Prologue in Sermons: November 29

 

On Sorrowful Reflections

November 29*

(Sermon of John Chrysostom on Eternal Torment and the Kingdom of Heaven; and on Always Keeping the Day of Departure in Mind)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The word of God sometimes commands us to have sorrowful thoughts. For example, the Lord says: "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning" (Joel 2:12). Or the wise son of Sirach teaches: "In all your works remember your last end" (Sirach 7:40). Why then does the word of God command us to have such sorrowful thoughts: sometimes about sins, sometimes about death? Brethren, it commands us so that through these sorrowful thoughts in this life we may be saved from eternal sorrows in the life to come. We will not reveal this truth to you ourselves, but let the ecumenical teacher, Saint John Chrysostom, reveal it and prove it to you. Listen to him.

"Let us enter, beloved, into our conscience, reflect upon our sins and judge ourselves, so that we may not be condemned at the judgment seat of God. Oh, how terrible that judgment is. How imposing is the place where the fiery river flows! Behold, the Angels appear, the chamber for the sinners is closed, the lamps are extinguished, and the sinners go into the fiery furnace. What if the hidden sin of any one of us were revealed before all the people; would not such a person wish that the earth would open up and swallow him? And what will happen at the Last Judgment of God, when our sins are exposed and revealed before the entire universe, on that great occasion of shame, before all who knew us and who did not know us? Tell me, then, what will we be like, when bound and with the gnashing of teeth we are cast into the fiery Gehenna? But there is something beneficial for us in such contemplation: for when we imagine the future deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven, illness, Gehenna, eternal bonds, outer darkness, the undying worm, gnashing of teeth, sorrow, the fiery river, the unquenchable furnace — then, having pictured all this, we will leave behind unjustly acquired wealth, take care of imperishable riches, avoid eternal judgment, and be deemed worthy of future blessings... Therefore, we ought to grieve here, so that through this we may rejoice forever thereafter. And if we do not grieve here, sorrow awaits us in the age to come. And why do we not wish to be sorrowful here, so that through present grief we may rest there eternally? I implore you, let us sigh and lament now, lest we later have reason to repent. Weeping in this present age is virtuous and beneficial to us, whereas weeping in the age to come will prove fruitless. Indeed, there is fleeting joy here, but thereafter follows endless sorrow. Let us then grieve, beloved, while there is still time."

Therefore, we have rightly said that the word of God here commands us sorrowful reflections so that through them we may be saved in the life to come. Do you hear what Saint John Chrysostom says? We must grieve here, so that through it we may rejoice forever. From this it is clear that God has wisely arranged everything, and everything serves for our salvation and our blessedness. Weeping is necessary, and sorrowful reflections are beneficial. Let us not neglect even the latter. Let us reflect on judgment, on death, and on the eternal torments of sinners; let us, recognizing our own sins, lament them before the Lord and, with a contrite heart and trust in the boundless goodness of Christ the Savior, pray and ask Him to forgive our sins; to cover our guilt with His boundless merits, to grant us His grace, and to guide us by it toward salvation. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 
Notes:

* In the original text, there is no entry for November 29th. There this is the sixth entry for November 13th.