March: Day 24: Venerable Zachariah the Faster of the Kiev Caves

March: Day 24:
Venerable Zachariah the Faster of the Kiev Caves
 
(On the Gravity of the Sin of Swearing Falsely)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. In the life of Venerable Zachariah, whose memory is celebrated today, the following instructive story is transmitted, concerning the time of his childhood.

Once, two men from the city, Sergius and John, came to the Kiev Caves Lavra, and there, before the icon of the Mother of God, then already glorified, they entered into a spiritual brotherhood. After some time, John fell ill and, feeling the nearness of death, invited the blessed abbot of the Caves Lavra, Nikon, to come to him. In his presence, he distributed much of his property to the poor, and gave 1,000 hryvnia of silver and 100 hryvnia of gold to Sergius, and entrusted him with his five-year-old son, Zachariah, bequeathing that the silver and gold be given to Zachariah when the boy reached adulthood.

And so, when Zachariah was 15 years old, he asked Sergius for his father’s silver and gold.

“Your father,” Sergius answered him, “gave his property to God, ask Him... I owe nothing to you or your father; your father was so stupid that he gave his property to the poor, and left you a beggar.”

Having heard this, the young man began to lament his poverty and asked Sergius to give him at least half of the money his father had left him. Sergius refused and spoke harshly of both father and son. Zachariah asked to give him at least a third of it, and later agreed to receive even just a tenth, but Sergius refused this as well. Then Zachariah said to Sergius: "If you have not taken anything from my father, then go and swear this before the icon of the Mother of God, before which you entered into spiritual brotherhood with my father."

Sergius was so overcome by greed for money that he went and said before the icon of the Mother of God: "I did not take a thousand hryvnia of silver and 100 hryvnia of gold." Then when he went to venerate the holy icon, he could not approach it and, turning away from the exit of the church, began to shout: "Venerable Fathers Anthony and Theodosius! Do not order this unmerciful man to kill me! Pray for me to the Most Holy Theotokos, that She will remove from me the cruel spirit that possesses my soul ... Let them take the gold and silver in my cell!"

Great fear fell upon all who were present. They went to Sergius' house and found there in a sealed box 2000 hryvnia of silver and 200 hryvnia of gold. Then Zachariah gave the money he had received to the then abbot John and became a monk. The money was used to build a church in the name of Saint John the Baptist. Zachariah devoted himself to the strictest asceticism, did not eat anything boiled or baked, ate only vegetables, and with such a life of fasting he reached a high level of spirituality. He died in the 12th century. His relics rest in the Theodosius Caves in Kiev.

II. From this story it is not difficult to see how grave the sin is to swear falsely in the name of God and what strict responsibility before the court of God's truth one who decides to swear falsely may be subjected to.

a) It can be said without error that a false oath is more disgusting than perjury, since the perjurer, at least at the time when he gave the oath, could have had the intention of fulfilling his promise; meanwhile, the one who swears falsely from beginning to end boldly and insolently despises truth and fidelity, and despite the fear of God inherent in man, which arises in the soul every time at the thought of the omniscience, justice and omnipotence of God, he deliberately tells a lie, as if boldly confident that he will not suffer heavenly punishment. Such satanic fearlessness and the hardening of a corrupted heart rarely remain without the appropriate stern admonition or punishment of God.

b) The word of God strongly warns against this sin.

The Lord forbids swearing by His name falsely: "You shall not swear by My name falsely, nor profane the name of your God. I am the Lord your God" (Lev. 19:12).

The punishment of God threatens one who swears falsely: "A man who swears often will be filled with iniquity, and the scourge will not depart from his house. If he sins, his sin is upon him; and if he is negligent, he will sin doubly. And if he has sworn in vain, he will not be justified, and his house will be filled with misfortunes" (Sirach 23:11-13).

"And again I lifted up mine eyes," says the Prophet Zechariah, "and saw a scroll flying. And He (i.e. the Lord) said to me: 'What do you see?' I answered: 'I see a scroll flying; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits.' He said to me: 'This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth; for everyone who steals will be cut off, as it is written on the one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be cut off, as it is written on the other side. I have brought it, says the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name, and it shall remain in his house, and shall consume it, both the wood thereof, and the stones thereof'" (Zech. 5:1-4).

In the New Testament, Saint John the Theologian says that liars, by whom are undoubtedly meant, first of all, those who swear falsely in the name of God, will be condemned equally with the greatest sinners to eternal torment in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Here are the actual words of the holy seer: "But the cowardly, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).

III. Therefore, Christian, "you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" (Ex. 20:7).

Through the prayers of the Venerable Zachariah, may the Lord save us from false oaths. 

 

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