Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. 6:14).
This present Sunday is called among the Orthodox Russian people “Forgiveness Sunday,” from the good and pious custom of asking one another’s forgiveness before the Great Fast and preparation for Holy Communion. This custom has taken firm root from the command of the Savior, who in today’s Gospel enjoins us to forgive one another’s sins, if we desire that our Heavenly Father also forgive our sins — He whom we grieve and anger without number every day and every hour.
Since beginning tomorrow the Great Fast commences, and we all, according to Christian custom, intend to cast off from ourselves the heavy burden of sins; and since this casting off of the sinful burden requires some self-denial on our part and some spiritual skill, the Lord teaches us what exactly is required from us so that our sins may be forgiven completely, without remainder — what we must relinquish on our part, given that the Lord God, on His part, is always ready to have mercy and to save repentant sinners. Namely, He says that what is required of us is simplicity and freedom from malice, absence of anger, forgetting of offenses, friendliness, love toward enemies.
Your salvation is in your own hands, in your own power, O man. If you forgive others their offenses, faults, annoyances, importunities, even their begging, then your sins also will be forgiven; and you, with your importunities and frequent petitions before God, will never depart from Him empty, but will be counted worthy of His great and rich mercies. You will forgive your neighbor a few sins compared with your sins before God, and God will forgive you countless transgressions; you will forgive a hundred denarii, and the Lord will forgive you ten thousand talents.
But what resentment often possesses people! Whereas the Lord requires of us only a little — forgiveness and forgetfulness of our neighbors’ offenses, which are like drops in the sea compared to our sins before God — and requires it for our own benefit, wishing to accustom us to meekness, harmlessness, patience, humility of mind, brotherly love, forbearance, and peaceableness, we lose our temper, assert our violated rights against our neighbor, kindle in ourselves and in others the flame of enmity, and thus foolishly and boldly repel from ourselves the saving right hand of God, adding sin to sin and hurling ourselves headlong into destruction.
Great good, great virtue, is freedom from malice before God and men: it covers a multitude of sins. In the Old Testament, especially beloved and glorified by God for this virtue were Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophet-King David the forefather of God, and many others. And in the New Testament, countless righteous ones who imitated the meek and humble Lord and God our Savior Jesus Christ, who says to us all in the Gospel: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29).
Therefore, let us not listen to the devil, who teaches us to harbor evil against our neighbor, but in simplicity of heart let us forgive the offenses inflicted by our neighbors, which also occur through the instigation of the enemy. Let no one think evil against another; let no one be carried away by evil suspicion concerning his neighbor; for this is the delusion of the enemy of our salvation, who strives everywhere to destroy in us the bond of love and brotherhood and to plant demonic enmity and hostility. Let us remember the commandment of the Savior: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (John 13:34), and the words of the Apostle Paul: “He who loves another has fulfilled the law… Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8, 10).
Further, the Lord teaches us about sincere fasting, and says that we should enter upon the arena of fasting not with gloomy faces, but with cheerful ones, as true and faithful soldiers of Christ entering into battle against sin and our many-passioned flesh, with the help and cooperation of the all-powerful grace of Christ, and before the face of the Heavenly Father, with whom a reward is prepared for all who truly struggle against the delusion of sin. “Anoint your head,” says the Savior, “and wash your face.” Anoint your head — that is, with the oil of almsgiving anoint your soul; and with the oil of purity wash the face of your soul; “and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matt. 6:17–18).
Further, the Lord teaches us to detach our hearts from earthly treasures and earthly attachments and urges us to desire and seek heavenly treasures: first, because our souls are of heavenly origin and immortal, while earthly goods, being coarse, corruptible, and passing, are unworthy of us, who were created and redeemed by the blood of the Son of God for the enjoyment of spiritual and eternal blessings; and second, because by attaching our hearts to earthly goods we thereby make our hearts earthly, coarse, low, and impassioned, and ourselves incapable of loving God and neighbor, whereas love is the chief purpose and duty of our life.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19–21).
Saint John Chrysostom speaks eloquently about this: "It is a great harm for you if you attach yourself to earthly things - you will be a slave instead of free; you will fall away from heavenly things; you will be unable to think of what is above, but only of money, interest, debts, profits, and shameful tavern-trade. What could be more disastrous than this? Such a man falls into a slavery heavier than that of any slave, and, what is most ruinous of all, voluntarily rejects the nobility and freedom proper to man. However much one may speak with you, if your mind is nailed to riches, you cannot hear anything useful and necessary for yourself… for where your treasure is, there is your heart also. But if you place your treasure in heaven by means of almsgiving, then not only will you be deemed worthy of heavenly honors for this, but even here you will receive a reward, being lifted up to heaven in thought and care. For it is evident that you will carry your mind to the same place where you put your treasure; and conversely, you will experience the exact opposite when you place your treasure on earth."
Therefore, let us lay to heart the teaching of our Savior set before us in today’s Gospel concerning forgiveness of offenses, God-pleasing fasting, detachment of our hearts from earthly treasures, and love for heavenly, incorruptible blessings. Let us strive, in the words of Chrysostom, to prepare ourselves for our departure from here. For although the day of the universal end has not yet come, the end of each one — both old man and youth — already stands at the door.
Therefore, while we have time, let us prepare boldness before God; let us store up oil in abundance; let us transfer everything to heaven, so that in due time, and especially when we shall be in need, we may enjoy all these things, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
