January: Day 16: Teaching 2: Veneration of the Honorable Chains of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Peter

January: Day 16: Teaching 2:
Veneration of the Honorable Chains of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Peter
 
(On the Suffering of the Righteous)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today’s feast reminds us of how the Holy Foremost Apostle suffered in chains — that is, in bonds, in prison confinement — suffering for the holy faith.

II. Why, one may ask, must those suffer who so greatly loved their Lord, and to whom, beyond doubt, the Lord was close with His mercies? “Why is the path of those who please the Lord strewn with various afflictions?”

Can light and darkness live in friendship? No! The morning light drives away the darkness of night; the gloom of approaching night drives away the light of day. In the same way, the world hates the righteous, because their deeds, their character, their aspirations are opposed to it, like light and darkness. For the world, the very life of a righteous person is a reproach. Even if the righteous person, by a vow of humility, says not a word to the world about its dark deeds; even if, by a vow of love, he does everything to preserve peace with all — still it cannot be that the world will remain forever pleased with the righteous. “The world has hated them, because they are not of the world” (John 17:14), says heavenly Truth about His beloved disciples. The world hates God’s disciples precisely because they in no way belong — or do not wish to belong — to the world. Thus, sufferings are inevitable for the righteous in the world, as long as this sinful world exists. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).

Nevertheless, it is painful for the heart to endure what is unpleasant. Life loves to live, not to suffer. Even if everything in the world suffers, even if material nature itself experiences earthquakes, floods, and storms — this does not make it easier for the heart. “Where, then, is the justice of God, which surely does not wish to allow innocence to suffer?”

a) Pagan wisdom did not resolve this mystery, but Christian teaching does — and to the complete consolation of the heart. “Suffer willingly, because suffering is the fruit of our sin.” Indeed, when did sickness, need, and sorrow enter the world? Following sin. Death is the wages of sin. The Lord God did not create death; He created life, He created everything in the best order, so that all might enjoy life. Thus, the justice of God is right in its ways. It remains for the righteous person to be attentive, in order to justify himself. But how shall he justify himself? What righteous person can acknowledge himself blameless before the strict justice of God? Ah! Only one such Righteous One existed — He who took upon Himself the iniquities of all mankind, who “was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Otherwise, we are all sinners, beginning with Adam, so long as we sojourn on earth. Otherwise, the righteous exist only in heaven, not on earth. Who can boast of having a pure heart before the Lord? (Job 14:4). If anyone were to say, “I have no sin,” of him it must be said with full certainty: he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 1:8). Even the righteous fall seven times a day (Prov. 24:16). The sons of God, who begin to taste the gracious freedom of the spirit, openly confess their weaknesses; until the grave they sigh for deliverance from the burdensome flesh and until the grave they pray for the forgiveness of sins (Rom. 7:15–20). Meanwhile, nothing unclean will enter the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:27). Only those will be admitted who appear clothed in white garments of purity and innocence (Rev. 3:18), in the wedding garment of holiness (Matt. 22:12–13). This is why the righteous, even when they seem already to have progressed in love for the Lord, are struck by afflictions. Here God’s justice punishes their weaknesses and infirmities, so that there they may freely appear before its throne to receive crowns. “When we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32), they themselves say.

b) Further, by the allowance of God’s providence, the righteous suffer in order to preserve them from attachment to the world. If even when the world burdens us all with sorrows we nevertheless love the world more or less; if even when the earth pricks us with thorns and thistles we nevertheless cling to the earth. What would become of us if the earth and the world did not repel us at all? How do people use earthly goods, how much do they make use of them for their salvation? God gives you wealth; abundance flows to you like a river. Do you turn with gratitude to Him who sends you happiness? Do you feel how merciful He is to you, not according to your deeds? Poor rich man! Wealth has filled your soul, and behold, there is no longer either time or disposition for grateful prayers, for grateful service to the Lord. But if people already forget God whom they do not see, do they at least remember or know their neighbor whom they do see, do they willingly share from their abundance with the poor man ready to die of hunger? No, there is not even that. The bitter poor man is given only advice — “work and you will not be poor” — or dismissed with an assurance which they themselves remember so poorly: “God will provide.” O my God! What thunder of Your wrath is needed to bring our senseless hearts to reason! “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:23). The same happens to people with every earthly gift — with honor, with power, with nobility. “Man in honor does not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts and becomes like them.” An abundance of prosperity weakens even the God-loving soul; it turns to its harm, as overly rich soil harms wheat, as uninterrupted stillness harms water. Surrounded by external peace, even a righteous person may at times think himself free from dangers to his soul’s salvation, may give himself over to careless repose and say in his abundance: “I shall never be moved” (Ps. 30:7); and yet it is precisely then that sin freely enters his soul, when one thinks so little about it. The cares of many things for one who possesses much, even if they do not completely distract the righteous from the one thing needful (Luke 10:42), at least divide his heart between the world and God, and little by little weaken his love for Him whom he ought to love with all his soul and all his heart.

c) The wise Heavenly Physician sends afflictions when their time has come and in the measure in which they can bring benefit. Abandoned by the world, humiliated by people, we involuntarily begin to feel how vainly we sought everything from the world and forgot God, who does not forget His faithful ones. Involuntarily we are humbled, once proud and self-confident; involuntarily we are broken over sins, once unseen and unfelt. He has experienced this truth who gratefully cried out before the Lord: “It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I might learn Your statutes. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been tried, he will receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne,” says the Faithful and True One.

III. Therefore, brethren, if happiness shines upon us, let us be courageous, so as not to be deceived by its deceptive brilliance and not to weaken in good because of its alluring warmth, “working out our salvation with fear” (Phil. 2:12). Let us remember that the earth is not a place of rest, but of sickness and labor for eternity. Let us not hunger and thirst for earthly rest and earthly happiness — rest on earth does not befit us; it is harmful to us. But if afflictions visit us, let us not lose heart. Let us accept with submission, if not with joy, the chastisement of our heavenly Father, as a sign that we belong to Him, as a sign of a call to correction from our sins, as a sign urging us to advance in perfect and pure love. By the path of afflictions the Apostle whom we celebrate today attained the Kingdom; by the same path, with the help of his prayers, may we also attain it, and forever in joy and gladness glorify with all the saints the all-holy name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.