In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
Today we honor the Cross of Christ, and render it glory. For this world, this is a completely incomprehensible solemnity. Today the apostle excellently said, Unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23). This world did not come to know Christ by its wisdom and considered that the crucifixion on the Cross is foolishness. When we preach Christ crucified, it appears to the world as madness.
Really, what do people want from God? The Jews want miracles. What does this mean? People say, “Here came God, and we want everything to happen through His power, so that we would rule this world, so that such a miracle would indeed happen. After all, it’s God—He can do anything.”
The Greeks seek wisdom; that is, people say: “God should do everything wisely in this world, teach us so that everything would be correct and well ordered.” This is human wisdom; this is its aim. If you ask people, “Why do you study philosophy, why do you want to study any kind of wisdom without Christ?” the most rational and understandable answer would be: “So that everything in this world would become correct.”
That, for example, is what the communists did. They said, “Now we’ll create the most just, the best society on earth.” For what? For man. And it really seemed as though it would now get better. There were institutes of Marxism-Leninsim, various books and brochures were printed by the millions that told us how to live correctly, how the communist conscience should look, and how the national economy ought to be structured. And in the end, all of this pulp became totally worthless to everyone. The very same people who earlier worshipped this “wisdom” blithely sold it all down the river. They said, “No, now there has to be a different wisdom: Whoever makes the most money is the best.” Well, that is of course if you look at what happened in a primitive way.
But none of these people talked about the fact that salvation lies in the Cross of Christ. In general, when you see some person, creator, writer, artist, (in the broad sense of the word), politician, or social activist talking a lot about the good of mankind, or of his people or nation, and yet says nothing about the crucified Christ, about our Lord, His sufferings, His humiliation and Resurrection—it means that person is not of the Spirit that leads us to salvation.
The word of God appears to this world as foolishness, as madness. Truly, what are we saying? Christ came, He had nothing—no house, nor any kind of property. And this was necessary in order to save the human race. That is how God arranged it in His wisdom. And therefore, the wisdom of this world not only cannot accept Christ—it’s hard for that wisdom to accept it, because it wants everything to be convenient and sweet, and at the same time salvific. But that won’t work.
How much has been said about how to make life better? And what’s the result? We are dying out. Why are we dying out? First of all, because of sin; because you can give a person everything he wants, a social benefits package, provide for him—and he’ll destroy his own children—simply because it’s convenient. And no words about justice or upbringing will have any effect. And unfortunately, we know this perfectly well from the history of our own people. We know how everything was all set up, everything was inexpensive and accessible. And what did people do? It’s bitter to even talk about it. And it’s all because people were forced to forget Christ crucified. In order to get people to destroy others, you simply need to make them forget about the Cross.
But we Christians will always remember and walk in our Cross procession. There is a reason why it is called a Cross procession. At the fore we carry a cross, icons, and banners; we sing prayers, and in this way follow after Christ. Our whole life is a long cross procession. From our birth to our repose and passing into eternal life—this is a cross procession; we are following after Christ. We follow Christ and after His Cross—the saving weapon of our salvation, which is foolishness to this world. People do not understand: Why do we need this? What is this cross? Now very many people are fighting against the cross, but we will preach this saving power, the victory of Christ, which happened on the Cross.
We must wish for everyone on this day strength and the faithfulness that Christ’s disciples showed as they followed Him to Golgotha. And to all of us, even to those who have fallen away and are fainthearted, we wish today the repentance of the apostle Peter and other disciples who nevertheless returned to Christ and preached Him—which is the great service to which all of us are called.
And may our own personal cross always be together with the Cross of the Lord, so that we would not take upon ourselves some impossible, invented task according to our own will and vainglory. But let it first of all correspond to the Cross and the Gospel. May the Lord, the Mother of God, and all the saints help us in this. Amen.
