Photo: wikimedia.org Brethren, I want to remind you of what is useful and salvific for the soul, inasmuch as, my children, I must guide and teach you, the flock entrusted to me, as the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, the bishop of Ephesus: “My child Timothy! Teach, pray, rebuke in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God (Jas. 1:19-20).
First of all, my children, I offer you a parable from the truthful lips of the Savior, which He spoke in the Gospel: A sower went out to sow his seed. Some fell by the wayside, some fell upon a rock, some fell among thorns, and some fell on good ground (Lk. 8:5-8). The seed is the true word of God, and the ground is the human heart. Thus, my children, let the ground of your heart not be like thorny soil, unable to bear spiritual fruit due to laziness and careless; or like rocky ground, which doesn’t fear God; or like the ground by the wayside—that is, let not your heart cling to temporal blessings and become the property of the devil, trampled under his feet. May the Lord deliver us from this. But may the ground of your heart be good for receiving the word of God, the Gospel, bearing spiritual fruit—some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold (cf. Mt. 13:8).
And another parable the Lord offers in His Gospel: There was a certain owner of a house. He planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, built a tower, dug a winepress in it, and entrusted it to vinedressers to give the fruits in due season. The man is Christ our God; He lived with men for our salvation, and was like us in all ways save sin, as our illustrious teacher the Apostle Paul writes (Heb. 4:15). Whoever does not confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God—God and man Who came in the flesh—is not of God, but of the antichrist (cf. 1 Jn. 4:3). And “he planted a vineyard”—this is mankind. “He set a hedge around it”—with the divine law. “He built a tower”—the divine Church. And “he dug a winepress,” that is, He shed His precious Blood for our salvation, for the salvation of believers and for receiving the Kingdom of Heaven. “And he entrusted it to vinedressers,” that is, to the Holy Apostles and Holy Fathers, patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, and the entire priestly order, so that they, leading men properly and teaching them God’s law, might be able say at the time of the Second Coming of Christ our God: Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me (Is. 8:18).
Therefore, I, a sinner, who was vouchsafed the episcopal dignity, which I received not through my own merit, but through God’s bounty and His great mercy abundantly poured out upon us, was deemed worthy to be a guide and teacher for you, my children, to guide and teach the flock of rational sheep entrusted to me. Therefore, I remind you, my children, of the word of the Savior that He said to His Disciples and Apostles: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another… By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another (Jn. 13:34–35). And you, my children, must also have peace and love among yourselves. The Apostle Paul writes about this; he says: For all the law is fulfilled in one word… Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Gal. 5:14). Also, my children, have the fear of God in your hearts, for by it a man can acquire every virtue. The fear of the LORD, says the most wise one, is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
St. Gregory the Theologian writes the same: Where there is the fear of the Lord, there is the purification of the flesh and the fulfillment of God’s commandments; where there is the fulfillment of God’s commandments, there is the exaltation of the soul to Jerusalem on high. The commandments of God are fulfilled by such deeds: through sincere repentance of your sins, through almsgiving and abstaining from evil deeds; besides those which God forbids, from the following: fornication, drunkenness, robbery, violence and sorcery, witchcraft, and all kinds of magic, and from the passion for wealth, from every unjust acquisition that harms the soul. And keep in mind death, resurrection, and judgment, and retribution to everyone according to his merits, as the Savior said: those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (Jn. 5:29). And you, princes and nobles, execute justice justly For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (Jas. 2:13). Don’t accept bribes against the innocent and don’t judge by appearances, for judgment belongs to God (Deut. 1:17); judge men righteously, and don’t offend widows, orphans, or strangers, lest thy cry out to God against you.
And you, simple citizens, fear God, honor princes, respect and obey the clergy without any contradictions, because they care day and night for your souls, and will have to give account to God for their flock (c.f. Heb. 13:17). Will anyone want to negligently lose his salvation and eternal life, not listening to the words of the Savior, Who said in His Gospel: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28)? Christ is calling us to His Heavenly Kingdom and commands us to replace the burden of sinful cares with sincere repentance. Go to the priest, your spiritual father, with repentance and tears; reveal your evil deeds and don’t commit them a second time, for true repentance is only when you come to despise your former sins. And when the priest sees such an intention from you, then he can purify and bring you closer to God and make you partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ, because hierarchs and priests are intercessors between God and men. Since they’re also weak, they offer sacrifices for themselves and for human sins. Therefore, my children, try to be merciful and indulging, as the great Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, teaches us: For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy (Jas. 2:13).
And now, my children, what power of yours can fulfill the law of God, not in word, but in deed, as the Savior said: Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say (Lk. 6:46)? I never knew you: depart from Me (Mt. 7:23). But you, my children, take into your souls and write on your hearts the speeches of the Gospel, the preaching of the Apostles, and the institutions of the Holy Fathers. Make haste to Church services, my children, outpacing each other, just as St. John the Theologian outran St. Peter when they both hurried to the tomb of Christ. Princes, merchants, and all right-believing Christians! Lay aside all your affairs, make haste to prayer in church without laziness; don’t say, “We’ll pray at home,” for such prayer means nothing without church prayer.
As a house can’t be warmed by smoke without fire, so it is with home prayer without church prayer. Churches are called the earthly Heaven, for there the Lamb, the Son, the Word of God is slain for the cleansing of the sins of the whole world, for the faithful and those who fear the words of God. There the Gospel of the Heavenly Kingdom is preached, along with the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the Catholic Epistles, the fourteen epistles of our illustrious teacher the Apostle Paul; the Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils are glorified, and the throne of the God of glory is invisibly overshadowed by cherubim; by priestly hands, the Divine Body and Blood are received and given to the faithful for the cleansing and salvation of soul and body. And such a fearsome, and terrible, and most glorious miracle of God Church governance is, and you want to replace it with your home prayer and think you’ll gain some kind of benefit?
Thus, my children, reviewing what has been said, try to fill your hearts with fear, delve into it with your mind, and join your home prayer to that of the Church. When you go to church, my children, have peace with all and love for all, as the Savior said: When thou bring thy gift to the altar … go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother (Mt. 5:23–24). As you enter the church, be reverent in body and soul, for it’s no simple building you’re entering; for if you do this, my children, then the prayer of the Church for you will be received by God. Enter the church with fear and reverence and the fear of God, and having received forgiveness of sins, depart with joy.
When you stand in church, think about your sins, leaving all your affairs outside the church, as the saints write. By the revelation of the Holy Spirit, Sts. Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Gregory the Dialogist set forth the divine services: “Let us stand with peace, let us love one another with heartfelt love, not with our lips and tongue. Let us now lay aside all earthly cares. Now the powers of Heaven with us invisibly do serve.” Take care, my children, not to anger God with your conversation in church. And from this time forward, let this lack of fear, such as talking and a lack of reverence in church, be far from you; but let the ground of your heart be good to receive the word of our teaching, because, my children, having received a talent from God, I must not hide it in the ground, but distribute it to you, kind merchants. Conduct this spiritual trade with profit, so that I too with the great Apostle Paul might dare to say on the day of Judgment about those whom I have taught: “You are my praise, you are my joy, you are my crown before God” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:19). That God might vouchsafe me, a sinner, worthy to say at the time of His Second Coming, together with all my children: Lord! Behold, I and the children whom [Thou hast] given me (Is. 8:18) And now, for God’s sake, try in every way to please God with good deeds, to save your souls, and to appease God’s wrath, and to bring yourself closer to God.
That there might be, my children, the mark of Christ in our souls, as St. Gregory the Theologian writes: “A marked sheep is not easily stolen.” The mark of the sheep of God’s rational flock is that they are partakers of Christ’s Body and Blood. My children, sheep of the rational flock, let not any fasting period pass without this mark, but partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. I write this to you, my children, for the sake of your salvation; by your prudence, multiply the spiritual fruit in your hearts. For the most wise one said: For in this way thou shalt live long, and years of thy life shall be added to thee (Prov. 9:11). Therefore, my children, if you receive and preserve in your hearts what I have written to you and fulfill it not only in word but in deed, then you will be participants in the Heavenly Kingdom—of which may God make us all worthy at His Second Coming—to be co-participants in the Jerusalem on high with all who have pleased Him from the beginning of time; that we might glorify in Trinity the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
