May: Day 1: Teaching 3: Venerable Paphnutius of Borovsk

 

May: Day 1: Teaching 3:
Venerable Paphnutius of Borovsk
 
(How Should One Trust in God's Providence?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Venerable Paphnutius (15th century), commemorated today by the Holy Church, whose secular name was Parthenius, was of Tatar descent; his father first held the position of Basqaq (a Tatar official for collecting taxes) in the city of Borovsk (now in the Kaluga province), and later converted to Christianity. Paphnutius's parents were wealthy people and owned estates. He was born near Borovsk and lived with his parents until he was twenty; then, feeling drawn to the monastic life, he entered the Pokrovsky Monastery in Borovsk as a monk and spent his life there in strict abstinence, prayer, fasting, and constant labor. Twice a week, on Monday and Friday, he took no food at all, and on Wednesday he ate only dry food. His physical labors were: in the summer, working in the garden, carrying and chopping firewood for the brethren; in the winter, weaving fishing nets and baskets. Until his very death, regardless of old age or illness, the Venerable One led this strict way of life, not relaxing himself in anything.

Let us point out several of the most important features of the Venerable One’s life. He was good-natured, patient in his needs, unconcerned about his own physical needs, strict with himself, and indulgent with others. “Deep trust in help from God never left him.” Thus, one day the feast of Pascha was approaching, and there was no fish at all in the monastery. The brethren grieved over this, but the Venerable One said to them: “Do not be sad: the Lord will comfort us!” On Great Saturday, at Vespers, a cleric came to the stream to draw water and saw an extraordinary number of fish in the stream. They cast their nets, and fish were caught in abundance.

When it came to the needs of his neighbor, Venerable Paphnutius was the first to rush to help. Thus, during a severe famine in the surrounding area, up to a thousand hungry residents received food from the monastery’s reserves every day.

The Venerable One was also distinguished by the gift of foresight. Looking into the monk's face, Paphnutius often learned whether someone had good or bad thoughts. Once, by one glance, Paphnutius recognized a murderer.

Even during his life, the Venerable Onet worked many miracles, healing the blind and the paralytic.

He died on May 1, 1478, at the age of 83, having predicted the day of his death a week before and piously prepared himself for this day. His body was later found incorruptible.

II. In the summary of his life we heard, brethren, about how trust in God's help did not disgrace Venerable Paphnutius and the brethren of his monastery, who were in need of food, having received it in abundance through a miraculous catch of fish.

This prompts us to talk about what Christian trust in God's providence should be.

a) Our holy faith teaches us to trust not in our own mind and strength, but in the all-encompassing wisdom and omnipotent power of God; not in earthly treasures, which worms and pests corrupt, and thieves break in and steal, but in the inexhaustible treasure of the goodness and mercy of God; not “in princes and the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation,” but “in the living and true God;” so that we expect everything not from our own labors, cares and worries, but from the goodness and mercy of the Heavenly Father, Who knows all our needs and gives us everything we need before we ask; that we may not fear the dangers and calamities of time, which cannot befall us without the will of God, nor the malice and cunning of men, which cannot harm us unless the Lord God permits them, but may fear the wrath and displeasure of our Father who is in heaven. However happy and prosperous you may be in everything, remember, beloved, that all that you have, and enjoy, and are comforted by in life, is not yours, but is given to you from above by the Father of lights, all is given to you only for a time, and all can be taken from you forever. On the other hand, however grievous the situation in which you find yourself, no matter what sorrowful circumstances you are surrounded with, never forget, my brethren, that there is an all-seeing Eye, which both sees and counts all your tears; there is an all-hearing Ear, which hears your groans and sighs; there is an almighty Wisdom that can deliver you from all possible calamities; there is a supreme Love that loves you more than a mother loves her child; there is a generous Right Hand that is ready to give you everything you need in due time. From what calamities has the Lord not saved His faithful servants? Through what dangers has He not led them unharmed? “You are mine,” says the Heavenly Father to you: “And though you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the rivers shall not flood you: call upon Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Is. 43:1, 2).

b) However, my brethren, we would be woefully mistaken in our trust in God if in every case and in all our needs we expected some extraordinary and miraculous manifestations of God's providence over us. We must neither demand nor expect that any signs and wonders should be performed over us and for us: this would mean not trusting in God, but tempting His wisdom and goodness. Only the stubborn disbelief of the Pharisees could demand signs from the Lord from the heavens: true faith sees the all-working hand of God in everything that happens to us in life, no matter how small or random it may seem. Thus, be able to see and kiss the benevolent hand of the Heavenly Father in everything you enjoy in this life, in what it provides to you even before your petition, and do not seek for signs and wonders, which only appear where and when they are deemed necessary by the highest wisdom of God.

This, my brethren, is where our criminal ingratitude to the Heavenly Father lies, that while we continually enjoy His countless blessings and gifts, living and existing by His everlasting power and His divine grace, we do not feel or recognize this. But this is not enough. We even turn into instruments of sin and iniquity those very blessings which the love of the Heavenly Father gives us. Some turn them into an object of vanity and arrogance, others into a pretext for intemperance and debauchery. Some abuse them to the point of exhaustion of strength and health, others turn everything into gold and make it their idol. He who has more earthly blessings usually indulges more unbridled in a sinful life and the pleasures of the senses. Is it surprising after this that the Heavenly Father, offended by our ingratitude, sometimes deprives us of His blessings, takes away His blessing from us, sends us a scarcity of bread and a scarcity of oil? And should we not be even more surprised that His righteous anger does not allow us to feel much more often that His mercy and long-suffering spare us from long-deserved destruction?

You see, one must rely on the providence of the Heavenly Father wisely, piously, and with the fear of God. Turn with all your heart to your Father, and He will turn to you with His love and blessing. Be obedient in all things to His most sacred will, and He will lovingly heed your prayers and fulfill all the good desires of your heart. Remain faithful unto death in keeping His commandments, and He will be faithful in the words of His promises.

c) Our trust in God's providence would be no less false if, while trusting in God, we ourselves remained careless in relation to ourselves, and did not labor in the sweat of our brow according to the commandment of the Lord. In vain would we cultivate the land if the Lord did not send in due season the rains and warmth necessary for the growth of the sown seed; but on the other hand, both the rains and warmth would remain useless if we did not cultivate the land and sow the seed. "Unless the Lord build the house, in vain do they labor that build it; and unless the Lord preserve the city, in vain does the watchman watch;" but the help of the Lord is also useless to him who does not want to build a house for himself, or who himself opens the gates of his house to the thief and the robber. In vain would we try to prolong our life beyond the limits set for it by the Lord, but in vain would we hope to preserve our life, throwing ourselves headlong into a deep abyss. So it is in everything – the help of the Lord comes only to him who works and prays, and not to him who is inactive and gives in to despondency. The Lord wants everything necessary for our life to be both the fruit of the blessing which He pours out on the earth and the fruit of the labor to which He has condemned man. And truly, my brethren, it would be audacious and mad to imagine that the Lord will work miracles to support people in idleness and laziness, to save their property when they themselves squander it, to preserve their health and strength when they themselves destroy them. Is it not a grave sin and blasphemy to trust in God only in order to lead an idle and disorderly life? Only he who strives to be a worthy son of the Heavenly Father with his feelings and spiritual dispositions, his life and deeds, who accepts God’s gifts with gratitude and uses them for the glory of God and the salvation of his soul, who leads a hard-working, reverent and God-fearing life, is worthy of God’s paternal care.

III. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things” necessary for your temporal life “shall be added unto you” (Matt. 7:33). Amen. 

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