Come O ye people, to the gentle, kind harbor and protection of the Virgin. Let us hasten to prayer and be diligent in repentance; and the inexhaustible mercy of the Most Pure Mother of God will come to our aid and she will deliver her upright and God-fearing servants from all afflictions.
St. Dimitry of Rostov speaks in his homily on this feast of godly and God-fearing Christians: “Be terrified, O ungodly man who does not fear God.” You’ll hear in this homily how the Mother of God only helps the godly and God-fearing, and delivers them from great afflictions and evil, while she does not deign to help the depraved who eject fear of God from their hearts. And think about it—what is so surprising about that?! Would a mother really aid people who have declared themselves the enemies of her Son? No, she would sooner be angry with them who crucify her Son again by their sins and mock Him with unlawful words. For even now every man who is a Christian in name only but passes his unclean life in sinful defilements, as if wallowing in the mire and never thinking about repentance, crucifies the Son of God in himself a second time, and mocks Him in his bodily members, which were purchased by the Blood of Christ, when he takes his body that Christ created and makes it the body of a fornicator. Can such a person be dear to the Most Pure Mother of God? In fact, what mother could love her son’s murderer? What do you, O sinful man of hardened heart, what do you hope to receive from the Mother of God, whom you who grieve day and night by your sinful (unlawful) deeds, who dishonor your body and only wear the name of Christian, but by your deeds are worse than a pagan!..
The Mother of God has mercy for sinners, too. But which ones? Those who though sometimes fall and sin out of human weakness but then immediately rise from sin, repent, and run to God with tears and fervent prayer. The Mother of God helps sinners, but which sinners? Those who try to correct their lives, and, turning away from evil, begin to do good works. The Mother of God delivers not only the righteous from great troubles and evil, but also sinners—but which sinners? Those who return to the Heavenly Father like the prodigal son, who sigh, beat their chests like the publican, weep at Christ’s feet like the harlot, wash His feet with tears, and bring their confession to Him as the thief did on the cross. The Most Pure Mother of God looks down from on high upon such sinners and hastens to their aid, and delivers them from great evils and catastrophes. But the unrepentant—she does not protect. Amen.
October 22, 1931
In the Church of St. John the Baptist on the Yauza River, Moscow
