Homily on Sts. Sophia and her Daughters, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes

St. Sophia and her daughters: Sts. Faith, Hope and Love (source)

  
Homily on Sts. Sophia and her Daughters, by Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes
After the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, our Church celebrates, my beloved, the memory of Saints Sophia and her three daughters: Faith, Hope and Love.

St. Sophia was born, according to the Synaxarion, in a great city of Italy. She lived during the era of early persecutions, which, as is known, lasted for at least three centuries.

During that era, for one to be a Christian, it was costly. It cost one positions, honors, money, and even this life. Millions were sacrificed then for the love of Christ. With this heroic spirit, St. Sophia lived as well, and thus raised her daughters.

It is not possible to not rouse the evil of persecutors. They seized her, therefore, together with her daughters, and led them before the governor. He gave them the opportunity of three days in order to make a response, and possibly change their minds. But, after three days, the mother and her daughters remained unshakable in their dedication towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

The mother had fear that her daughters might deny Christ, because they were very young. The first, Faith, was twelve years old. Hope was ten. and Love was nine. Despite this, their weak flesh was strengthened by the grace of God, and they endured martyrdom with unprecedented boldness.

They locked them in prison. They beat them with whips. They pierced them with fiery arrows. They threw them in cauldrons of boiling water. However, like the Three Youths in the Furnace, thus, these three girls hymned God, as those around heard the hymn harmoniously: "Praise ye the Lord, and exalt Him beyond measure unto all the ages."

In the end, the three were beheaded by the sword of the tyrant. Their martyrdom was followed by that of their holy mother.

St. Sophia and her three daughters teach us, my beloved, that, if we wish to be faithful Christians, that Christianity will cost us. And the more faithful we are, the more it will cost us.

Many of us have become successful in this world. We find a myriad of ways to justify our seemingly proper and scandalous station. And later with think that we are Christians. Woe to us, if we do not set as a foundation the heroic mindset which defined the holy martyrs. These three little girls should censure the world. And their mother, St. Sophia, censures those mothers who are upset and tremble, thinking that through their fasting, prayer and reading, that the bodily strength of their little girls will be lessened.

The Martyrs are the greatest censure of our lukewarm, miserable and thrice-wretched Christianity.

However, St. Sophia and her three daughters teach us not only through their martyrdoms, but also through their names.

The name "Sophia", what does this teach us? "Wisdom", we hear in Church when the Priest holds the Gospel and raises it, showing it to the whole multitude of the faithful. The Gospel, in other words, is full of wisdom. There is no wiser book. Wisdom is Christ Himself, the Logos of God. Do you remember the wondrous apostolic reading which we read three days ago, on the feast of the Cross? He said: "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Corinthians 1) Christ is wisdom, truth and life.

St. Sophia, therefore, through her name, brings to mind that we must seek from God the illumination of divine wisdom. The names of her three daughters bring to mind the three great theological virtues.

Faith! Awesome power, light, a star, foundation and root. Oh, if there were within our hearts this virtue! We could even bring down the stars from the heavens to the earth, and we could melt the mountains, and even the greatest hindrances would be solved. Do we have faith? If we had faith, 100% faith, the world would be different. But today, people don't even believe 1%. Take almost any Christian and ask him, and you would see that he is full of doubts, totally full of "ifs." If one has an "if", then you don't have faith. Faith is to believe 100% in reality that which our holy Church teaches us.

Hope also brings to mind that, in this world, we have a need for life-giving hope, which would warm us like the sun. The Christian who believes that God is a loving and nurturing Father, an almighty Father and all-wise, he would hope that all those things that God promised, all kinds of great and uplifted and indescribable good things, He will give to him.

And finally, Love, with her name reminds us of the fulfillment and the crown of the virtues. In this world of hatred, egotism, greed, and other evils, love today has grown cold. It is truly a terrible thing, as the sacred Chrysostom says, for us to see the sun be quenched one day. But it is even more terrible for love to be quenched. It is better for the sun to be quenched than for love to be quenched, because it is the sun for our souls. And Christ Himself prophesied, that there will come a cursed day, in which the sun of love will be quenched, and cold and frost will reign upon the earth. (Matthew 24:12)

We are speaking about love, but we don't possess love. Love is a heavenly thing, which is ineffably joined with humility, with obedience, with discipline, the great virtues. It is not something indiscriminate, like ecumenists reach, like worldly people teach. Love differs from love. There is carnal love, love of money, love of small and meaningless things. And there is furthermore love for one's father and mother, which, in the final analysis, also contains something physical. The love which Christ brings to the world, however, has the wings of an eagle, and flies to the third Heaven, and makes man a Cherubim and Seraphim.

Love, therefore, not only for relatives and friends, not just towards Christians, but love for the whole world. Love, even for those who crucify you! For we have Christ as our prototype, Who is love crucified. This love we must have as well.

My beloved, if one were to ask now which of these three virtues are the greatest, the greatest is the third, love. Its beauty is indescribable. The Apostle Paul paints all of this in his beautiful sayings on love, which we have properly heard in vain to this point. "If," he says, "I spoke in the tongues of men and Angels," even if I have done miracles, even if I distribute my earthly goods, even if I go to martyrdom and shed my blood, "and I have not love, then I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." "I am nothing." (I Corinthians 13:1-2)

These, my beloved, I have to tell you. Believe, in this age of faithlessness. Hope, in this age of hopelessness. Love, in this age of hatred. And first and foremost, keep love, which, as the Apostle Paul says, remains eternally. (ibid 13:7)

For what is Paradise? Is it rivers, crystalline springs? Is it the songs of the Angels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, is it the Saints, the Martyrs, is it that whole and beautiful world, and indescribable good things? It is these things. But first and foremost, it is love, the love of God towards man. If I took out love from Paradise, immediately Paradise would become Hell.

That Paradise we ourselves should seek, if we sense the dawn of love, if we believe unshakably in the Lord, and if we have steadfast hope in the promises of God unto the ages.

Then, in the heights of Heaven, together with St. Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Love, we will hymn the Triune God, saying: "Praise ye the Lord, and exalt Him beyond measure unto all the ages."
(+) Bishop Avgoustinos

Recorded from a homily that occurred in the Chapel of St. Sophia of the Orphanage of the "Agape" Brotherhood of Florina on 9/17/1970, (source)

  

Sts. Sophia, Faith, Hope and Love (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"Where are the seals on the grave? Where are Pilate's guard of soldiers, closely guarding?"

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

The Holy Myrrhbearers seeing the Angel at the empty Tomb of Christ (source)

 
The Myrrhbearing Women went in early morning to bring spices to the tomb of the Lord, and when they saw the stone was rolled away, their hope was shaken, and they said to one another: "Where are the seals on the grave? Where are Pilate's guard of soldiers, closely guarding?" But a shining Angel became the messenger of hidden things to the women, and he said to them: "Why do you seek the Living among the dead, Who gave life to the race of men? Christ our God has risen from the dead, as the Almighty One, granting to all of you incorruption and life, illumination, and the great mercy.
-Idiomelon of the Stichera from the feast of the Holy Myrrhbearers, by Anatolios

(source)

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly, the Lord is risen!

The Final Prayer of St. George before his Martyrdom

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

St. George the Great Martyr and Trophy-bearer, in prayer to Christ (source)

  

The Martyr of Christ, George, when he had reached the place of his execution, entreated the guards to give him a short time to himself. This is the gift that the Saint asked of the enemies of his Faith. They fulfilled his request. Then, the Great Martyr gathered himself together for prayer, and lifted up his eyes to Heaven, and prayed from the depth of his heart:

St. George the Great Martyr and Trophybearer (source)

   

"O Lord my God, to Whom I belong from birth, and to Whom I have placed my hopes, You Who gave me boldness and prepared me for this struggle, You Who are my sweet hope, the unerring promise, the unalterable eros of sacred souls, You Who look down with care upon the intentions of our hearts and fulfill our requests, and to Whom we address our requests in prayer, I ask of You: help me to complete this struggle well, which I have taken on in confession of Your name, and receive my soul, and having preserved my from the evil spirits, do number me with those who have pleased You throughout the ages. Forgive, O Master, the people who out of ignorance have worked this grave things against me, and make them worthy to truly come to know You, for You are blessed unto the ages of ages."
(source)
  

Sts. George and Demetrios the Great Martyrs (source)

  

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly, the Lord has risen!

Photios Kontoglou on the Resurrection of Christ

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Fresco of the Resurrection of Christ by Kontoglou, from the Church of Panagia Kapnikarea, Athens (source)

Photios Kontoglou: "Let us purify our senses..."
Orthodox Christians, today, the God-inspired tongue of the melodist, St. John of Damascus, says: "Let us purify our senses and we will see the unapproachable light of the Resurrection, and we will behold Christ shining forth, and we will hear Him say "Rejoice", as we sing the hymn of victory". (Canon of Pascha) Therefore, he cries to us to purify our senses, so that we might behold Christ Who is risen from the grave. We should purify our senses, because they are unclean, soiled, because we use them for fleshly and material ends.

And how are the senses cleansed? If our heart and mind are cleansed with spiritual nourishment, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit, then our senses will also be cleansed, and will changed from fleshly to spiritual. The melodist says this because he was taught this by our Lord and Savior Himself, when He said during the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And if we cleanse our senses, he says that we will see Christ "shining forth", with lightning, not dull, but most pure and shining with the uncreated Light of the Resurrection, "the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." And not only will be see Him "clearly", but we will hear Him also say (for this is why all of our senses must be pure), and His voice will not come from afar, that we might be unsure if we actually heard Him, but we will hear "clearly", with power.

We do not only soil our senses when we use them for fleshly deeds and activities, in other words, to use them for pleasures of the body, but when we use them for some deeds which even the world calls "spiritual", while they are in reality fleshly, and in some ways are even more evil than those that appear fleshly.***

These "spiritual" deeds are the evil thoughts which our nous has, seeking divine things, but are impious ones, and with these our pride is spread and our brazenness before God, because we give food to our vanity, so we appear to know more than others, while the wise Solomon said: "The beginning of wisdom (in other words, wisdom according to God) is the fear of the Lord". With these rummaging and with these philosophies, the Christian truly pollutes his senses, blunts them, and instead of making them spiritual, makes them organs of coarseness, because with them we have been studying coarse, physical things, and not spiritual things. Because, as I had said before, all of these activities appear spiritual, but in reality they are fleshly, according to the Apostle Paul, who says that we have made "the nous to be flesh", as he writes to the Colossians: "Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind." (Colossians 2:18) And in the Epistle to the Ephesians he writes: "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." (Ephesians 4:18) Why, therefore, does he say "you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (Ephesians 4:17)? Is he not speaking of those vain rummages which the philosophers do, even if done by those who appear more spiritual? Because that which they are speaking of is of the flesh (for "from the flesh come the things of the flesh"), in other words, we make spiritual things fleshly. Whoever seeks and studies with this fleshly spirit, first will loose the virginal simplicity of the mind, with which he was first blessed (this is the first blessedness), which our sweetest Christ has bestowed on them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". Later, he who uses his mind to excavate divine things troubles God, Who is hidden beneath undiscerning minds and covered by a dark cloud, and this is revealed by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, as he said: ""I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me." (Isaiah 65:1) St. Cyril of Alexandra says: "Faith is not something that is obtained, for it is a way of hope that beholds where there is no hope, and faith that searches for that which is lacking and cannot be found, faith is not according to the same reason as hope." And St. Basil the Great says: "The simple faith is more mighty than rational words of proof."

And many Christians pollute themselves even today, and even more so follow this form of rummage and searching  "distanced from the life of God", as St. Paul said of the Gentiles, and we stir up the faith, which these unfortunate people do not even recognize, and they "water it down" with various sciences and philosophies, with "commonly-held beliefs", while their vain thought becomes something "vain and false", abolished by arrogance and deafness to the holy Tradition of Orthodoxy, until Christianity becomes a systematic way of life, without revelation of Immortality, in other words, without Christ. And they wish to teach the simple and innocent sheep of Christ, Who blessed them with the Beatitudes, especially with the first and the eighth.

Therefore, how can people like this celebrate Christ Risen from the dead? How strange and paradoxical! Do philosophers and scientists believe? But whoever believed in a philosophy? I ask to learn. With Christ, philosophy is finished and buried for whoever believed in Him. Let us listen to St. Paul cry out: "The ancient things have passed away, for behold all things have been made new." What are the ancient things? "The vanity of the nous", the wise and mellifluous weavers of words, in order to falsely appear humble, while their pride is reavealed by their messages, like the ethical philosophers before Christ, and the current "ethical" Christians today. "Behold, all things have been made new." A voice bearing the hope of the blessed Paul, which again speaks to our heart, saying the "Rejoice" of his and our Risen Lord! "Yes, all things have been made new!" We have become new, because the Resurrection of Christ is something "new and strange", and this "newness" has made all things new, because all former things have been deposed. The old things have been deposed by Him Who "deposed death", because wherever is "The Author of Life" is lacking, there death reigns. He deposed the curse of the flesh and brought the blessing of the Spirit. He deposed knowledge and brought the Faith ("Righteousness is found from the faith").

The old things were Knowledge, searching, and man seeking blindly and not finding anything. The new is the Faith, which opens the spiritual eyes of man and beholds the Sun of Righteousness "Christ shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection." He is sufficient for all, our mind does not need anymore to seek like the philosophers of the nations, for "The Way" has been found, in other words, as He Himself said cleanly and in few words: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27)

"Any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him", anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal, can come to know the Father. Where are you going, therefore, O Christian, to come to know God and Christ, you who are blind, weak, impure, with your own power, while our Lord Himself said that only the Father can illumine the mind to come to know Christ, and Christ to come to know the Father? And you don't dare lower yourself to pray and to entreat Him to enlighten you, but you become filled with impious seeking, like the ancients beforehand who had not yet heard of Christ, speaking words with authority?  Elsewhere He says: "I am the door, I am the way, I am the teacher, I am the light, I am the physician, the intercessor" (I Timothy 2:2), the shepherd, the Rabbi. He is the "First-born of new creation", Who made "all things new", and also made "new men", "granting life to those in the graves."

Yes, with the Resurrection of Christ, all things have been made new. Because of this, the melodist says with joy and exaltation: "Come let us drink a new drink, not one marvelously brought forth from a barren rock (of philosophy), but the spring of incorruption which springs forth from the grave of Christ, in Whom we are fortified," and "Come, let us partake of the new vine of divine rejoicing on the auspicious day of the Resurrection, let us commune with the Kingdom of Christ, hymning Him as God unto the ages." (Canon of Pascha)

O Christians, my brethren, you who occupy yourselves [solely] with the sciences and with philosophies, hearken to our Lord Who speaks through the mouth of the prophet: "They have left me, Who am the spring of life, and have dug dry pits that have no water." And He says with His own mouth in the Gospel "Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back (in other wards, does not deny worldly knowledge which consumed men before I came into the world) is not fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62) And He said another time: "you do not put new wine into old wine skins".

Let us therefore purify our minds from the filth of all forms of [vain] knowledge, because otherwise, we will not be able to behold Christ "shining forth with the unapproachable light of the Resurrection", and neither will we hear Him clearly say to us "Rejoice". Eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him cannot be given with knowledge that is "empty vanity", but only with the blessed Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is glorified unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.
Photis Kontoglou
(Kivotos Menaion, March 1st, 1952)
(source)
   
***Note: Kontoglou is referring to what many others have described as well, how we can even use external spiritual things for our pride and “spiritual gluttony”. For example, see this article by Abbot Tryphon: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2019/11/authentic-orthodoxy/.
  

Icon of Jesus Christ "The Savior of Souls", by Photios Kontoglou (source)

   

Photios Kontoglou: Faith and the Resurrection
The faith of the Christian is tested with the Resurrection of Christ, like gold in the furnace. From the whole Gospel, the Resurrection of Christ is the most unbelievable fact, totally unexpected by our logic, and a true witness to its truth. But because it is something totally unbelievable, our faith must be complete in order to believe it. We men continually say that we have faith, but we only hold what is believed from our mind. Therefore, there is no need for faith, because reason is sufficient. Faith requires unbelievable things.

Many men are faithless. The very Disciples of Christ did not put faith in the words off their Teacher, when He said that He would arise, despite all of the honor and dedication that they had towards Him, and their trust in His words. And when the Myrrhbears went at sunrise to the Tomb of Christ, and saw two Angels who spoke to them, saying that He had risen, they hastened to tell this joyous news to the Disciples, but they did not believe their words, having the notion that they were fantasies: "And their words appeared to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them."

Do you see all of the faithlessness that Christ Himself struggled against? Even with His own Disciples. Do you see with how much forbearance He endured it all? And despite this, today most of us are separated from Christ by a frozen wall, the wall of faithlessness. He opens His embrace and calls us, and we deny Him. He shows us His pierced hands and feet, and we say that we don't believe...

Yes, those who have this blessed simplicity of conscience, were blessed by the Lord, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God." And to Thomas, who needed to touch Him to believe, He said: "Because you have seen me, Thomas, do you believe? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe."

Let us entreat the Lord to grant us this rich poverty, and this pure heart, that we might be resurrected, and stand together with Him.

This "ignorance" is greater than knowledge: "This is the ignorance that is higher than knowledge." Blessed and thrice-blessed are those who have this. Christ is risen!

(source)

  

The Myrrhbearers at the Tomb of Christ, by Kontoglou (source)

  

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, He has granted life!

Truly the Lord is risen!

Photios Kontoglou: "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord"

Christ raising Lazarus, by Photios Kontoglou (source)

  
Photios Kontoglou: "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord"
He Whose throne is heaven, and Whose footstool is the earth, the Son of God and His Logos, Who is eternal with Him, today humbles Himself, and comes to Bethany on a little donkey.

And the children of the Hebrews received Him, crying out: "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He Who comes, the King of Israel."

The warlords of the world, when they would finish a war and threw down their enemies, they would return glorified, and sitting on golden chariots to enter their city. Before them would go the trumpets and flags and brave generals and a multitude of soldiers, covered with iron armor and bearing weapons around a chariot that was filled with many pieces of armor and swords and spears that remained from the conquered nation.

Similar things like these were the great nails that they used in the Crucifixion of our Savior Jesus Christ!

All of these warriors were iron-clad like wild beasts, their heads locked within fearsome helmets, their spears and hairy hands were bloodied from war, their strong legs walked proudly and stretched, like a lion that tore apart a deer with its claws and stretches with roars and frightens the world.

Later would come the golden chariot of the warlord, where he would sit on a throne, adorned with precious stones, proud, haughty, fearsome, who could not be looked upon in the eye without averting one's gaze, carrying his terrible scepter, whose every movement of his command was an order, without opening the mouth of the one holding it.

Horses on that day, were harnessed to that chariot, with gold-embroidered straps with carousels and they also walked pompously and proudly like the humans. A beautiful girl, like a fairy, was decorated, holding a golden crown above the head of the champion, and other girls and boys tossed incense and other spices in great censers shaped like candelabras.

Behind them came the men and women who were taken as slaves, who were sick and wounded, and they were being dragged by the soldiers who struck them.

As much glory as the people had in front, so much disdain and misfortune had those who followed behind. They were bound with ropes and chains, many were pierced, tattered, wounded, jaundiced and half-dead, from their martyrdoms and from their vigils. Many were half-naked and their backs were darkened from the whips. Among them were women, ashamed virgins, stolen mothers with their innocent children in their hands, elderly who were holding on to their grandchildren by the hand, all traumatized like lamps going to the marketplace. Around them, the world grew insane and cried out, glorifying the victor, with many mouths foaming. A cry rose like smoke above the whole city. This scene, they called a "triumph."

One such triumph is performed today by Christ, the Price of Peace and of Love. However, He has changed all the rest and turned it upside down from what men were used to, and thus, His triumph is the triumph of poverty and humility.

The Roman ruler was seated upon a throne and golden chariot, but Christ is seated on a little donkey, possibly among the most humble and disdained among the animals.

And He Himself was humble, meek, silent, poorly-dressed, as the Prophecy which says: "Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold your King is coming, meek and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zachariah 9:9) His hand had never held a scepter, but blessed the world. He Himself is returning from war, but a war much more difficult to win, a war against evil and falsehood and hypocrisy and love of money.

And He was not going to rest from that war, but was going to begin another, even harder, to be crowned with a crown of thorns, and to be beaten and to mocked, and in the end, to be nailed upon a Cross like an evil-doer.

He was not surrounded by wild servants, but by innocent fishermen, who were disdained like Him. And He neither carried behind Him slaves that He tyrannized, but men whom He freed from the slavery of the Devil, and the dead whom He had raised through His voice.

They did not blare trumpets and drums to glorify Him, but innocent children, which symbolized the simplicity which Christians have, cried out: "Blessed is He Who comes", and instead of holding flags waved the green branches of trees. Verdant branches and clothes strewn on the road for the donkey to walk over.

And this blessed donkey, with a bowed head, humble, ignorant, bore Christ Who was sitting on its back, Whom the fiery six-winged Seraphim stand about with fear. He was not carried by a golden chariot, nor a prized stallion, nor even a seat held by others, but by a little donkey. What eye does not shed a tear and is not astonished by this mystery!

Christ overturned what sinful man saw regarding what is right and true. Who, however, is in the position to sense the freedom which He brings us, and would follow the donkey, and not the fine horses that glow proudly, which enter Rome with many idols, instead of entering together into the kingdom of Peace, the Jerusalem on high?

Many "serious" people, one could say, did not understand this, saying that the children where childish, and the men were manly. The same was said by the high priests, men of authority: But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant;  and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there." (Matthew 21:15-17)

The chief priests and the scribes had read the Psalm of David which said how the Christ would be met by the babes and they did not believe Him Whom they hymned. And if we have read today's Gospel and the Psalm and what Christ said to the Hebrews, would we not be judged more strictly than if we had not believed Him? Our vanity and our pride prevent us from going along His poor path, and we are ashamed to follow a leader Who is riding upon a donkey. We don't want the humble, the poor. Can one become a Christian who does not love that which Christ loved?

Yesterday, Saturday, He raised a dead man, Lazaros. Who was this Lazaros? Was he a notable, famous person? Lazaros was a poor villager, but as the Gospel says, he was a friend of Christ, Who would have all men as His friends.

The Gospel notes that Christ had a friend in the world, and that he was poor and unlearned. But who among us loves this rich poverty of Christ? Where Christ is missing, there is the true poverty, because where Christ is missing, there is also missing true life and death rules. This you would understand well if you look around you and ponder. Where are those almighty Roman leaders who made their triumphant entry, as we described above?  What happened to them, and the myriads that worshiped them and knelt before them like the reeds before the north wind? Who brings to mind those who wrote the history of that time?

Bodies, souls, thrones, diamonds, horses, pride, horrors, voices, all fell into a pit and were lost and extinguished as if they had never been drunk. And what is left of all this in people's hearts? Nothing and even less than nothing.

But man is unfaithful even to what he sees and what he grasps with his hands, and he pulls the path that they have taken, and he happily drags Nero's chariot, because "his neck is iron." His ears are pricked by Him Who says: "I am God, the first and the last, I am. I nourish my sheep and I will give them rest." He Who was sitting upon the donkey, it is He Who remains alive within simple souls unto the ages, and is for them a source of nourishment, a source of immortality, joy and delight, according to the words that say: "The heart of those who seek the Lord shall rejoice."

Yes, whoever senses the joy of Christ, is like that dead man [Lazaros] who was raised. There are many kinds of pain in the world. Those who suffer in body and soul, their pain cleanses them and takes them to God, and these are the beloved ones of Christ and walk in His army with His consoling light. The others suffer futily. That is why the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting; for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.  For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).

For those who hope in God, Christ transforms their futile sweat into sweat of salvation "a refreshing sweat", but we mourn and are pained in every way like the idolaters, slaughtered by the knives of fate. They did not allow their sweat of agony to become transformed into sweat of prayer and hope.

Whoever does not believe in Christ and in the Gospel is dead, as no true life exists within him. Because life does not mean to breath and to walk and to eat and drink, but to sense the grace of immortality. Then, one can chant together with that exceptional hymn that is the Apolytikion:

"By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion, You did confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with the palms of victory,  we cry out to You, O Vanquisher of death; Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!

(source)

  

Christ entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. John Maximovitch: Nothing is Fearful for the Person Whose Hope is in God

Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior of the world (source)

  
Note: This beautiful talk from St. John the Wonderworker highlights the beauty of a life without fear as long as one has hope in our Lord. May we obey our medical, civic and spiritual leaders, and pray with trust and hope in our Lord, as we weather this storm.
  
"Where can I go from Thy Spirit, and where can I escape from Thy presence? If I go up into heaven, Thou art there; if I go down into hades, Thou art present there. If I take up my wings toward the dawn, and make mine abode in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand guide me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 138: 7-10) 

These divinely inspired words of the Psalmist David should be particularly in our thoughts during these days, when the entire world is literally quaking, and from every direction comes news of all kinds of distress, shocks and calamities.

Before you can concentrate on what is occurring in one country, you are distracted by even more threatening events which have unexpectedly erupted someplace else; and before you can get a grasp on them, yet other news distracts your attention to still some other location, forcing you to lose track of the previous ones, even though they have by no means reached their conclusion. 

 

In vain do “the representatives of the nations consult in order to find a remedy for the common affliction. They encourage one another and others, saying, 'peace, peace,' when there is no peace." (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11)

 

Calamities in the lands where they are unfolding do not come to an end, when suddenly new ones begin in places which had been considered safe and calm. 

 

Those who flee from troubles in one place find themselves amid troubles elsewhere that are even worse. "As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into his house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.” (Amos 5:19) Or, as another prophet says, "He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit; and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble." (Isaiah 24: 18)

 

This is what we see happening in our days.

 

A person sets out for his peaceful occupation and suddenly falls the victim of military action which erupted in a place where no one had expected it. 

 

The person who escapes danger from military action, finds himself amid the horrors of natural catastrophes, of an earthquake or typhoon. 

 

Many meet their death where some had escaped it, while other people are prepared to risk their lives rather than waste away in places considered to be secure, because they anticipate other catastrophes which could soon come upon those areas.

 

It would seem that there is no place on the globe in recent times that remains a peaceful and calm haven from troubles in the world. 

 

Everything has become complicated: politically, economically, socially. "Danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren," as the Apostle Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 11: 26). And to these dangers in our days we must add also, "danger in the air and danger from the sky," which are especially frightful. 

 

But when all the dangers listed by the Apostle Paul were endured by this glorious Chief of the Apostles, he had a great consolation. He knew that he was suffering for Christ and that Christ would reward him for these sufferings. "For I know Whom I have believed, and I am sure that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me" (2 Timothy 1: 12).  He knew that the Lord would grant him the strength necessary to endure even greater tribulations, and for this reason he boldly says, "I can do all things in Jesus Christ Who strengthens me" (Philippians 4: 13).

 

These current catastrophes are so terrible for us, because they have come upon us because we are not firm in the Faith, and because we are not enduring them for the sake of Christ. For that reason, we have no hope of receiving crowns for them. 

 

And what is even worse, and leaves us powerless in our efforts to counteract our misfortunes, is that we do not strengthen ourselves with the power of Christ.  We put our hope, not in God, but in human powers and means.  We forget the words of the Sacred Scriptures: "Put not your hope in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. Blessed is he whose hope is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God" Psalm 145: 3, 5). And again: "Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain" (Psalm 126: 1).

   

We keep trying to find a firm foundation apart from God. And so, we suffer what was foretold by the prophet: "This sin will become for you like the sudden collapse of the wall of a strong city under siege," and which is then immediately vanquished (Isaiah 30: 13). Woe to those who are leaning against those walls! Just as a collapsing wall crushes those who are leaning on it, in the same way, with the destruction of false hopes, all those who placed their trust in them will perish. Their hope will be like a "staff of reed." "When they grasped you with the hand, you broke, and pierced their shoulders; and when they leaned upon you, you broke, and injured their loins" (Ezekiel 29: 7).

 

It is entirely different with those who seek the help of God.  "God is our refuge and strength, our helper in the troubles that grievously befall us. So we will not fear though the earth should rock and mountains be hurled into the heart of the sea" (Psalm 45: 2-3).

 

Nothing is fearful for the person whose hope is in God. He does not fear men who work evil.  "The Lord is my light and my Savior: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the guard of my life; from whom shall I shrink?" (Psalm 26: 1). The horrors of war are not fearful for him. "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise against me, my hope is in Him" (Psalm 26: 3). He is calm when he lives at home. "He who dwells in the help of the Most High, will live in the protection of the God of Heaven" (Psalm 90: 1). He is ready to sail across the sea. "Thy ways are in the sea, and Thy paths in many waters" (Psalm 76: 20).  Boldly, literally on wings, he flies through the sky to distant lands, saying, "Even there Thy hand will guide me and Thy right hand will hold me" (Psalm 138: 10). He knows that if it pleases God to protect his life, "A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand: but it will not come near you" (Psalm 90: 7).  

 

Even death is not fearful for him, because, for the person whose life is Christ, death is gain (Philippians 1: 21). “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, 'For Thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 35-39). "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7: 1).  

 

This is what the Lord says: "Loose the bonds of wickedness; forgive unjust debts; let the oppressed go free; tear up every unjust agreement. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house.  When you see the naked, cover him, and do not mistreat your own people. Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am” (Isaiah 58: 6-9).  

 

Lord, teach me to do Thy will and hear me on the day that I call upon Thee! 

May Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have placed our hope in Thee.

Humble John, Bishop of Shanghai

August 30, 1937

St. Alexander Nevsky

@ 2020 "Russkiy Pastyr": English translation of the article "To the Orthodox Flock of Shanghai" 

(source)

  

St. John Maximovitch (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!