In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
The Russian heaven is rejoicing today! This day is the Russian national “name day”. What is the calendar that can contain all of our saints by name? What heart can truly understand their great feats?
Our saints are the most expensive adornments, the most immense wealth, and the most mysterious treasure of the Russian land. They are a fragrant offering to Christ, woven from the meekness, humility and love of the Russian heart. Our land has always abounded in natural resources, our rivers—in clean water, and our gardens—in sweet and beautiful fruits. But the saints are the most wonderful fruits, the purest water, and the conscience of our Russian soul.
Every saint exudes his or her own special fragrance. The venerable fathers and mothers, the righteous, the holy unmercenaries, the martyrs, the holy hierarchs, the blessed “fools-for-Christ”, the equal-to-the-Apostles, the right-believing rulers... But they are all united by one thing—their love of God, their love of Truth, and their ardent hunger for Heavenly righteousness. Love is their major and most important feat.
The Russian literary critic and philosopher Ivan Kireyevsky justly noted that “all genuine values came to Russia with the first strike of the Church bell!” The sound of the Christian bells has accompanied the centuries-old Russian holiness from the Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb to the host of the New Martyrs of the twentieth century, from the crystal-clear waters of the River Dnieper to the terrible sea of blood at the Butovo firing range!
St. Justin of Celije said enthusiastically: “The Russian soul is the most dramatic arena, where the angels and demons fight mercilessly. What is the Paradise of the Russian soul? It is represented by the God-bearers and Christ-bearers of the Russian land, the Russian saints from the holy Prince Vladimir to Patriarch Tikhon the Confessor. The Paradise of the Russian soul is immense, wonderful, and boundless, for the sanctity of the glorious saints of the Russian land is immense, wonderful, and boundless. Every saint is nothing but Paradise regained! This Paradise is found in Sts. Sergius of Radonezh and Mitrophan of Voronezh, Philip of Moscow and Vladimir of Kiev, Seraphim of Sarov and John of Kronstadt. In every martyr, confessor, and righteous man of the Russian land. Wondrous is God in the Russian saints!”
The saints are beacons, guides and educators of the human soul. They are friends of God. The Lord Himself said of them: Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you (Jn. 15:15).
The Russian saints are our living link connecting the earthly with the Heavenly. The Russian land exists through their intercessions. Through their prayers new generations of Christians are born. With their help the Church bells, whose first strokes Russia heard more than 1,000 years ago, have never ceased to ring in our land.
In the twentieth century, Russia went through agonizing and fiery trials. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God (Ps. 13:1). The builders of a “bright future” strove to desecrate the shining bright “antimension” of Russia. Russia’s New Martyrs …were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (Heb. 11:37). But as St. John Chrysostom taught: “The sacrifice of the martyrs carries a strong appeal. It is the crown of the Church, its nobility and beauty. The voice of the martyrs convinces and comforts us, but their death is not death, but everlasting life.” The voice and prayers of the saints still assure and comfort us even in our troubled and tough times. The writer Fyodor Dostoevsky said: “Russia only lives to preserve Christianity. When faith in Christ disappears, the Russian people will be no more.”
A hierarch of our Church recalled how in the 1970s, some foreign journalists asked him at an international conference: “What will become of the Russian Orthodox Church when the old women (‘babushki’) it consists of die out?” And he replied: “Our babuski are immortal!” And when we ask questions: What created Russian civilization? What served as the uniting factor, the basis, the foundation of Russian statehood? What gave rise to Russian culture? What helped us become a great power? Then, of course, there is only one answer: Faith, Orthodoxy, the Church, and our saints!
Rus’ is still holy, as before! It is not because only righteous people, saints, and God-pleasers live in it. No! Unfortunately, Russia is wallowing in sins. But Rus’ is holy because the Russian Church in its bosom preserves the Gospel ideal: Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Pet. 1:16). Because Orthodoxy is in the “genes” of our soul! And in his heart of hearts every inveterate alcoholic or down-and-out drug addict knows and understands that the path to the church and repentance is still open to him. Any prostitute can hear, Go, and sin no more (Jn. 8:11). And any repentant thief, bribe taker, swindler or robber, such as Opta the bandit, who according to tradition founded our Optina monastery, can feel that God has not turned away from him. And every more or less reasonable person guesses that neither a mahogany coffin nor luxurious funeral repast will help him attain the Heavenly Kingdom, but only faith and good deeds that he has been able to perform in his earthly life.
Holy Rus’ is an opportunity for each one of us, from the President to the poorest beggar, to bring about God’s ultimate plan for people: our theosis. Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Vereya, said that “the ideal of Orthodoxy is not progress, but transformation.” The most important thing is not gas pipelines and new weapons—although these are also necessary for the country—the most important thing is the transformation of the human soul, the transformation of the heart of each one of us.
A person is a lost drachma coin which has been found. The Lord finds us, finds the “drachmas” of our souls, and rejoices when someone embarks on the path of salvation. And today our churches are packed not only with old ladies in white headscarves, but also with people of every social stratum and age. “Every person’s title is holy!” said the writer Nikolai Gogol.
But the purpose of spiritual life is not to forget about the world and your pressing concerns. Spiritual life is a way to solve our problems in the spirit of humility, trust in Divine Providence and Love. A Christian should not hide from life.
The saints have lit the “candles” of their hearts forever so that the universe, plunged into the darkness of the abandonment of God, could warm itself—if only a little—from their light! And we, too, must light the “icon lamps” of our hearts so that the darkness can grow thinner and we can exclaim together with St. Silouan the Athonite: “Lord, let the peoples of the whole earth know how much Thou lovest us and what a wonderful life Thou grantest to those who believe in Thee.”
Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves; worth more than many sparrows; poor in spirit, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the Russian saints have already walked their earthly paths. Now they shine upon us from eternity with their prayers—the whole host of Russian saints, from Olga Equal-to-the-Apostles to the Royal Martyrs, from Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves to the Optina Elders. St. Barsanuphius of Optina said: “If we cry out, ‘All ye saints, pray to God for us!’, then all of Heaven will immediately answer, ‘Help them, O Lord!’” With their prayers the saints guard and protect all our days! Amen.
