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“Thou hast filled all with joy, O our Savior, in coming to save the world.”[1]
Amidst the sorrowful days of Great Lent, when our prayer and abstinence are intensified, when we grieve and weep for our transgressions, joy also visits our humble soul. When we’ve been cleansed from our sins in the Sacrament of Repentance and approach the chalice of life and taste of the Most Pure Body and Blood of Christ, peace, stillness, and joy in the Holy Spirit descend into our soul.
Whence does this come? If we were to observe our communion of the Mysteries of Christ from outside, through the eyes of an unbeliever, this is undoubtedly a miracle, a supernatural phenomenon. Indeed, people approach the chalice troubled and sorrowful, yet they depart joyful, peaceful, with radiant faces. What is this if not a miracle? Why? Because we’ve partaken not of any ordinary food, but of the very Body and Blood of Christ.
To an unbeliever alone is all this frightening and incomprehensible, although our spiritual transformation taking place before his very eyes he can’t deny. The natural man, says the Holy Apostle, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). For the believing Christian, the power of God is plainly visible here, as our Savior Himself declares: Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power (Mk. 9:1).
Here is indicated for you, beloved, the purpose of your life, and at the same time, your happiness and constant spiritual joy, in communion with God. When sorrows overtake you, when despondency and dread of the evil around you close in, don’t lose heart. Hasten to the Orthodox church of God, cleanse your soul in the Sacrament of Repentance, and draw near to the holy chalice. And you will taste and see how good is God. You’ll come to know that it’s precisely in communion with God that we find the happiness that no man and nothing of this earth can ever give you.
And on this present Sunday of Orthodoxy, this personal joy of ours is joined by another: joy for the Church of God, which now celebrates its victory over all its multitude of enemies. If we survey the history of the Church of God in broadest outline, we can discern two principal periods: external persecution and internal persecution.
External persecution is the terror and murder of Christians by the unbelieving rulers of the time; it’s the struggle waged by pagan philosophers and Jews who slandered the Church in every possible way. Christians were imprisoned, tortured, and killed, for the name alone. But all these persecutions only strengthened the Church of God. The blood of the martyrs became the cement that bound Christians together.
Then a new campaign against the Church of God began—from within, through internal corruption. Heretics arose who distorted the dogmas of the Church, schismatics who sought to undermine its foundations. These traitors came from among the educated and cunning children of the Church, mostly from amongst the clergy, such as the presbyter Arius. The Fathers of the Church had to labor greatly and suffer in soul to dispel these false teachings. But with God’s help, at the seven Ecumenical Councils, the wise Fathers of the Church exposed the full falsehood of the heretical teachings and set forth true doctrine.
On the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the Orthodox Church celebrates its victory over all heresies, schisms, and unbelief… What joy is there in this for us? The joy that all external and internal assaults upon the Church of God have been in vain. No one and nothing can shake the Church, our foundation and support among a wayward and corrupt generation. And this joy fills us who grieve over the Church’s sorrows with renewed energy to work and labor to the glory of God, for the work of the servants and members of the Church of God is eternal, unshakeable, great, and holy.
Thus does our Divine Teacher, Christ our Savior and God, comfort us in our wretchedness, and to Him do we cry out in thanksgiving: “THOU HAST FILLED ALL WITH JOY, O OUR SAVIOR, IN COMING TO SAVE THE WORLD.”
Amen.
