Today, brothers, we have a bright spiritual celebration on the occasion of the consecration of a new house of God. How gratifying it is for a man’s soul when, after much toil and care, he can finally move from his former cramped, uncomfortable home to a new, spacious one with all the comforts of life! And indeed, a church is also the house of God, where the master is the God Who invisibly dwells there, and the priests of the church are stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1); and the very salvation of the house is often likened to building of a spiritual house (1 Pt. 2:5). Just as everything necessary for life is gathered in a good household, so everything necessary for the life of the soul can be found in the house of God.
The soul needs food and the church of God provides it abundantly. The word of God is heard here unceasingly, satisfying the hunger and thirst of the soul. The very prayers and hymns of the Church are like various pleasant foods, from which the soul can choose everything that it’s most drawn to. Even when no reading or hymns are heard in church, how much spiritual food can be found therein! Wherever the eye turns, it finds spiritual edification: If we look at the holy icons and remember without words the entire life of the Lord and the saints of God; if we look at the smoke of incense ascending to Heaven and want to offer prayer to Heaven as a fragrant sacrifice to the Lord; if we see the multitude of lit candles and lamps, we remember how necessary it is for the light of Christ to glow in the soul too, to burn with the oil of Divine love; if we turn our eyes upward, we see the dome, often studded with stars, and our thought soars to Heaven where God, the angels, and saints dwell. Everything edifies and nourishes the soul.
Clothing is needed for the body, and again, in church it is given for the soul. As soon as a child appears in God’s world, he’s carried to the church of God to put on Christ Himself, to be clothed with the robe of Christ’s virtues. And he no longer feels naked and uncovered as Adam once felt naked after sinning. In the snow-white robe of Baptism, man isn’t ashamed to appear before the very face of the Lord and His saints. He can fearlessly appear at the very Dread Judgment of the Lord and the doors of the bridal chamber of Christ will be opened to him; and no one will ask: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? (Mt. 22:12). He won’t stand silent awaiting the terrible verdict: Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 22:13). Even if the garment given in Holy Baptism becomes stained and defiled, if it’s as difficult for a man to preserve himself from stains and sin as it is to keep clothing unstained from dust, rain, and mud, even then the holy Church, like a caring Mother, gives a man the means to wash and cleanse the garment of his soul with tears in the Sacrament of holy Repentance, so that it again becomes “whiter than snow.”1
Man can’t live without roof and shelter, without which he would suffer from cold, bad weather, wind, etc. And the holy Church leads him into the spiritual dwelling of the church of God, where the soul warms itself and returns to life, having been chilled as if completely frozen from the cold, from the “winter of passions.” We are surrounded by the cold selfishness of men, but in the church of God by the spiritual warmth of love for Christ and His saints: As a friend, as a brother, they receive there a soul that has suffered from the cold of hatred and malice. There are so many misfortunes in life, and the soul worries, rushing like a storm in all directions, while in the church of God it finds protection and peace, as in a quiet, cozy house or a peaceful marina. And how many more benefits for the soul a man finds in the church of God! If the soul is weary of sorrows and labors, it finds rest here; if it’s sick with passions, the “hospital of repentance” is open to it here.
The Heavenly master of God’s house couldn’t fail to care, to store up everything necessary for the soul there. Not in vain did Christ suffer and establish this house (Acts 20:28) at the price of His Divine blood so that it would have everything necessary: He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32).
But if God is so generous and merciful, then are we worthy of His mercies when we come to His house and expect “great and rich mercies” here? After all, the Church of God also gathers unworthy people, just as both good and bad fish fall into a net; and the Lord endures both the bad and the good for a time, just as He allows the tares to grow together with the wheat until the harvest. In a great house, that is, in the Church of God, says the holy Apostle Paul, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour (2 Tim. 2:20). Not every vessel in the church of God is a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work (2 Tim. 2:21). After all, Israel once came to the Temple of the Lord, but it was displeasing to the Lord: When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations… the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting… And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes (Is. 1:12–16).
And when the Lord went to the Jerusalem Temple, He took a whip and drove out the merchants because“zeal for the house of God” consumed Him when He saw that the house of prayer had been turned into a house of commerce, and then into a den of robbers. How we must take care not to end up unworthy in the house of the Lord, subject to expulsion from it! After all, we so often come to the house of the Lord just like Old Testament Israel, to “trample on the courts of the Lord” with a soul full of unclean passions. And the Lord turns away from vain oblations, seeing that an unclean sacrifice is being offered to Him. So often when we come to church our soul is filled with the noise and vanity of everyday thoughts and worries, as if in a bazaar, and how we ought to fear that the Lord might invisibly extend His wrath upon us for allowing our souls to be filled even in church not with prayer, but with commerce and worldly vanity! Of course, He remains silent for a long time and tolerates our shortcomings, but the time will come when even the long-suffering may become angry.
However, even if we’re unworthy to enter the church of God, let us hasten there, because otherwise the soul will completely perish as the body perishes without food, clothing, and shelter. Let us only purify our soul when going to church to appear before God as we wash our hands and face before meeting with people. And even if we’re burdened with sins, there’s a way to enter the Lord’s church through the wondrous door of humility. Let us recall how the publican entered through this door and came out more justified than the Pharisee. Let us recall how St. Mary of Egypt, immersed in the abyss of evil, couldn’t enter the church to venerate the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, but when she called upon the Most Pure Mother of God with humility, the unknown force no longer repelled her and she freely entered the church.
Especially, having the church of the Lord, let us not neglect it, but let us hasten there more often and not remain on the noisy streets and marketplaces when we hear the calling of the church bell. May our soul, neglecting the house of God on earth, not thereby bar itself from free entry into the bridal chamber of the Kingdom of Heaven. For how will those who haven’t grown accustomed to and loved the former grow accustomed to and love the latter? May our souls strive for the courts of the Lord, as the soul of the Psalmist who longed for the house of God in the wilderness; as a deer longs for springs of water, so his soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living; when [it] shall come and appear before the face of God (Ps. 41:2–3). May our soul’s desire for the church of the Lord be as ardent as that of the Psalmist who exclaimed with delight: How beloved are Thy dwellings, O Lord of hosts; my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtledove a nest for herself where she may lay her young, Even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God (Ps. 83:1–4).
Amen.
