In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
There are certain people who cause extreme inconvenience to many. There have been many such people in the history of the Church. Who are they? They are people who spoke what was in their hearts in order to correct people and expose spiritual and moral lies. However, these people often fell out of favor with others, including those in the Church and those in positions of power who considered themselves Christians but tried to control the Church. This has always been the case, and there are still people who cause inconvenience. They are not only in the Church, and they are always told: “Why are you talking again, why are you saying all this? Everything was fine, nothing was wrong,” and these people usually have very serious problems in their lives.
On Saturday, we celebrated the memory of St. Maximus the Greek. He was a learned man and a devout ascetic, and while in Russia, he was imprisoned and spent many years in the harsh conditions of the tower of the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery. After this, he was banned from serving. The reason for this disfavor was that he, troubled by the moral behavior of those in power, simply wrote down some of his thoughts, which were dictated by his conscience and the truth of the Gospel.
There have been not a few such people. And this really confuses a Christian, it seems like such an injustice—people are telling the truth, and they are persecuted for it. But when they die, after a while, people start saying that they are holy people. We know many examples of this. A person tells the truth, denounces heresy, and this ruins his entire life. They torture and humiliate him, and then, when he dies, people gather at his grave and say, “What a good man he was, what a saint, pray for us, Father.”
People are telling the truth, and they are persecuted for it. But when they die, after a while, people start saying that they are holy people
But if we go back to today's Gospel reading, it becomes clear why this is happening. When Christ freed the demon-possessed man, and the demons entered into the swine, and the swine drowned in the lake, the people were not amazed by this miracle. The demon-possessed, who had suffered greatly from the devil, could not be cured, but Christ came and healed them. However, what struck the people of the city the most was the fact that their pigs had drowned. And what did they say to Christ? “Get away from us!” What you do to the sick, what you say, what you preach—we know it's good, but we value our wealth more, so go away.
This is something that we often do in our lives. Sometimes, when a pious person is told by his friends, who are members of the Church, about the importance of Confession and Communion, the person asks them not to mention it, as their passions are still controlling them. Additionally, when these people were expelling Christ, they were deeply concerned about their own well-being and their pigs. When discussing this story, the holy fathers often compare these pigs to human passions.
B. Rivière. “The Miracle of the Gadarene Demoniacs”
Indeed, our passions are more important to us, especially the passion for unjust enrichment. It may not seem as terrible as murder, but it has gradually taken hold of us.
It is St. Maximus the Greek who says that unrighteous gain makes a person anti-Christ. If we think that we just want to live well, richly, and comfortably, then at some point we cross a certain line and become infected with the spirit of the antichrist. What is the spirit of the antichrist? How can we define it? After all, it seems to be the same for every time, but it is still different. We sing to the Holy Martyr Hilarion: “Thou didst not fear the servants of the coming antichrist.” Then the servants of the coming antichrist were people who fought with God, who ridiculed the faith; but what did they say? “This is for the good of the people. The priests put a yoke on you and did not allow you to develop, and now we will create a beautiful socialist society, everyone will have everything, everyone will be healthy and educated; but for this we need to remove the Church, and we need to remove the Eucharist.” And what did this lead to in the history of our people? There were, of course, great victories, but at some point, for some reason, people began to destroy their own kind on a large scale, even their own children. Why? What for? It would seem that everyone has everything, everyone has been given free apartments and education... And why did it end up with people lightly deciding whether or not to have children? This was the spirit of the Antichrist, who seduced people so subtly.
And what about now? How can we all be bought? How can we all be won over? With wealth, money, and opportunities. How did Christ live? He had nothing. If we are Christ's disciples, then our wealth is actually madness! Complete madness.
How can we all be bought? With wealth, money, and opportunities
And one more important thing! Our holy reverend father Maxim the Greek, like many other holy fathers, says that it is impossible to be a super-rich person and think that you are not committing a crime, because you are still stealing from those who do not have enough, and you are drinking their blood. He even compares these people to animals that drink the blood of their victims and then suck the marrow out of them. Let us think about how we live, and how things that seem to be available and attractive to everyone, and that seem to be legitimate, often turn into iniquities, into the spirit of the antichrist, and take us away from Christ. And instead of becoming healed by Christ, or the people who follow Him, or His apostles, or His faithful disciples, we say to Christ, “Go on, go on, go on without us.”
Let us pray especially today and approach the Holy Chalice with the thought that the Lord will not leave us, that this spirit will not possess us, and that we will try to become His true disciples. Amen.
