the infinity of God Himself. He draws from the infinite life of God and becomes whom he was originally meant to be. Often we put ourselves down out of demonic humility, 27

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calling ourselves stupid—“What can we do? We are just little people.” But God tells us, “I created you to be great: in love, in compassion, in meekness, in humility, great by My power. How dare you reject the greatness I gave you? I gave you this task. I am your designer. I designed you for Myself. I created your heart for Myself. How dare you demean yourselves, wasting yourselves on trivialities. How dare you despise and destroy yourselves? You did not create yourselves: it is not for you to destroy yourselves.” Therefore, take note: when does God rest? God rested from His work after He had created man and given him the first commandment (to eat fasting, vegetarian food). And after this the Lord, seeing that all that He made was very good, rested from His work. That is to say, God rested when He had created man. And God will rest again when He once more brings man to His final goal: when people become living likenesses of Him, for which purpose they were designed, for which purpose they were made. If we abandon this goal we cease to be people, because he who abandons his goal cannot be called a person. You could not, after all, call some apparatus without wheels or motor a car. In just the same way we cannot call a person one who has refused to become like God. Remember that in this lies our goal, in this lies our greatness, in this lies our 28

On Paradise

beauty. And today the Church reminds us that fasting is necessary in order to attain this ultimate goal—to become like God—without which our life has no meaning. May God help us! Save us, O Lord! On Paradise

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! On the fourth day of Great Lent we heard the narrative from the sacred book of the Old Testament concerning Paradise, into which was led man, created from the dust of the earth. This is the most detailed description of Paradise given in Holy Scripture, of our ancient birthplace, our ancient fatherland where we all dream of returning; and we know that owing to the mystical path of holy baptism, access to it is now open to us. Because the Lord was born, the barrier standing between God and people was destroyed. Truly, this description of holy Paradise, where we were placed by God, must inspire us to embark on the path of righteousness. What is Paradise? It is a special, wonderful place on earth. I wish to mention that Paradise is not a heavenly place. Many mistakenly think that Paradise of old was located in heaven. It was not. Currently it is beyond the limits of our dimension, but originally 29

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it was the highest point on earth. In Holy Scripture it says that Paradise was located on a very high mountain, on a special, ancient mountain of God, where He showed forth His glory. And this lofty mountain was covered with beautiful plants; every kind of beautiful plant in the world was collected there as in a sort of greenhouse, so that man, created by God, could live there as though in a sort of palace. When people began to build greenhouses, it was in many ways in order to remember Paradise. Here in Russia, those building gardens would call them “paradiz,”— paradise. The desire to decorate our homes with plants is also in many ways a subconscious remembrance of our heavenly fatherland of old, of that heaven on earth created by the Lord. Paradise was created beauteous in a physical sense; at the same time it was spiritual, as well. We must remember that when the first-created man ate of the fruit of the paradisiacal trees, he ate not only physical fruit, as we do now, but it was at the same time the experiencing of a certain new reality. He saw a certain meaning which God revealed to him through this eating: it was all at once an understanding of God’s purpose for the whole world. In placing man in Paradise, the Lord gave him the chance to enjoy immortal life in all its fullness, free from corruption, which did not exist in this primordial world. And the 30

On Paradise

Lord allowed him to take pleasure in cultivating and guarding the beauties of Paradise; that is, He gave him a task of sorts. Paradise was not an idle place: initially, it was the place where man flourished as a creative personality. After all, God’s original purpose was for man to become master of the earth, of all the beasts, of the birds of the heavens, of the creeping reptiles. And for this he had to labor; but this was in cooperation with the Lord, so the labor increased man’s strength instead of how it is now, when people are weakened after working. This happened specifically because man was wor king with God, and because of this his strength grew. In working with God he grew; in God he was successful; he was filled with strength, and his mind was opened. All living creatures were brought to Adam, the first man, so that he could name them. Thus, he came into authority over all living creatures. But aside from the plants in Paradise there was also a river that divided into four rivers. This was a material river naturally, but at the same time the water in it was holy, sanctified by the power of God; and it showed that God would later affect people and transfigure them by means of material water. This water symbolized the revelation of God Himself. Remember that everything in Paradise was the revelation of certain purposes, God’s designs 31

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for the world. And what was water a symbol of? It was a symbol of God’s Revelation, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, Who reveals Himself to people. You and I know that in the New Jerusalem, where we want to go after the end of the world, there will likewise be a crystal-clear river flowing, originating from the throne of God and enlivening all who drink from it. In this way the paradisiacal river, permeated by God’s power, enlivened all who tasted of it and was a symbol of God’s Revelation; and further on it divided into four rivers: the Nile, the Ganges, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. To this day these rivers are regarded as sacred. And perhaps these are not just memories, but there actually is a connection between these rivers and Paradise, for we do not how the connection between Paradise and earth is realized. Paradise, after all, did not disappear after the fall into sin, and the righteous who are living can go there. Besides, Paradise is real, with real, distinctive plants. Hagiographical literature tells of instances when people brought back special fruit from Paradise. The holy martyr Dorothea entreated God to send her torturer Theodulos three apples and three roses from Paradise. We know about how the cook Euphrosynus, who was a guard in Paradise, gave a certain monk radiant fruit from Paradise, which healed people. This fruit was real; it was there and still is, and 32

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there it is always eternally spring. In Paradise there is neither cold, nor burning heat, and flo wers are eternally in bloom. Saint Perpetua (commemorated 14 February), who had been there, saw roses as tall as a cypress; and the fragrance of these roses descended to earth like snow. And the sacred crystal-clear water flowing from Paradise heals all sicknesses and gives people knowledge. This single stream divides into four rivers as a sign that the one Revelation in an exalted manner divides into four: one gospel given to us through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are four paradisiacal rivers, which now have made accessible to us the one gospel of Christ. The gospel, after all, is one: the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our translation is not altogether correct. Literally it should be: “The gospel according to Mark,” that is, the gospel of Jesus Christ related according to Mark, according to Matthew, according to John, according to Luke. They are witnesses, transmitters, but the Good News is from Jesus Christ. In Paradise there were many mystical stones. There was gold, a certain stone called anthrax, and green emeralds. These stones and gold, which adorned the vestments of the high priest, and which will later be in the New Jerusalem, showed that our earthly jewels are a symbol of heavenly treasures. It is not by chance that 33

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descriptions of Paradise mention treasure, for the Lord loves splendor, majesty, and beauty. He Himself is full of might and beauty. This is the very reason why Paradise was already adorned by all the precious stones, just as those who are currently there see the wondrous palaces of gold and precious stones that are already standing there. After all, when we await the kingdom of God we await not an impoverished kingdom, but a splendid and majestic feast. After Communion we say: “...where the sound of them that keep festival is unceasing and the delight is endless of them that behold the ineffable beauty of Thy countenance.” And this very splendor began with Paradise, where Adam lived in a splendid paradisiacal palace, and in the very heart of this palace was a sanctuary consisting of two mystical trees. The most important tree in Paradise is the tree of life. It is also mentioned in the book of Proverbs— wisdom is the tree of life for all who come to it: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Prov. 11:30). The tree of life is a real, most wondrous plant. Some think that the date palm depicted on the temple in Jerusalem was a symbol of the tree of life. Whoever ate the fruit of this tree did not die, because by means of the material fruit God sanctified the entire person. In this way the principle of divine presence in this world was laid down 34

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in the beginning. We eat the real fruit—dates or grapes—and through this we are united with the source of wisdom, that is, with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God the Father, and commune of His energies. It was in Paradise that the principle of Communion was laid down; by means of matter we taste of the immaterial divinity. Because otherwise a man’s body would not be able to withstand the direct contact with divinity. God acts on both our body and spirit; all our sacraments are built on this principle. The laying on of hands, the words at the sacrament of confession, the sign of the cross, the water at the sacrament of holy baptism, the myrrh at chrismation, the bread and wine at Communion, the olive oil at the sacrament of unction. And through this material means the uncreated power of God flows in. The tree of life is truly Christ Himself, Who gives Himself by material means, showing by this that He is the Creator both of matter and man’s spirit: the author of man. He instilled the soul by His life-creating breath, and He created the body with His most pure hands; and it was He that saved us later. There was a second tree in Paradise: the tree of testing. As Athanasius the Great says: “Man is unable to be created instantly perfect, because it is impossible to create perfection,” since he would then not have free choice. For this reason 35

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the Lord creates man with the ability to choose, and only this gives man the ability to participate in His divine love. Without any choice there would be no love. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of examination. And the Lord said: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it (Gen. 2:16-17). Because if you wish to learn good and evil without Me, if you wish to decide yourself what is good and what is bad, if you wish to force open My essence and become like Me in essence, to declare yourself God by nature independently of God—you will die this very day. You will die by death. And so it happened, as you and I know, that Adam died in soul instantly on the day of his fall into sin. His super-wisdom instantly abandoned him as soon as he rebelled against the Creator. This tree was given specially so that man might show his obedience. Some say that God slipped this tree in. You could say that. Yes, God slipped it in, so that man by obedience would come to love Him. A commandment is given to be fulfilled, not to be broken. Any talk about commandments automatically needing to be broken is wrong. A commandment is given to be fulfilled, because he who fulfills a commandment shows his love. Remember, Christ told us: If ye love Me, 36

On Paradise

keep My commandments (Jn. 14:15). And this is the very thing that was given to Adam. He was told: “Listen to Me. There is one tiny little commandment: fast from the fruit of one single tree in all of Paradise. Just one. Eat everything else, eat all the limitless fruit, but do not eat from the one, for you will die by death.” And this was given so that man might live forever. If I agree that God is Himself the source of good, is Himself essential goodness and blessings, as says the book of the Wisdom of Solomon; that is, that God Himself is goodness by nature, as well as all that is according to His will, and not the state of man; if I agree with this and bow myself beneath the mighty hand of God, I will live forever. If you recall the sacrament of baptism, after the person has already been freed from the bonds of Satan, and after he has challenged the devil to battle and has read the Symbol of Faith, the priest says, “Bow down to God.” The person makes a prostration before the face of God, showing by this that he is coming under the direct authority of God, saying that God alone has the right to define what is good and what is evil, and the he, man, renounces this right which he willfully stole. From the very beginning God has told us that we need to renounce this option, and that our renunciation, this small sacrifice of 37

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self denial that we make for Him, will make us steadfast in good. If the first people had fulfilled this commandment, that is, if they had rejected the serpentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evil design, what would have happened with us? We would have been born, but not the way it is now, not in the animal fashion of all mammals. We would have been born, as Maximus the Confessor says, in a different, angelic way. But it is we who would have been born, not someone else, because we were conceived before the fall into sin, even before the creation of the world, and would have been born immortal. The history of mankind would have gone according to a completely different script. Many say that everything could always be replayed. No, not always. The version offered to Adam could not be returned. But the Lord gave something else. His sacrifice gave us more than what Adam lost, but what he lost was never returned to us. There are cases when aÂ human action is irreversible. However, striving in soul toward Paradise, let us look at that with which we have attuned our hearts. And do we wish to return to Paradise? And if we do, then remember that they who return there are those who have rectified the ancient distortion, who have turned away from willfully learning about good and evil; those who 38

On Paradise

have left off putting themselves in God’s place and deciding themselves what is good and what is bad. Note that it is not said that people with high morals will enter Paradise, but those who fulfill God’s commandment. This is the essential difference. A person of high morals says, “I have my morals, and I abide by them; but what they are does not concern you.” For instance, there are Muslims of high morals—Shahids. These people go to their death for the sake of their morals, and to the death of others besides. Thus, what is needed is not honor toward one’s individual morals, but to fulfill God’s simple commandments. You need to reject the tree of knowledge in favor of obedience to God, and then you will receive the tree of life. Here is the principle that is more difficult to carry out now than it was for Adam. The distortion was rectified by the Cross of the Lord, and this was at a great cost to God. Some say that it was at a great cost to us, but to God it proved to be at the cost of His own life. Do you see what a single action can do? Therefore, we should not deceive ourselves and think that later we will be remade, reformed, and so on. It might not work out. And maybe this is our last option. Who knows? No one knows except God Most-high. Therefore, look to yourselves. Save us, O Lord! 39

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The Day in Remembrance of Adam’s Banishment

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Today on Forgiveness Sunday our Church recalls Adam and Eve’s banishment from Paradise. From the Paradise of sweetness in which we were dwelling, from that beautiful garden where we were together with God. Where we were able to draw infinite knowledge from the infinite mind of God, and from His infinite power we drew infinite might, and from His life we drew also our eternal life. From His joy we drew our eternal joy. But in Adam and Eve we were driven out from there, since we are all descendants of the first man by blood. Our entire nature is the nature of Adam and Eve, which was driven out of Paradise. You and I recall the way in which we were deprived of blessedness as a result of the first people’s sin. But if you pay attention to the order and development of sin, then you will see that nothing has changed since then. When we prepare people for holy baptism, we go through the significance of each episode of the banishment from Paradise. I think that it would not be a bad thing for us to review. The first woman is walking around Paradise and approaches the tree of knowledge. According 40

The Day in Remembrance of Adamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Banishment

to ancient tradition this tree was not an apple tree at all, as many think: it was a fig tree. It is no coincidence that our Lord specifically cursed a fig tree in order to wither the tree of sin. And so, she approaches the tree which was forbidden by God, because God did not want us to know good and evil at that time. God did not want us to attempt on our own to act as the measure of good and evil, to attempt to determine for ourselves what is good for us and what is bad. God wanted us to act starting from His point of view, and not from our own selves, who are limited in knowledge and understanding. And in this tree a serpent is hanging, and inside him is the rebellious first angel Lucifer, who from envy desired to destroy man just as he perished when he departed from God. He desired to lead the first man into his rebellion. And so he addresses the woman, wishing through her, as the weak vessel, to seduce Adam as well. And he says the following: Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Gen. 3:1). In these words one can already see that the devil is trying to sow doubt in the divine mind. But this is madnessâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to claim that it is forbidden to eat anything. How is man to live if he does not eat anything? In other words, the devil is trying to reduce the commandment he heard to absurdity, to stupidity; he is trying to distort it. 41

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What is the devil trying to do here? He is trying to instill in man the thought that fasting is harmful. “If,” he says, “you observe the fast, you will waste away. Not only your cellulite will disappear, but you will become so emaciated that you will be completely unable to walk. You will lose your minds; you will be pale, drooping shadows.” And so on. If we accept this logic then it becomes inconceivable that we still exist, since our ancestors observed the four fasts every year, as well as Wednesday and Friday. This method of reducing something to absurdity is characteristic of the devil’s logic. And moreover, this method is directed primarily at God! He makes us think that God’s commandment is senseless, silly, and unfeasible. Do you see what the devil’s thought is? And this is just what the devil tells us today: that it is impossible to fulfill God’s commandment; we are sinful people, how are we supposed to fulfill all the commandments? This is not for us, this does not concern our life. It is another matter to do a little at a time; you will fulfill all the commandments before you know it. That is the devil’s logic. And Adam’s wife (the future Eve) made the first mistake. She said: “We are forbidden to eat and to touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but we may eat all the rest of the fruit” (cf. Gen. 3:2-3). We can actually see three mistakes here. 42

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The first mistake: the woman was created as man’s helper, and not as an independent entity. She must be in union with man; the two of them must abide in a union of love. She decided to do it all herself, govern everything herself, control the actions of others herself. One man told me about how his wife was indignant that he was not her helper. Such interesting logic—the wife is not the husband’s helper: the husband is the wife’s. This is twisted logic which stems from the first woman, who decided that she would settle the matter herself, without her husband and without God. The second mistake: she starting talking with the slanderer. Scripture says: The evil man who turns aside from me I knew not2 (cf. Ps. 101:4). When an evil thought comes, we should not acknow ledge it but drive it away. We must not engage evil in conversation. When a person slanders God we should drive him away from us. But here her simplicity reveals itself, which is worse than theft. This is when a person tries to do everything himself without God, thinking that it is only a matter of ignorance. In reality, the sin lies not just in ignorance, but also in reluctance to know and do the will of God. This corresponds to the Septuagint transla tion.—Tran. 2

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The third mistake: she added to Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words. God did not say not to touch the tree. The essence of the commandment was not that it was forbidden to touch a certain material object. The essence of the commandment was that man was not allowed to violate the will of God. Out of love for God, man was supposed to fulfill His very simple request. I am sure you will agree that to eat, for example, from ten thousand trees and refrain from eating from one single tree is not that hard. This is a sign of love, a sign expressing a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trust in the Lord God. From this sign of love, this sign of trust in God, this sign of obedience, she decided to create a magical fruit: it is forbidden to touch it because it is poisonous and enchanted; touching it would be fatal. She made the commandment more severe, distorting its essence. In this way she gave rise to all the heresies that appeared afterwards. A person, in his mind, is acting out of zeal for God, but in actuality he distorts Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truth. Just like the fanatics who kill and think that by this they are glorifying God. This is an example of the kind of heresy brought about by the misdeed of the first woman. After this the devil saw that he had captured her attention. And the devil always acts this very way with us, as well: a thought comes to us that seems good, but common sense tells us 44

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that we should not do it. Although where are we going to get common sense if our reason is suffering from anger, lust, hatred, spite, annoyance, and judgmentalness? It is just as absurd as a leper saying that he has a healthy body. In just the same way, the devil tries to draw us in by his supposedly good sense, but actually it is his deceitful, false logic; and he tries in this way to deceive us and drag us to his destruction. After this the devil goes to a direct attack, direct slander against the Lord God. He says: You will not die, For God knows that when you eat of it you will be as gods. Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). It is interesting that almost everything he says is true; further on we will see that almost everything comes to pass, maybe even everything, but not the way the people thought. This is where all the devil’s intelligence lies: he almost tells the truth, but a small portion of falsehood turns the truth inside out. Imagine saying a lengthy phrase and then changing a few of the words; the phrase’s meaning will change dramatically. In this same way the devil distorts everything by his slander. He slanders God directly, alleging that God said this out of envy, that God does not want to make people immortal, that He wants to bring people to destruction. The devil says this now, as well: that God is cruel, that God will not forgive 45

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you, etc. Or, as people say when they mistake the devil’s thoughts for their own: “I’ve sinned so much that I can’t believe that God will ever forgive me.” When someone says the following, it is a verbatim quote from the devil: “You won’t be forgiven; you’re such a dirtbag that forgiveness is not even possible.” “You shouldn’t even have been made. Your life in this world is all for nothing.” The horrible thing is that people mistake these thoughts for their own—the thoughts of our enemy, the hater and destroyer of men. The devil says that we must be gods ourselves without God, that we must attain theosis on our own with the aid of a magical apple. The devil teaches practically all the sins. He teaches evil-doing. His slogans are: “You will be happy without God!” “You will be powerful without God!” “Knowledge is power!” “You will be lord over all!” In the 19th century the devil sang this song: “Deliverance no one will give us, neither god, nor tsar, nor knight errant. Our freedom we will attain ourselves, by the strength of our own hand."3 This quote is a paraphrased version of the devil’s speech in Paradise: You will become gods yourselves without God, without anyone or anyone else’s help. Make your own Translated from the Russian version of “The Internationale,” a socialist anthem.—Tran. 3

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decisions. Even today the devil sings to us that we need to believe in ourselves! We have to rely on ourselves! It is a sin and a misfortune when a person does not believe in himself. This was how he spoke to Eve back then in the garden, and she in her foolishness looked at the tree and saw three things. Firstly, that the tree was good for food; that is, she desired pleasure separate from God, just like drug-addicts, drunkards, fornicators, gluttons, and others like them. Secondly, that it was beautiful to the eye. This is the lust of the eyes of which the apostle John speaks. This is beauty separate from God. How beautiful it is, how grand, how wise and wonderful it is to go against God! Many people say: “Well, how is that? This is such wisdom; how can it not be from God?” Thirdly, that it was desirable. Because it gave knowledge. The pride of life, in the words of John the Theologian. She wanted to rule; she wanted knowledge in order to rule. She wanted to be over her husband, as we learn further on from God’s curse. She wanted man to be ruler over everything and to push God aside, to drive God out of his life. And she took fruit from the tree and ate it in order to attain these three things: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. She gave to her 47

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husband, and he ate as well, because he chose his wife over God. These days people say: “Choose: either me or the Church.” Many choose the other person. And straightway the other person betrays him. This is a practice that has continued since the time of the Garden of Eden. If a person presents such an ultimatum, we need to choose the Church; we need to choose God Almighty. And you—you can go or stay as you like. That is your own business. And as a result, just as the devil had promised, their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked. They saw that God’s grace had abandoned them. They saw that they had become mortal, just as God had promised them. They saw that they were now in opposition to all of earthly creation, which had become hostile toward them, because all of crea tion was submissive to God, but they were nonsubmissive. And as a result nothing turned out right for them. God called them to repentance, but they hid from Him in the bushes. And then Adam, when he heard God walking in Paradise and had hidden from Him in the bushes, did not answer when God called to him: Adam, “where art thou? (Gen. 3:9). He attempted to deceive God the Omniscient and hid from the Omnipresent God. And then, when God asked him directly: Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (Gen. 3:11), Adam did 48

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just what people do today. He said: The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat (Gen. 3:12). This is a model of perfect anti-repentance. The woman began to dump the blame on the demon, the serpent, saying that the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat (Gen. 3:13). Just as people today say: “The devil made me do it. It’s not my fault.” Consequently, God saw that man is incurable. He cursed the serpent, and through it the devil, commanding him to feed off people’s sins while slithering along the ground and eating the dust of the earth, and He promised that at the end his authority would be destroyed. He cursed the woman and commanded that she have severe nausea during pregnancy, that she suffer while giving birth, and that she be submissive to her husband; he was to be lord over his wife, and not she over him. And that she have a bestial desire for her husband, as in the animal world. It is clear why. Whoever wants to be on top is cured by being on the bottom, in other words, at a lower level. The wife wanted to be over her husband, therefore she is made to submit to him. It is a general principle: when a branch is bending the wrong way they bend it back in the opposite direction. And finally, Adam was addressed with the frightening words: “You will eat bread in the sweat of your face; your labor will never 49

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give you joy; the earth will hinder you; it will bring forth thorns and thistles; your body will produce sickness and passions” (cf. Gen. 3:17-19). And what is most frightening is that this will continue until you return to the earth from which you were taken, because dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:19). The whole of you will return to the earth. Man’s body returns to the earth, and the soul goes there, as well. After the Fall, man’s soul goes to the earth into the region of shadow, called hell. This curse that God laid on man was so that man would not be burnt by God’s radiance. People today ask why people go to hell. The unbaptized, for instance.4 This is a sign that God is compassionate even to them, because before God’s face they would burst into flame and burn away like moths, due to God’s glory which they are unable to bear. And so God isolated them in places beneath the earth, so that whoever wanted could correct himself, and whoever did not would remain there forever. And then after this God says: The man is become as one of Us (Gen. 3:22). Remember, as the devil promised him, he knows good and evil; he decides himself what he likes and what he does not like, what is good and what is bad. He is his own lord, That the unbaptized necessarily go to hell is not the official view of the Orthodox Church.—Tran. 4

The Day in Remembrance of Adam’s Banishment

his own master. Therefore, so that he would not reach out and take from the tree of life and thus live forever, becoming an immortal demon on the earth, just as the devil is immortal, and dragging the earth down to hell, the Lord drove Adam and his wife, who was given the name Eve—“life”— because she was the mother of all living things. He clothed them in leather, so that they would not communicate with the spiritual world. He drove them from Paradise and sent them back to the earth from which they were taken. By refusing to fast, people sinned, and sin entered us. And people sin following this very model that was implanted in them, as it were, after the first people’s fall into sin. It is like a broken record that has been spinning for 7.5 thousand years. And only Christ frees us—Christ Who fasted for 40 days in order to defeat the devil the same way that he defeated Adam, so that as Adam sinned by breaking the fast, we might return to God by observing the fast. Not just a physical fast, but first and foremost a spiritual fast, a fast of virtue, in which a person rejects all evil deeds from love for God and lives in virtue. Therefore the Church reminds us of what took place with the first people so that we might return to the desired fatherland, our true native land, which is in God’s Paradise; where there are 51

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to this day four most beautiful rivers that mystically feed our earthly rivers; where people dwell who have been returned there by our Savior Jesus Christ through His death. We can return there, as well; the way back is open to us, and the cherub who guards Paradise will step back when he sees us, if he sees in us the image of Jesus Christ. As St. John the Theologian said, a cherub was placed at the doors of Paradise and stands there to this day, looking intently at those entering Paradise. He does not look, says St. John the Theologian, at how many deeds one has done or whether this or that person was good; he looks at whether a person has become alike in spirit to Christ the Savior, whether he is similar to Him, whether he lived as the new, final Adam—Jesus Christ—or lived as the ancient first Adam, who sinned and was driven from Paradise. And if a person is like the second, final Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, then the doors of Paradise are opened, and our souls enter there; and the day will come when our bodies also will enter—resurrected, revived, transformed, and purified—into the kingdom prepared for us from the world’s formation. May God help us in this by His grace and mercy, the which may we obtain through fasting and prayer. May the mercy of God be with you all. May the Lord remember you! 52

The Fall

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! After the Fall, Adam attempts of deceive God; he himself wants to become a god. When a person begins to sin, it is very difficult for him to stop. Therefore, we should not think that we can sin now and repent later, because we do not know for sure whether we will repent later. We could get carried away like Adam. And do you know where Adam was carried? To the very bottom of hell, where Christ found him after His death on the Cross. God asked Adam: Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (Gen. 3:11). In other words, Adam already consi ders God his enemy. He is ashamed before God; he fears Him. And even now—how do you think people sometimes perceive God? As some kind of distant, fearsome power. Something is there, but it would be better if this Something stayed as far away as possible. This is because people are afraid of God and do not want to repent. This has been happening ever since that time. Today we are like clones from a damaged matrix. The first copy was damaged, and it produces damaged clones: people are born damaged inwardly. And so God says directly: “Repent. I already know 53

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everything.” At the start, Adam was prepared even to sin for his wife, but now he shifts the blame to her. It always happens like that: a person who leaves God invariably turns on the one for whom he did it. Adam’s lovely response was: The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat (Gen. 3:12). The wife You palmed off on me is the guilty one. What do You want with me? I’m completely innocent. Have you noticed that we too look everywhere for others to blame? God sees that in such a state man is unlikely to repent. God then addresses the wife. Perhaps the wife will repent? But the wife answers: The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat (Gen. 3:13). They tricked me. I’m innocent. Let’s dump the blame on another. The devil, the snake is guilty. God sees that man is now incurable: he refused to repent, but if he had repented at that point, history would have gone differently; God would have forgiven him. Evil was just beginning, and the Fall began at that very moment. God. He knew where it would lead; He wanted to limit the evil which was starting to develop. The first thing He did was limit the devil himself, who is the source of evil. He says to the serpent: Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity 54

The Fall

between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Gen. 3:14-15). You wanted to be equal to me, but you will crawl along the ground and feed on every kind of filth, the sins of men. You can abandon any thoughts of grandeur. And you will never achieve perfect union with man because I will tear it apart. And in the end, you will hate even those people who serve you. What is more, Someone will appear Who will only be born of a woman without man’s participation. The Seed of Woman will demolish your head, though you will sting His heel. This is Jesus Christ. He destroyed the head, that is, all the devil’s designs, though the devil stung His heel by putting Him up on the Cross. He led Him to death. And thus was the ancient prophecy fulfilled. It is called the protoevangelium. God then addressed the woman: Because you have done this I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee (Gen. 3:16). In other words, “I will implant in you a bestial, that is, irrational, desire for your husband, such as animals have. You yourself will have nausea and pain during pregnancy because you wanted to be above your husband, to become your husband’s leader, to violate the hierarchy that God created. This 55

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is why you are being given this medicine—a medicine known as the cure for your womanly pride.” And finally He addresses the husband and says: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake ... thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee (Gen. 3:17-18). “The earth will produce weeds for you. I will turn the whole world into a huge hospital for you where I will have to treat you. It is painful, unpleasant, and bitter for me to treat you, but treat you I must. You will eat bread in the sweat of your face all your life; that is, labor will no longer be a source of joy for you. You will never be able to labor and have the labor give you joy, as it was before, when you were My coworker. Now you will be tormented, and what you have that was taken from the earth, that is, your body, will cultivate passions and sickness.” These are the thorns and thistles that grow within us. As Gregory the Theologian said, we became corpse-bearers. Our body, a future corpse, weighs down our soul. As soon as we want to pray we feel sleepy; we want to think about something—suddenly our head hurts; we want to be kind to someone—our stomach starts to grow, and our body hinders us. In this way our body humbles us. It reigns in our noble impulses. 56

The Fall

The Lord comforts us and says that this will not last forever, but will last until we return to the earth from which we were taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:19). You were taken from the dust, and the whole of you will become dust. Why the whole of us? The body goes into the earth and decomposes in the earth, but the soul goes to hell, below the earth. What is hell? Ancient hell, where all people were before the coming of Christ, is a placeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;incidentally, it is described the same way by Christians, pagans, and Jews alike. It has gates, but as a rule they only work in one direction. All may enter, but they let no one out. Hell is a place where it is always dark, where immortal souls abide in an eternal nightmare. They are conscious but have no control over their surroundings, as in a dream. There is a reason why they say that sleep and death are twin brothers. In dreams we can see things, feel things, but we are unable to change the dream. It is just like that in hell: people dwell in a sort of terrible reality that they cannot change because after death there is no repentance; only a fraction of the person is left. Prior to the coming of Christ, all the saints likewise went to hell. This continued until the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s descent into hell, when He led the righteous from there. The Lord pulled them from there with His hand because the people were so 57

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weakened that only the hand of God could give them life. The only difference between the righteous and the sinners in hell was that the righteous had hope that God would burst into this world. During their lives, while they were living, they met with God; and this memory, this experience of communion with God that remained in their souls, filled them with light. The bosom of Abraham was a place in hell that held hope of salvation. But conversely, the sinful souls abode in torments and abide there to this day. In what torments? How will be the fate of a drunkard, for example, who was habitually drunk and who can now drink nothing because he has no mouth? He will be in an eternal hangover. This is hell, which man prepares for himself. May the mercy of God be with you all. May the Lord remember you! On the Ark and the Flood

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! During todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s service we heard about the Great Flood. We heard Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s command to take two of every creature into the ark, except for the unclean animals, of which seven of each kind were to be taken. They were to take seven of each 58

On the Ark and the Flood

kind of unclean creature so that after the flood man could then eat meat and give thanks to God by offering sacrifices. By the Lord’s will that is just what happened. Imagine: the ark is standing high on a mountain, and whole crowds of living creatures are going toward it in pairs. A pair of elephants, a pair of dinosaurs, a pair of snakes slithering, a pair of wolves walking, seven cows and bulls together, seven sheep. They all went without man’s aid; Noah just brought the food for the animals. Thus the Lord called people to repentance for the last time. There could not have been a better testimony than the movement of these enormous animals. Imagine: crowds of living creatures being led into Noah’s ark by invisible guardian angels. In this way God rebuked mankind for the last time before their punishment. God, as a merciful Father, always gives one last chance. But the people treated this great sight as a sensation. If there had been newspapers at that time, they would definitely have covered this world-wide sensation—the fabulous migration of all living creatures! What an amazing natural phenomenon! A miracle of science! Instead of repenting and recognizing the approach of the terrible Day of Judgment, the end of their world, people simply gaped, wondered, marveled, but did not change. People often pose the question as to why God did 59

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not do such-and-such so that the people would repent. But what more could He have done? He visibly showed His might; He visibly showed the approach of the judgment day of the Great Flood, which would wipe out all mankind as punishment for the evil deeds people had grown accustomed to doing under a pretense that is very popular today, as well: can this actually be a sin if everyone does it? Our nature has not changed since then. And they said to Noah: “What, are you the smartest? Smarter than everyone in the world?” It turns out that he was; it turns out that numbers are absolutely unnecessary to God: He needs people to live according to God. Here is something surprising: we read the narrative of the Great Flood in the book of Genesis, and the Great Flood has an entire four chapters dedicated to it (Gen. 6:1-22; 7:1-24; 8:1-22; 9:1-29). God says that He will wipe everyone from the face of the earth, “all things that breathe, beginning with man and ending with the animals” (cf. Gen. 6:7). But what is interesting is the order of annihilation He lays out. In God’s eyes, man had proven far worse than the animals. Neither the birds, nor the lizards, nor any animal turned out as impious as people. When the angel of God led the animals, they went humbly, but the people whom God called, to whom he 60

On the Prodigal Son

showed miracles (prior to this there had been the miraculous ascension of Enoch which foretold of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great wrath), did not rush to salvation. The predictions of Adam and Noahâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the people ignored all this. Because the people had grown accustomed to living their mundane lives. Mundanity always stays the same. The opinion is that if it was like this before, then it will be like this forever. This is incorrect, and people are shocked when this mundanity changes, even if it is for the better. Therefore, after the example of these animals, let us learn to serve God the Almighty Creator and not fall under the punishment that befell the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, which can be admired in a museum of paleontoÂ logy. That our bones might not be displayed later as in interesting specimen of the deposits from the Muscovite period. May such a thing never be. May you and I dwell in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. May the Lord keep you! On the Prodigal Son

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Today we began singing the penitential 137th Psalm: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, 61

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yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof (Ps. 137:1-2). The time of Great Lent is approaching. In this astonishing and frightening psalm we hear the lamentation of the Hebrews who were driven from their earthly fatherland, and the lamentation of a Christian who has lost his heavenly homeland. All of us are strangers and foreigners, exiles on this earth. Our homeland is in heaven with God the Father, toward which we must strive. At the Divine Liturgy we all sing the words: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted (Mt. 5:4). These words signify not only sorrow for one’s sins, but sorrow that man has not yet attained his homeland in the heavens. Gregory of Nyssa said that “truly blessed is he for whom there is no permanent city on earth, who seeks the heavenly fatherland, and strives toward heaven.” Such a person will most certainly be comforted. He will find his homeland, the Promised Land; he will find that same heavenly Jerusalem that is the fatherland of all Christians. As the apostle Paul said, you and I have all died with Christ (cf. Col. 2:20). When we were baptized, we were baptized into the Lord’s death (we were submerged three times in the water). We died, as well, and our life lies with Christ in God. If Christ is our life, then 62

On the Prodigal Son

we also will appear with Him in glory. Christ died for us, and we died with Christ. Therefore, when the resurrected Christ returns, then you and I will also begin to live. At present our life is a shadow, a flight from death, which is persecuting us. It is bondage, in which nothing we have is permanent. Everything earthly is corruptible, destructible. All that we have—apartments, cars, clothes, food—is transitory. Time demo lishes everything. In this corruptible world there is nothing permanent, nothing to which we can cling with our hearts. And if we do cling with our hearts to what is corruptible, then we condemn our hearts and ourselves to corruption, as well. If you place good apples with rotten ones, the rot from bad apples will pass to the good ones, and they will go bad. It is just the same with the heart. If it is attached to something earthly and corruptible, then it will also start to rot! Here we are unable to live a real life, as the psalmist sang: How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy (Ps. 137:4-6). We must remember that we are exiles. The heavenly Jerusalem is our homeland toward which we must strive. Our enemy tries to deceive us 63

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and tells us that we need to hold on to this transitory life and not let it slip away. At his instigation people are willing to do anything in order to live just one more day. Grasping what is transitory is the same as grasping sand: you grab a whole handful and it slips through your fingers. There are enemies who hinder us from getting into the heavenly Jerusalem. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof (Ps. 137:7). This earthly prefiguration—the children of Edom—are the Idumeans, a people who lived to the south of Jordan, who destroyed the remnants of Jerusalem after it was taken by the Babylonian forces. By the children of Edom in Scripture we understand the forces hostile to God, both spirits and people. Their slogan is Nietzsche’s famous aphorism: “That which is falling should also be pushed.” The Church asks that the evildoers’ evil turn back against them, that an evildoer not go unpunished by God. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones (Ps. 137:8-9). The daughter of Babylon, the capital of world-wide evil which spreads pernicious teachings, magic, and iniquity throughout the entire world. The daughter of Babylon is under64

On the Prodigal Son

stood to be the world community, which currently defends the sinner’s right to sin, but does not defend the right of the righteous to righteousness! According to Babylon, we cannot condemn iniquity because that violates freedom of conscience, etc. It is Christ in particular Who will put an end to world-wide Babylon. To “dash the little ones” means that blessed is the one who destroys Babylonian, sinful thoughts before they have fully developed. To “dash them against the stones” means to dash them against the confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Blessed is he who overcomes his sinful thoughts and crushes them by the power of the Cross of the Lord. Blessed is he who mercilessly destroys the evil thoughts within himself. Such a person will be accepted in his homeland. Such a person will find his fatherland. And he will live there eternally, in the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us seek our heavenly fatherland; let us keep it in our thoughts. Let us strive toward it, and then the Omnipotent Lord will help us to crush all the Idumeans who rise up against us. He will help us avoid the snares of Babylon, the city of evil, and reach the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, where we will be met by all the saints. May the Lord help us in this. May the Lord keep you all! 65

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On Tithing

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! We have just finished our evening service at which we heard excerpts from the book of Genesis, which are read during Great Lent so that people recall the creation of the world and the beginning of our history at the time when we are preparing for the feast of our world’s renewal, the feast of the sacred Pascha of the Lord. During this time Proverbs is also read, which shows us how we are to live in this world, what the guidelines for a proper Christian life are. Today the excerpts from Genesis and Proverbs proved to be interrelated. This is no accident, but is due to God’s fathomless providence, which is manifested in the wisdom of the authors of church hymnography. You heard how the first excerpt from Genesis spoke of Jacob addressing his two wives, Rachel and Leah, asking them their thoughts on leaving their father. Jacob was forced to flee from his brother Esau because he had tricked him; he fled to the land of Horan. On the way he fell asleep, and in a dream he saw a stair leading up to heaven, on which angels of God were ascending and descending. At the top of this stair stood 66

On Tithing

God. And when Jacob woke from his sleep, he vowed to God to give Him a tithe, that is, a tenth part, of all the wealth he would receive. And he promised to serve God all the days of his life if God would return him safe and sound. And sure enough, the Lord led him to Horan, where he married and became extraordinarily rich. This came about through God’s intervention to a certain degree. He sent Jacob His angel who told him how to take the healthy sheep for himself and leave the weak ones for Laban, his father-inlaw, who had deceived Jacob. There are many who say, “We can’t give alms to the church or to the poor—we’re poor and needy ourselves. How are we supposed to do that?!” If Jacob had reasoned in this earthly manner he would not have received anything. He would have received only what he earned himself. And that is nothing. What could he possibly earn in his slave-like state?! But he grew rich nonetheless because he made a vow to God; he made a promise to acknowledge Him as the highest authority. The point of the commandment to tithe is that we acknowledge that God will give us everything, and that everything is from Him; and because of this we pay Him a tax, as to a sovereign king, for the right to use His gifts. When you make an offering to the church 67

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or give alms to the poor, which is the same thing, you cultivate virtue in your soul. Because God does not command this out of necessity, but so that you and I might receive benefit for our souls. Our souls need to learn generosity. There are people who are constantly saying, “Give, give, give, give, give!” And not just about money: Give us affection, give us love, give us fellowship, but I won’t give anything. Such a person is unworthy to be called a person in God’s eyes. What kind of person is that?! He is some kind of black hole, a hurricane sucking everything up! This is not in the image of our benevolent God Who gives everything away to us! Whether or not a church is in need, whether or not the poor are in need (and of course, both the churches and the poor are often in need), the main thing is that in repaying God we give Him His due and learn to be generous. Some are of the opinion that it is improper to discuss money, but at the same time money plays a tremendous role in their life. There are even sayings such as: “Friends don’t ask friends about money,” “Happiness is not in money, but in how much money,” and the like. There is a grain of truth in that. The Lord has told us that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Mt. 6:21; Lk. 12:34). If your treasure is in busi68

On Tithing

ness or money, if all your thoughts are of your worldly success, or if you evaluate your happiness by the number of your trips to the Canary Islands or being able to afford new things, then, obviously, you are going to have some problems in the afterlife. You will not make any trips to the Canary Islands from there, and you will not need any special clothing there either, even if you were to buy an entire boutique and put it with you in your casket. The person’s soul turns out to be empty; his life had no meaning. So the Lord commands us to give alms and to show in this way compassion and generosity. It teaches us to remember the Source of all, God, the Sove reign of the universe, for Whose sake we live and in Whom is our wealth. “God” and “wealth” are cognates.5 It is not he who has much that is rich, but he who gives much. Therefore, in that respect God is the richest of all. Naturally, He is also richest of all in the literal sense, since everything belongs to Him by His right as Creator. We often completely forget about that, as well. Often people jealously hold on to what is “theirs,” even though, strictly speaking, what would a person do with no hands, no head, no feet, and no brain? Everything is from God. In Russian, Bog—God—and wealth—share a common root.—Tran. 5

bogatstvo— 69

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At the most important point of the Liturgy the priest says: “Thine Own of Thine Own, we offer unto Thee in behalf of all and for all.” In other words, we offer to Thee Thine Own of Thine Own as a sacrifice in behalf of all people and for everything. And this attitude in particular—the remembrance that everything is from God and for Him—should constantly be with us, so that we might join with His benevolence and become like Him. There is a place in the book of Proverbs that says: “A righteous man gives and is generous, while a miser begins to decay.” He decays on earth, but what is worse, he decays at the moment of his death. At a time when he needs the most help, the miser is forgotten by those around him. Therefore, we need to teach ourselves the proper attitude that a person must have toward giving. It is not important how much we give, but that we be generous inwardly, in imitation of God. Our heart’s disposition must be real, and not just some superficial attempt to buy our way out. God cannot be bought. Our generosity, howe ver, will accompany us into eternity. Therefore, learn Christ-like generosity, which is possible for both the rich and the poor, since what matters is the soul, and all our souls are alike in God’s image. In learning this, we will be able to have a proper regard for the things 70

On Tithing

over which God has given us ownership. Mind you, nobody has the right of ownership over anything on earth. What right do we have if we were created by God and will return to the dust? We do, of course, own what we have by right of its being a gift. That is why the Bible forbids sel ling land on one’s own behalf: because the land belongs to God the Almighty, Who created it and gave it the ability to yield fruit. Our job is to use it as a way to show our love. That is what we must strive for. The angel of God speaking to St. Hermas put it well: “God caused a living grapevine to grow alongside a dead tree. The vine winds about the dead tree and produces a multitude of fruit. On account of this they do not cut the tree down.” The dead tree is a rich man; but he is important in that he supports the poor. God accepts the rich man because he supports the poor, not because he is mean and proud of his wealth. The poor man is virtuous in that he shows his love for the rich man and prays for him. So here we see a display of mutual support, mutual love, and mutual coope ration: where each person serves by using the gift given to him by the One Master. If we remember this, we will be able to learn Christ-like generosity and have a proper regard for our wealth. May God help us in this! 71

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On the Messiah

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Christ the Savior is the Messiah. People today talk as though Christ was not of Jewish descent according to flesh. That is not true: according to the prophets, only a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David could be the Messiah. If anyone from another tribe had wanted to declare himself the Messiah, he would have been an imposter. The genealogy of Jesus Christ was laid out primarily to affirm that He was no pretender but the actual Messiah (Mashiach) promi sed by the ancient prophets to Israel, which was as yet faithful to God, as the One Who would save the people from sin, the curse, and death. Translated from the Hebrew, Mashiach means “anointed one” (Christ, in the Greek). Christ is an anointed one because He is at once a king, a prophet, and a priest. As a king He frees us from the tyrannical hold of the devil, as a priest He offers Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, and as a prophet He declares to us God’s final revelation, which can never be superseded. And in order to affirm His messiahship His genealogy is provided. On that note, it is interesting that in the second half, the genealogy is abbreviated so that there are 14 generations each time. Because in 72

On the Messiah

Hebrew, the numerical significance of the word David is 14. What is numerical significance? There are certain letters which, along with their sounds, denote a number. This has been retained to the present in the Slavonic language: A is 1, B is 2, and so forth. Thus, in Hebrew David means 14. Thus, it is emphasized three times that He is the true descendant of King David, in other words, the true Messiah; the very Seed by Which, as it was promised, all the nations on earth would be saved; the Seed of Abraham and that very Descendant of David Who would ascend to the latterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s throne unto eternity, the seat of King David. And so, it was in this very way that the evangelist Matthew proved His true lineage. He shows us a number of things that we often overlook when reading this extraordinary genealogy. This first is that three kings are left out. The fact is that these three kings were noted for their extreme impiety. The Lord uses them to serve aÂ certain purpose, as it were, to pass on the seed, nothing more. But they proved unworthy to be included in the genealogy of Christ. The Lord crossed them out. The second is that in place of these three kings the Lord adds four absolutely extraordinary women. And out of these four women not one was a Jew. The Lord did not include 73

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Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, of whom Christ was a descendant according to the flesh, or any other righteous women. The first woman is Tamar. Whoever has read the Bible will recall this story. Tamar was a Canaanite, and when Judah did not give her his third son to be her husband, she sinned with Judah himself in order to have a baby by him and be included in the geneaÂ logy. Why did Tamar do this? She wanted to be part of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s people, though she was not being allowed. Thus, the birth itself of the twins Pharez and Zarah was a prefiguration of sorts. As it says in Genesis, when Zarah stuck his hand out first during the birth, they even tied a red thread around his wrist to show that he was the firstborn; but then Pharez, the ancestor of Christ, pushed him aside and was born. Zarah was born after that. Even in this event of giving birth the Church sees an extraordinary prefiguration: first comes faith, and through faith, salvation, which was given to Abraham. Abraham had faith in God, and for this reason he was saved. He had faith in God, regardless of anything else. And then comes the Law, of which Pharez was an image. After that righteousness itself comes: faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, the first woman was a Canaanite, from a nation cursed by God, who clearly could not have entered the covenant with God, but who found a way in. God can even 74

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use sin for good, and Tamar is an example to us of this. The second woman mentioned in the genea logy is Rahab. This is an episode from the book of Joshua. When the Hebrews came to the Holy Land and were camped beyond the Jordan, Joshua son of Nun sent two spies to learn how things stood in Cana and what the disposition was of Jericho’s inhabitants. The spies hid in the home of a harlot whose name was Rahab. She hid the spies in her house, confessed the God of heaven, and said: “I know that your God will give you this land,” and for this reason she did not turn over the spies to the authorities. In other words, she betrayed her people. Consequently, as a reward for this betrayal, the Lord preserved her—the only one in the entire city—and gave her the honor of being included in His genealogy. The Lord called the harlot to repentance, and she abandoned her people for the sake of God’s people. Rahab went ahead, fully trusting God, and God saved her life and bestowed on her the honor of being included in His genealogy. The next woman is Ruth, who joined God’s people not by way of sin, but out of pious fear before God, by way of love. She loved her mother-in-law Naomi so much that for the sake of her beloved motherin-law she left her people and her gods, and like Abraham, went off into the unknown. As the 75

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result of this boldness she became the wife of Boaz and the great-grandmother of David. This person arrives from another country, out of love abandons absolutely everything, and is therefore included in the genealogy. And finally, the fourth example, an example of blatant sin: Bathsheba. We know that David committed one chief sin, which we have to thank for the 50th Psalm, which we all know and love. David fell in love with someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, committed adultery with her, and killed her husband. Here she is mentioned as the fourth woman included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, as she who gave birth to King Solomon the most wise. Why is she mentioned? After all, she was not an Israelite either. It would appear that she was included in the genealogy because of sin, but actually it was because of repentance. David sinned and repented, and the Lord accepted his repentance. He is born from the womb of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, to show that God is not bound by any outward norms. He is not subject to any laws; He cannot be bound. There are many who ask how a person could be good if he did so much evil. How could God forgive him? It is no coincidence that three of the four women in Christâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s genealogy are sinners. This is a marvelous occurrence that shows that the Lord can forgive anyone, if only he turn to Him. The Lord 76

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did not disdain to be born of sinners because He came to save sinners, not the righteous who had no need of repentance. In reading this genealogy we will witness the faithfulness of Abraham, the hope of Isaac, the love of Jacob, and the amazing leap by Naashon, who, according to Hebrew tradition, was the first to jump into the waters of the Red Sea once it had parted. Imagine, would you be the first to walk between two walls of water that were half a kilometer high? Two walls of water, and you have to walk between the two walls of a parted sea. For this reason the Jews to this day will refer to something as being a “Nahshon jump,” meaning when a person relies solely on God’s will, igno ring his own common sense. Nahshon passed through the Red Sea first, and for this he became a prince of Israel, and Christ the Savior was born from among his descendants. We witnessed the courage of King David, as well as his astounding humility, courage, and nobleness when he did not kill his enemy the king, God’s anointed, who fell into his hands twice. He said: “Let the Lord punish him if He wills, but my hand will not reach out to him.” We saw the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of the kings of Israel, and the lamentation of Ezekiel, who by his lamentation to God lengthened his life by fifteen years, thus showing that God is not bound in any way by life 77

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spans. If God wants, He adds time to one’s life; or if He wants, he subtracts it. We also witnessed the terrible story of the destruction of Babylon. In all the genealogy the greatest fruit was the fifth woman—the most pure Ever-Virgin Mary. If four women were from other tribes, then Mary was the only Jew from that generation. The people of Israel were given a great many gifts, and the greatest of these gifts was the most pure Mother of God: the Hebrew nation’s tribute to all humanity. This gift was such that Mary became not just a Jew but the Mother of all believing Christians, of all nations. It is with good reason that we, the Russian people, see the Mother of God not as some stranger, but as our Mother. Why? Because this was the Hebrew people’s goal from the very beginning: to exceed their very selves, to transcend the narrow confines of ethnicity, and to enrich all of humanity not with earthly gifts but with the gift of unearthly love, unearthly humility. And we see these generations passing from Abraham, a steady line of generations; centuries pass, millennia, and gradually the holy seed springs forth, in the words of Saint Ezra. It is true that holiness was growing among the righteous, but this holiness was visible only to the One Who could see it, that is, God. It flowers, as a blossom on a tree, in the face of the most pure Mother of 78

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God, in whom the union of God with man took place, in whom are David’s courage, Moses’ meekness, Ruth’s incredible trust in God, and all the hopes of the ancient righteous ones. They were realized. That for which they prayed, that on which they hoped when they descended into the abyss of death, longing to meet with God, was accomplished. We hear the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, about how He was born from the womb of the Virgin Mary without seed in order to be a coin from a new mint; to transform all people, remake them, make them like Himself; to raise them up to the heights of holiness, and so that all of us might become gods through God incarnate. At the services we sing: “Christ is born, give ye glory. Christ cometh from the heavens, meet ye Him. Christ is on earth, be ye exalted. Praise the Lord, all the earth!” All this took place because the people of ancient times labored on our behalf. With God it is always this way: one person labors, another receives what he has not earned, and everyone is joyful—because that is what love is. People support one another, abiding in this divine love; they adorn one another and lift each other up; they do not fight one another egotistically, but ascend to the heights of the heavens, where God distributes gifts not according to one’s deserts, thankfully, but according to His 79

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mercy; because if were given what we deserve, we would not like it. Is there anyone present here who would like to receive what he deserves? We know where we deserve to go if God were to remember all our evil deeds, but fortunately, we came here to receive according to God’s mercy. And this mercy is given to us both by God and through the labors of the people of ancient times, whom we glorify this day. May God save us through the prayers of our holy forefathers and teach us their courage, their patience, and their trust in God. May the Lord raise us up to the heights of heaven by their prayers and by the mediation of the greatest of all the daughters of men, the most pure and most blessed Mary. May the Lord save you! On the Miraculous Power of Jesus Christ

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! On the fourth Saturday of Great Lent, we will hear about the miracles of Christ the Savior. This is because the Church is emphasizing the miraculous power of Christ, because without His mira culous, supernatural power we are unable to rid ourselves either of sin, or passions, or the sicknesses that assail us all. The Lord shows us His 80

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power in this way so that we might hope in Him, and not just turn Christianity into a set of moral principles. The gospel does not say anything at all about morality. It talks about power, about the power of the Omnipotent God, the power of divine love, the power of divine righteousness, the power of divine mercy, and the power of divine justice. So that we might understand that our task is not simply to become people of high morals; our task is to become children of God: children who are making their way to their Father beyond the borders of this world, who are striving toward Him with all their soul, who are striving to have Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life in themselves, who are striving to become like their Heavenly Father. It is to this end that the Church reminds us of the miracles which Christ performs. For morality on its own is unable to lead us to heaven. Back in ancient times Solomon said: what is there amiss on the earth? That the righteous and the sinner die in the same manner. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool (Eccles.â&#x20AC;&#x2020;2:16). The power of God, however, can raise the dead. It restores the weary and lifts up those who have fallen. The Lord left the borders of Tyre and Sidon and came to the bank of the Sea of Tiberias. And they brought him someone who was deaf and dumb and implored Him to lay His hands on him. And He led Him away from the peo81

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ple, placed His fingers in his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. And looking up at the sky, He sighed and said: “Ephphatha”—“Be opened.” And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain (Mk. 7:35). The Lord does not simply heal: He heals in His own particular way. He heals with special sacred actions. The Lord often healed by touch. Touch possesses great power in our Churches to this day. What takes place at the absolution of sins? The words are accompanied by the touch of the priest’s hands, when he makes the sign of the cross over the person’s head. How does baptism begin? With his hand the priest makes the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead and heart, and he blows into the person’s face. When the sacrament of unction is being performed, at the end the holy Gospel Book is placed on the person’s head, so that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself touches the person. There is a very important principle here: touch signifies that God is not disdainful. He created us Himself with His Own hands, and with His Own hands He restores us. The Lord touches us, and by His touch He pours life into us. He is God Who touched man in the beginning and kindled life in him. He touches and pours forth life now, as well. You see how He places His fingers into the deaf man’s ears, and his ears awaken. He spits on His finger and puts it into the person’s 82

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mouth, so that this sacred spittle of the Lord will pour the word into his mouth. Christ’s name, after all, is God the Word. He is the eternal Word of God the Father. This is why it is said that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1). And so this Word places His word into the person’s mouth, so that the latter might speak in a godly manner. When people say that we do not need rites, that none of that is necessary, remember that that is not Christianity. Christianity was built on God’s touch. God became man and appeared in the flesh, and we can see Him with our eyes, even now; that is why we have icons— in order to see God incarnate with our own eyes, to see all His sufferings, and the miracles and resurrections He performed. In order to hear Him with our ears when we hear the Holy Gospel. We hear His word; we can even hear word-for-word how back then the Lord said “Ephphatha.” We even hear this speech in His Own language—this astounding, most precious pearl that shows us how the Lord’s speech sounded at that time. We smell His fragrance. We smell it spiritually, too, with our heart, but we also smell it with our nostrils when we sense the fragrance of the incense. The Lord touches us through the priest’s hands. When I was ordained, I remember a completely astounding, unearthly sensation; I was 83

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not the only one who felt it; many other priests felt it, as well. When a bishop elevating you to the rank of deacon or priest lays his hands on you, remarkable feelings occur. When a person becomes a deacon, he feels angelic might ente ring him. And at the laying on of hands during an ordination to the presbyterate (priesthood), you have the sensation that a flame of fire is descen ding on your head, which scorches your head and goes down inside you, refining you by its touch. There is touch that refines a person spiritually. Many of us (if baptized as an adult) recall that the priest’s touch during the sacrament of baptism also possesses power. And indeed, the sacred waters of baptism are likewise tremendously powerful. There is a reason why the rite of baptism requires that the person being immersed thrice in water not immerse himself, but be held by the priest’s hand: through it another hand is at work. Above the priest’s hand is concealed the hand of Christ, which, when it touches the person, opens his ears and eyes and gives him life. In this manner we literally come into contact with God. We touch God; we have found God Who has come right beside us; after all, we cannot touch someone who is far away: we can only see and hear them; but when we can touch God it means that He is right beside us. This is why the Lord heals specifically by touch; He demon84

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strates that He is the Creator of matter, and that matter is completely obedient to Him. He opens up our ears and tongue because He wants people to hear His word and speak His sayings. But there are some people who tremble at the name of God. You have probably met people who cannot bear even the mention of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is because their ears are stopped up. As Scripture says: “These people have stopped their ears, have closed their eyes, and have hardened their hearts, so as not to hear with their ears, nor see with their eyes, nor turn their hearts that I might heal them” (cf. Jn. 12:40). The same thing happens today: people’s ears are stopped up and their tongues are bound. There are people who cannot even hold a conversation without using profanity. Speaking of which, it is interesting that this inability is connected with the mortal sins of drunkenness, fornication, hatred, and malice. A person truly becomes inarticulate, just like this unfortunate sick man. This sick man, however, was bound by the devil; he was unwell. These other people are also bound by the devil, but voluntarily, though they are in a similar state of enslavement. The Lord can heal them if they are brought to Him. If a person wants to come to God and takes even the smallest of steps toward the Creator, then the Lord will approach him and touch him 85

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through the priest’s hands at confession; He will place His Own life-creating fingers in his ears, touch him, place His living word on the person’s tongue, and will say: “Ephphatha!”—“Be opened!” And straightway the person opens his ears. But in addition, the Lord also sighs. It has been said that He looked up at heaven because He is obedient to His Heavenly Father and does everything according to will of His Father in heaven. Why does he sigh? Because in sighing He breathes out the life-creating breath of the Holy Spirit. He reanimates the person. When a person is drowning, he is given artificial respiration. And here God likewise reanimates the person drowning in sins, breathing into him His lifecreating breath. He does not shrink from him; as the rescuer He touches the body, forces out all the internal infection, and restores the person. He restores the person’s body (as He did with this man He healed); in the same way He likewise restores the person’s spirit by means of the body, since nothing foreign to one’s corporality ever takes place in man. Even our spiritual virtues—prayer, compassion, etc.—are connected with the body: the tongue, speech, lifting up our hands, the sign of the cross, bows, giving material alms. Our soul acts through the body, and the Lord heals the soul through the body and the body through the soul—because He restores the 86

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entire person; He created the entire person and He restores him. The Lord forbade everyone to speak of His miracles. But no matter how much He forbade it, people just spoke of them all the more. And all were exceedingly amazed at His works: the deaf heard and the dumb spoke. Why does the Lord forbid speaking of His miracles? To teach us not to boast about our good deeds. He says: “You must do things out of love for your Heavenly Father, and then you will receive your reward in heaven. If you boast, however, then there will be no benefit. But if others praise you against your will, do not worry: this will in no wise injure you.” The Lord is our wise teacher in all things; learn from Him, turn to Him, listen to His word so that the stopper in your ears might be broken through—the stopper of commotion and perpetual discontent, the thought that nothing is right and everything is horrible, which prevents our ears from hearing the word of God. And entreat the Lord to say “Ephphatha!” Ears, open up that you might hear the living word of God, that we might at last learn His will, as Blessed Augustine said: “My soul, my heart, how long will you grumble? Be silent, you! Otherwise you will not hear the quiet voice of the Creator.” And let us tell God to touch our tongue with 87

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His life-creating finger, to moisten our withered tongue so that we might learn not to swear, not to quarrel, but to proclaim the word of God. As the apostle Peter said: “If you speak, speak as the word of God."6 And after that, let us go and do good works and forbid everyone to speak of them, as the Lord did; and if the Lord glorifies these works, then it will be according to His holy will. Then we will come alive and will joyfully traverse the righteous path of the Lord, and the Life-creating Spirit will enliven us. May the Lord save you! On Those Being Saved

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! On the Saturday before the Nativity of Christ, we heard amazing words which hold profound meaning, especially for our times. Many people say that the Lord will save everyone. “What, do you mean to say that God will not save us? Can it be true that only Orthodox Christians will be saved, and not all of them at that? Such a thing could never be. That is not in keeping with God’s mercy,” and so on. It is interesting to note that these discussions do not take place out of concern 6

Cf. 1 Pet. 4:11.—Tran.

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for the welfare of the Papuans, because I have not really seen these people going to preach to the Uzbeks, Turkmen, or the inhabitants of Tibet or the islands of Papua New Guinea. No, people usually say these things in order to justify their own reluctance to live according to God’s commandments. This question that is always asked was even posed to Jesus Christ: Lord, are there few that be saved? (Lk. 13:23). The Lord answers the very essence of the question, the subtext hidden in these words both then and today, as well: Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are (Lk. 13:24-25). The Lord said that many on that day will wish to enter, but will not be able to. And they will stand and knock at the door, saying: “Lord, what is this?” We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets (Lk. 13:26). But He will say: “Depart from Me.” I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity (Lk. 13:27). And then from the East, West, North, and South many will gather from those countries where it seemed the Good News had not been spread; but even there people will 89

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be found who have been saved, who have found the Lord and entered His Church unbeknownst to us ordinary people. They will enter by way of baptism, naturally. We, however, will find ourselves driven out, as the Lord said, if we do not struggle to enter now. And how are we to enter? The Lord says that there are two images of the kingdom. The first image: “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is cast on a field and is smaller than all other herbs. But it flourishes, grows up, and becomes greater than all the trees of the field, so that the birds of heaven make their nests in it” (cf. Mk. 4: 31-32). Why a mustard seed? The kingdom of heaven is very small, acute, and it burns. The kingdom of God flourishes in those people who enkindle their hearts or, more accurately, who allow the fiery word of God to develop and grow within themselves. It gradually develops and flourishes—unnoticeably at first to others, but extremely noticeably to the one in whom this is taking place, because it begins to burn one’s heart. A Christian is someone who cannot be at rest. As Blessed Augustine said, the works of God do not allow them—Christians, that is—to rest. They are constantly fretting; they are always dissatisfied with what they have. They want something more. They strive toward greater and greater heights. They strive toward 90

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the summits of holiness. And then the kingdom of God, gradually flourishing in the person, turns from an insignificant word into an enormous tree, invisible for the person himself, but visible to all around him. And the angels of God feed this person and encircle him. The second image: The kingdom of God is joined to labor. As the Lord says, the kingdom of God is like a woman putting leaven into three measures of grain (Gen. 18:6). Three measures of meal is the very same measurement Abraham offered the mystical travelers. Remember, when he hosted the Trinity by the oak of Mamre, he offered them unleavened bread made from three measures of meal. This connection is not coincidental. The Lord tells us that the kingdom of God is similar to the hospitality of Abraham. Then the woman, that is, the Church of God, places into the three measures of grain (into all of humanity, composed of Noah’s three sons) or, in regard to us, places in our mind, our senses, a certain heavenly, unearthly leaven. And it begins to work until everything is fermented; that is, the process of fermentation or rising takes place. The kingdom of God must permeate our entire life. We must steep our whole mind in knowledge of the kingdom of God. We must come to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. That is our express duty. 91

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Our will must also be permeated with the kingdom of God, that like mustard the latter might burn away from it everything foreign to the grace of God. And vice versa, our own will must unite with God’s will, so that we joyfully do God’s works in accordance with His will. The will must ferment and grow strong. This is the reason why the kingdom of God must lead to our will becoming tremendously powerful; it must burst through everything and overcome all the evil deeds that exist in us and in those around us. But, of course, it must overcome them not by earthly force, but by love, prayer, compassion, and, most importantly, by one’s own example. And finally, the kingdom of God must overcome and transfigure our senses, so that our earthly senses, which are often mixed with sin and egoism, might be replaced by divine senses; so that man might have love for God and love for his neighbor, as the gospel commands. And then the kingdom of God will overfill the person, permeate his body, and the person will truly become a bearer of the kingdom of God. And then he will be able to enter by the narrow gates, for he that does not work on himself, does not transfi gure himself, who thinks that in having obtained a formal set of commandments he has already been justified, risks ending up outside locked doors. From behind the doors the Lord will tell 92

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him: Depart from Me (Lk. 13:27). I never knew you. Therefore, let us hurry to enter by the narrow gates, because no one knows when the Lord will call us. We do know how many there are now who are deathly ill or have already died; many people die suddenly and depart suddenly for eternity. What baggage do they take with them? Only God knows. But it would be very nice for us to know what baggage we will take with us. As John Climacus says, “Every night one must examine oneself to see what one will take into the next world.” When you lie down to sleep, think: “Tonight I am going to die.” There is a reason that before sleep we say: “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit.” What will I take with me? What will remain behind me on earth? Did I transfigure my heart or did I not? Am I ready or not? Am I fat or thin? Will I squeeze through the narrow gates, or have I grown fat, heavy, and impudent, wholly attached to the world, covered with the cellulite of the passions and with worldly attachments, my thoughts and even my prayers concerned only with this world? “Fat” people such as these will not enter the kingdom of God. It is the “thin” (not in terms of the body, but of the soul) that will enter the kingdom of God, from whom every evil deed and earthly attachment has been cut off, who have laid aside every earthly care and con93

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cern. If we are able to “thin down” for the kingdom of God, then we will fit through the doors; but if we cannot get through, we will remain outside. And no one will help us then even if we want it, because it will then be too late. Hurry, and the merciful God, through the prayers of the prophet Daniel, will be favorable to you. Save us, O Lord! On Wealth

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! The Lord’s parable about the foolish rich man is exceedingly important for our times. Many people today try to do just what this man did, who became extremely wealthy. His land produced such an enormous harvest that he did not even know what to do with it all. A God-loving person would have said: “Wonderful! Since the harvest was so rich, I will be able to give more alms; I will support more people; I will show my compassion.” But the thought does not even enter this man’s head. He was mystified as to what he should do with his wealth. “I have such a terrible problem—I don’t know what to do with all this wealth that has been dumped on me.” There is a certain thing called preconception. There are certain thoughts which we consciously have in our 94

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minds, and there are certain thoughts which we consciously exclude from our minds. People very often do not think of the fact that they could help people or that they could turn to God for help. When a difficult situation arises it does not even occur to us to ask God about something or that there might be someone to pity. Our heads contain completely different preconceptions. And this is just what the Gospel is speaking of when it tells about the rich man, whose field yielded such a harvest that he did not what to do, where to put all the crops. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods (Lk.â&#x20AC;&#x2020;12:18). I will open my own personal bank; I will fill my bank account and live the good life. And then I will tell my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Lk.â&#x20AC;&#x2020;12:19-20). What a fool. What need does the soul have of food? Our mind does not feed on food: even if we were to go and eat a whole sturgeon that would not feed our soul. Many people, however, try to feed their soul with physical things, as did the foolish rich man. It does not even occur to people that it could perhaps be done differently. Today people com95

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plain that everything in our country is horrible: small pensions, small salaries; if we had a lot of everything it would be great! We could tell our soul, “Everything is ready for you—eat, drink, and be merry.” But what does the Lord God say? Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Lk. 12:20). All this relates to us, as well. People say: “The main thing is that I have a good job, good finances, a wonderful summer home, a Mercedes in the latest model, a nice house— everything life has to offer.” But God asks: “Why?” How many people devote their whole life to this! How many of us waste our time chasing after worthless things! Man does not understand what he is living for; to live for the sake of a few worldly things is absurd. The Lord will tell us that we are mad if we invest ourselves in the earth. It is most certainly going to decay. The sin, of course, is not in wealth itself, but in one’s attitude toward it. The Lord shows us this clearly. What happens to the man? On this very night your soul will be taken from you, and whose will be the things which you have prepared? Here you worked and worked, spending your entire life in search of riches! How frequently people say that they worked for their family their whole life, worked so that their children might have a normal life, but that the 96

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children then abandoned them, or that it was all for nothing. But the Lord still acted mercifully, because He could have said, as He did to the foolish rich man: “You fool, the time has come this very night to pull your soul from you.” Why pull? It is very simple, really. Our soul is attached to that by which it lives. As the Lord said: “Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (cf. Mt. 6:21; Lk. 12:34). For example, if a person’s treasure is his car, he lives for that car. So, imagine a person—rich or poor, it does not matter—who is attached to his possessions. What will happen when he dies? He will cling to his things and say: “But I never replaced that piston! My wheels haven’t been replaced!” Or a person’s time to die comes, and he says that he cannot: “I just took out a mortgage on an apartment; I want to expand.” Or: “I just invested in a business.” All his thoughts are in the world. Why should he go to God? God will wait. “But I will not wait,” says the Lord God. “I did not create you for your possessions: I created you for My Own Self, and what do you do? Why have you turned your back on Me?” As it says in Scripture, Israel grew heavy; he grew fat and turned his back on the One Who crea ted him. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God Which made 97

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him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation (Deut. 32:15). The Lord tells the soul that it is time for it to come out, but the soul says that it does not want to. And then the spirit most often depicted with a scythe is obliged to come. This is the fallen spirit, death. And so, it does come to those people, and with torments it drags their soul out. However, there is an even more terrifying version which says that not only death comes, but along with it come others with tridents, who drag out the soul that is attached to the world and covered with the growths of worldly attachments. And they take it away to hell because the soul is too heavy to fly up to the heavens. It is so fat and so glued to the earth that it does not even want to think about God. Will it really think about God after death if it did not think about Him in life?! After his death, someone in this condition hates God, the God Who, as they say, “ruined their whole life.” This is exactly how some people act toward God: “I had only just started to live, only just started to come into my own, only just started to do as I liked, and You took me away.” If a person starts to hate God, then where will he go? Into the abyss of hell, naturally, where he will be tortured by demons, who feed on material things. Do you remember how in the Gospel of Luke (Lk. 16:19-31) it tells about the rich 98

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He stands in the midst of the disciples, wanting us to look for Him in communion with our fellow Christians, not wanting us to think that we can find Christ if we detach ourselves from other people out of hatred. If you hate another person, your brother Christian, you are not likely to find Christ. He will not come in the midst of people who are fighting and who hate one another. And the Lord gives the first gift: the gift of peace. Today we find to be very popular the idea that we should always be fighting, warring, battling, destroying, etc. We should: we should fight against evil and the devil. But God gives us peace. Christ is the true peacemaker, Who reconciles people with God, with one another, and with the angels. There is only one with whom God does not reconcile us: the devil, whom He crushes and throws under our feet. This is why we must study and practice this gift of the risen Jesus — this peace that is not of the world and not of earth, which is impossible to attain by way of agreements, which is impossible to gain by the aid of worldly efforts and compromises. This is God’s peace, which is attained by a person’s abiding in God and being given this peace by the risen Lord. As the apostle Paul says, “peace which comes down from above from the Father of all.” On this Paschal day let us practice making peace with one another. There is a reason 278

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why all through Bright Week we sang, “Let us forgive all things on the Resurrection, and thus let us cry out ’Christ is risen!’” It is impossible for someone who has not forgiven his neighbor to say “Christ is risen!” He won’t be able to get the words out. His heart will rail against him if he remains in this unpeaceful state. And when He had so said, He shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained (Jn. 20:20-23). If the first gift of peace was given to all Christians, then the Lord intended the second, special gift of peace for the apostles. He said Peace be unto you (Jn. 20:21) twice. He doesn’t say anything without a reason. He gave us the power to be peacemakers like Himself. His service is the service of a peacemaker, the reconciliation between God and man — even between a person and his own self, because often we are not at peace with ourselves. In the morning we want one thing, and in the evening we want another. And at other times we want several things at once which are mutually exclusive. What is more, the things we want are often harmful for 279

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us. The Lord allows us to make peace with God, with ourselves, and with the people around us, but priests are given a double gift of grace. They are given the gift of reconciling people with God, of fulfilling the service of reconciliation, of which the apostle speaks. “I send you as My Father sent Me” (cf. Jn. 20:21), Christ says. The eternal God the Father’s sending of Jesus Christ is carried on in the person of the apostles who successively replaced each other, and after them the bishops. Moreover, this sending is not formal or jurisdictional: it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, Christ quickly gives them strength for this ministry. He does not recite a list of what they are authorized to do, He does not give them instructions as how to do their work; rather, He gives them life. He “blew on their faces and said, ’Receive ye the Holy Spirit’” (cf. Jn. 20:22). Just like in the beginning, when God created man, when He created his body from the dust of the earth and blew into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now the Lord is restoring the ancient lifecreating breath. Because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of life, and can live only in the living. And life begins to take effect and does not recede from people after the Resurrection. Up till that point, life had only receded. How long did people live after Adam? Adam was able to live infinitely. 280

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After the Fall, people lived for up to 1000 years; then they began living 500 years, then 400, then 200, then 120, and then 70. Life kept receding more and more. Now, however, the beginning of life appears. From the very bottom of the world, from death, Christ brings forth a beginning, and He brings people to life, breathes into them once more the breath of life that was lost: this power of eternal life that was implanted in man at his creation and then lost. It is resumed. And the imparting of this power is the most important work of the Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders: the bishops and priests. Their service is the reconciliation, vitalization, and enlivenment of man. Why do priests say, drawing on Scripture, that one cannot be saved without baptism, that one cannot be saved by repentance without Communion? Many people think that God mechanically and unjustly introduced two castes of people. But actually the situation is quite simple. People who participate in the sacraments, of which the priests are ministers, are brought to life; can a dead man be saved? Can a skeleton be saved unto eternity? No, it will decompose, decay. Only what participates in life can be saved. The Lord initiates salvation, making people participants of life through the sacraments: baptism, chrismation, confession, Communion. Participants of the divine breath. And as a result of this, people 281

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receive the opportunity to be saved. But so that they would not do themselves harm, so that people would have the opportunity to be saved and to be cleansed from the evil inside them, the Lord gave them authority that was two-fold: to remit sins and to retain sins. If a person repents, then his sin is washed away by the Spirit of God through the priest. Just like at the very beginning, when our sins are washed away by the Spirit of God in the font in baptism. But if a priest retains a person’s sin and refuses to absolve him, the sin stays with that person. This is formidable authority which was given during the time of the apostles and which is preserved to this day. By this authority people are cut off from the Church. It is not just a statement of fact, as many mistakenly believe: it is a demonstration of the authority which the Lord gave His holy apostles on the eve of the Passover. The authority to separate the unfit from the Body of Christ and the authority to cleanse those who want to be rid of sin. However, one of the twelve, Thomas, nicknamed “the twin,” was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe (Jn. 20:25). After 282

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eight days the disciples were in the upper room once again, and Thomas was with them. Again Jesus came through the closed doors and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be unto you!” The Lord repeats His lesson so that we remember that the peace of Christ is the beginning of everything. The Lord knows that we are very disposed to arguing, quarrelling, and indignation. Moreover, experience has shown that when two people are arguing, each thinks himself so righteous that he should just be canonized then and there, and at the same time he is ready to flatten the other. And the Lord tells us, “I give you the commandment of peace. Not “Peace be unto you alone” but “Peace be unto you all.”14 I command you to abide in My peace which I have given you.” Peace with God presupposes peace with one another. Reconciliation with God in confession presupposes being reconciled with our neighbor. And the Lord, after giving this commandment, then addresses Thomas: Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing (Jn. 20:27). And answering, Thomas In the Russian, there are two separate words for “you” singular and “you” plural. In the Gospel the plural form is used.—Trans. 14

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said to Him, My Lord and my God! (Lk. 20:28). He calls Him Lord and God, the Lord of the universe, God, the Sovereign of the world, the Creator of the world, because only the Lord could Himself recreate Himself, and recreate everything within Himself. As the Church sings: “Thomas placed his hands in Christ’s side, burning with the fire of divinity, and thence drew forth knowledge of His divinity.” He inserted his hand and felt a dual activity: He perceived Christ as man and as God, and he cried, “My Lord and My God.” And Jesus told him: Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (Jn. 20:29). We have not seen Christ, but the Lord promises us blessedness as well, if we believe. If we do not believe, no blessedness is promised us. And if we believe without seeing, we can attain an even greater blessedness: to see. Simeon the Theologian’s explanation of this verse is interesting: “Even those who have not seen are blessed because they believed, but they will be even more blessed if they see.” They will see Christ through a pure heart because we know that even now the path to theoria, vision of the divine, is not closed, even in this life. If a person purifies his heart, if he is transfigured, if he is sanctified, he will be able to see God — first with the eyes of faith, and then with spiritual vision that will be revealed 284

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in his heart. Jesus performed many other signs before the disciples. After all, the Gospel was written so that we would believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and so that, believing, we might have life: His name. In the midst of all the miracles, one thing is chief: we must believe that Jesus is Christ. Jesus is the Messiah promised by the prophets. He is not the messenger of some other god, different from the God of the Old Testament; He is specifically the messenger of God Who created the universe. He is the King Who rules over us, the Priest Who cleanses us of our sins, and the Prophet Who accomplishes the New Testament between us and God. He is the sole mediator between God and people. Without Him no one has access to the Father. The confession of faith is in this: that Jesus is Christ, that same Messiah awaited by the ancient prophets and Who appeared to us. But He is not just Christ: He is the Son of God as well; He is the eternal birth from the Fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s essence; He is Light of Light, true God of true God. Having believed, we can receive life in His name. Faith is the key. Without faith that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, it is impossible to get to heaven. Because a person who does not believe that Jesus is the Savior and that He is a mediator will not be able to avail himself of this mediation. If he does not believe that He is the Son of God, 285

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he will not be able to be adopted. This is essential but insufficient. We need to believe and then receive life in His name. Receive the gift: life. Receive it through the sacraments and through good works in which the sacraments are manifested. But all this needs to be done in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Christians have a prayer they love most of all: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.â&#x20AC;? Why do we say it? In order to receive life in His name. In order to receive life from Him in the name of Christ. When we call on His name, God the Father brings life into our hearts; that same Paschal life that Christ put in His apostles through His breath; that life through which we are reborn and a new victory over death is begun. Life receives positive potential; life becomes more powerful than death; it overcomes death. Death operates through corruption and disease, through friction and sin, through transgressions and malice. Life overcomes all malice if we turn to the name of Jesus Christ, if we preserve the true belief that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, Who rose from the dead for our salvation. If we commune with the apostolic successors, then we can receive this life, and we can perceive and feel that life which the Father had and which appeared to us. Because the Orthodox 286

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Church was not founded on formal words: it was founded on experience. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Try, and along with Thomas you will feel the flaming side of Christ; you will feel His power, His immortal life. Thomas touched the body of the Lord and received knowledge of God, and we touch that very same body of the risen Christ and receive knowledge of that same God when we commune of the Body and Blood of Christ. There is a certain thing that is connected with Thomas. What do we do right after Communion? We kiss Christ’s side. In kissing the base of the chalice, we are kissing the side of the Lord Jesus Christ — the very side which Thomas felt, and then he recognized God. Taste and you will see. Learn to listen to Him, learn to see Him, learn to find Him in the chalice and in Scripture, as the Lord Himself revealed to us on the eve of the Passover. May the Lord save you. Christ is risen!

Priest Daniel Sysoev

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