May: Day 27: Teaching 1:
Translation of the Relics of Venerable Nilus of Stolobensk
(On the Benefits of Holy Communion)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Translation of the Relics of Venerable Nilus of Stolobensk
(On the Benefits of Holy Communion)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Venerable Nil, the translation of whose holy relics is now celebrated, is called Stolobensky, because he labored on Stolobny Island of Lake Seliger, located 7 miles from the town of Ostashkov. He was born in the Novgorod region and in his youth left the world and took monastic vows at the Krypetsky Monastery in the Pskov region. Shunning fame, he left the monastery for a secluded place on the Cheremukha River in the Rzhevsky district. Here he heard a voice from above: "Nil, go to Lake Seliger, there on Stolobny Island you can be saved." The delighted Nil began to inquire about the indicated place and, having learned where the lake and the island were, went there.
Here, seven miles from the town of Ostashkov, on the island, he dug a dugout in the mountain, spent the winter in it, and the following year built a hut and a chapel. When a storm arose on the lake and Nil saw from the mountain the fishing boats carried along by the waves, he prayed to God for the salvation of the unfortunate. The fishermen, having learned about the hermit, began to bring him fish. In the summer, visitors came to him, asking for his prayers and advice; in the fall and winter, no one came here, and Nil lived completely alone.
One day, robbers landed on the island and, believing that the elder was hiding some treasure in his cell, began to ask him about it. Nil answered: "All my treasure is in the corner of my cell." The robbers rushed there and saw the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with the Eternal Child illuminated. The robbers, struck by the extraordinary light, went blind and fell face down. Healed by the prayer of Nil, they lived piously from then on.
Having lived 27 years on the island in prayer, labor and contemplation about God and the future life, Nil finally felt the approach of death and began to ask God to grant him, before death, communion of the Holy Mysteries. The Lord heard his prayer. Sergius, the abbot of the Nikolsky Monastery, arrived on the island and gave Nil the Holy Mysteries. Nil predicted to him that forty years after his death a church would be erected on the island. The next day, Sergius and his brethren again arrived on the island, but found Nil already dead and buried his body. The miracles performed by his body began to attract pilgrims here and, finally, two monks who settled on the island built a wooden church of the Theophany of the Lord. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, during the construction of a new stone church, the body of the Saint was found incorrupt and in 1671 it was brought into the new church. The memory of the translation of his relics is celebrated on May 27.
II. Among the many lessons of piety that the life of Venerable Nil offers us, let us dwell on one. Venerable Nil, despite his pious life, prayed to the Lord to grant him communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. His prayer, as we know, was heard. If he realized that Holy Communion is useful for a Christian, then how much more should we, sinners and unworthy, realize this holy and soul-saving truth!
A person receives great benefit from partaking of the Mysteries of Christ.
a) This benefit begins even before communion. How?
As the dawn precedes the rising of the sun, so sincere repentance must precede the coming of Christ into our souls, or, what is the same, the reception of the holy and terrible Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ. At this time, the soul of the sinner becomes light, pure, bright from tears of tenderness, and even more from the grace of God, which takes and consumes the sinful filth of the repentant. "Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18), that is, no matter how great our sins are, if we bring sincere repentance for them, then God forgives us and makes our souls pure: from purity the soul becomes strong, cheerful, inclined and capable of every good deed. This is what should precede the reception of the Holy Mysteries, that is, a change in life from worse to better, and this, obviously, is very useful for a person.
b) It is undeniable that worthy preparation for the reception of the Holy Mysteries is very useful; but the reception of the Holy Mysteries itself is incomparably more useful, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56), says Jesus Christ. Consequently, he who receives the Holy Mysteries receives into himself the most awesome and at the same time all-good God. And from this tangible instillation of God in man, the mysterious, Divine power, spreading throughout the body and soul, produces numerous spiritual blessings: it tames passions, enlightens and illuminates the soul, calms and gladdens the heart, arouses zeal for virtue, creates love for God and neighbor stronger and more alive, it confirms the hope of receiving blessedness in eternity; in a word, it renews, regenerates man and makes him truly happy.
From the worthy acceptance of the Holy Mysteries, people become like angels, in purity of thoughts and goodness of will.
c) However, Holy Communion is useful not only for the soul, but also for the body. It happened that from the reception of the Holy Mysteries, sick people recovered, to whom no human medicine could give help. Gregory the Theologian mentions about his sister that she, being sick and not having received any benefit from medicine, received the Holy Mysteries with special faith and became healthy.
d) Besides this, when we partake of the Holy Mysteries, evil spirits do not dare to harm us with their wiles. In one of the Church books it is mentioned that one saint asked evil spirits what do they fear most in Christians? The evil spirits answered: “What you eat, that is, Holy Communion. Oh, if Christians honestly observed what they partake of in Communion, then they would be impregnable to our wiles.” Such is the power of the Holy Mysteries! Therefore, it is very useful to frequently partake of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III. Let us take advantage, Christians, of the priceless treasure given to us out of the extreme love of God! Let us willingly and joyfully approach the table offered to us by the Lord Christ. Do not say that we are sinful, and therefore we do not dare to approach the Lord’s table, we do not dare to partake of the Holy Mysteries. That is why we must partake, because we are sinful, for the Holy Mysteries are a medicine against sins, and this medicine “is not required by the healthy, but by the sick.” Jesus Christ “came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:12, 13). Therefore, the more sinful we are, the more often we must partake of the Holy Mysteries, after due preparation. Amen.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
