Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
On the Sunday of the Last Judgment, we hear the Gospel passage about this event that is yet to come. We hear in the liturgical texts and reflect on the end times that will be associated with the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the events that will precede it.
These events always arouse special interest among people, a special desire to learn what will happen and how. This is understandable: people are always attracted by something mysterious, incomprehensible and unknown, not the least something so terrifying and decisive for all of humanity. Even in our times some people appear here and there and declare that “the end of the world is about to come”, go to live in caves, shut themselves away from civilization and thus “prepare for the end of the world.”
Indeed, the Lord calls on all of us to prepare for the end times, to prepare for the meeting with Christ, which will happen in the life of each one of us sooner or later. But how should we prepare? Should we really go far away, hiding from people, or in some other way?
One day, some priests came to Archimandrite John (Krestiankin); they spoke about the need for similar preparations for the end times, said that something needed to be done—to run away somewhere, and so on. Elder John started asking them questions about their lives: whether they kept the commandments of God, whether they lived as the Lord taught, whether they felt burdened by church services, and whether their lives agreed with the Christian commandments. And the priests were ashamed to admit that they were far from ideal. Then Fr. John said to them, “It appears that you have already accepted the antichrist, though not in the form of a seal on your foreheads or right hands, which we read about in the Revelation, but by failing to live according to the commandments of God and instead living according to the will of the one who is against God—the devil.” This story is about the essence of how we are supposed to prepare for the end times, for the Second Coming of Christ—by fulfilling God’s commandments.
An Icon of the Last Judgment. The eighteenth century. The Kostroma State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve
Today’s Gospel passage is precisely about that: At the Last Judgment, the Lord will ask us if we have kept the commandments of God. This is the main purpose of a Christian’s life. We never know in what conditions we will have to live. Whether it will be an externally quiet life or whether difficult times will come—it doesn’t matter at all, because in any situation a Christian must live according to God’s commandments. This is what prepares us for our meeting with Christ, and this is what gives us hope that, by the grace of God, we will hear a good answer at the Last Judgment.
May God grant this to all of us; and today, on the Sunday of the Last Judgment, may God grant us to remember by what standards we will be judged at the Last Judgment, and strive to live accordingly. So that not by our merits, but by the mercy of God, we may meet Christ and hear His words, which we have heard in today’s Gospel reading: Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mt. 25:34). Amen.
