Homily Two for the Sunday of All Saints
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
The current Sunday is called the Sunday of All Saints. In celebrating in honor of all Saints, we remember all those who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, namely: the forefathers and patriarchs, prophets and apostles, martyrs and hierarchs, hieromartyrs and venerable martyrs, the venerable and the righteous, holy fools for Christ, as well as all holy women and other nameless Saints, with all of whom we honor the Most Holy One, surpassing all Angelic orders, our Lady Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary.
Celebrating All Saints soon after the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Church intends to demonstrate to us the glory and grace of the Holy Spirit – God, who sanctifies, enlightens, fortifies, and glorifies all saints of the human race, in both the Old and New Testaments; in particular, she intends to showcase the fruits brought forth through the Apostles by the coming of the Holy Spirit – how He sanctified beings akin to us, bestowed wisdom upon them, elevated them to the rank of Angels, and led them to God: some crowned for the feats of martyrdom, others for their virtuous lives. The All-Holy Spirit accomplishes that which transcends the laws of nature.
Descending upon the Apostles in the form of fire which strives upward, He kindles the frozen earthly hearts of men, sunk in the earth, and raises them to heaven. This is the first reason for the celebration of all Saints. The second reason for celebrating all Saints together is the following: there are many Saints who have pleased God with their perfect virtue, yet, having received great honor from God, remain unknown to people; moreover, the Fathers also contemplated future Saints; thus, they established the feast of all Saints in order to honor together all, both those who have previously existed and those who will arise thereafter, both revealed and unrevealed Saints. The third reason: the saints, who are commemorated each day in a special manner, needed to be remembered on a single day to demonstrate that they all labored through the power of one Savior, Jesus Christ, and for that, as servants of the one Lord, they are rightly crowned, signifying that they all form one Church, dwell in one heavenly realm, and thus inspire us to strive for every virtue for the sake of future life.
In the reading of the Epistle on the Sunday of All Saints, the Church proclaims that by faith they conquered enemies visible and invisible: patiently endured poverty, hardship, persecution, torment and various forms of death, that through them or for their sake countless miracles were and are performed, that the whole world is unworthy of them. By reading the Gospel on this Sunday, the Church testifies that they are all true confessors of the Holy Faith; in the name of the Lord they left everything that removed them from serving God and blessed union with Him; for this reason the Lord Jesus Christ confesses the Saints - before His Father in heaven and through the lips of the Church confesses them on earth before men. The Gospel of today in Russian reads thus:
“The Lord said: 'Everyone who confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in Heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father who is in Heaven. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.' Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'Behold, we have left all and followed You; what then will happen to us?' Then Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, that you who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or land, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first'” (Matthew 10:32–33, 37–38; 19:27–30).
And at the present time we can and must be, brothers and sisters, confessors of Jesus Christ before people - and first of all, especially we, the clergy, must openly and boldly preach the glory of Jesus Christ, His miracles and powers in us and in all believers, His eternal truths set forth in the Gospel and cast down every human thought that boldly rises up against the mind of God; cast down and suppress the mocking, absurd speeches of freethinkers, who have now multiplied more than bad grass; also perform public and private worship with sincere piety, without haste, without indulging the laziness of the rich and powerful of the earth, without adapting to their tastes, or rather to their spiritual bad taste.
But you, brothers and sisters, must always be sincere confessors of Jesus Christ, visiting the temple of God tirelessly and with zeal, standing in it with reverence, fervently and attentively making the sign of the cross on yourself, and not being ashamed to make bows and kneel, boldly confessing and proclaiming to whomever you should the mercies of God shown to yourself and to others, in order to strengthen others in faith and trust in God; to start edifying conversations in society, not fearing to be known as a hypocrite and a sanctimonious person, or a Pharisee; - for the mockery and slander of pious people by people of the world is the usual reward of the pious: "Blessed are you," it is said, "when they revile you" (Matt. 5:11).
But what does it mean to love father or mother, or son or daughter more than the Lord Jesus Christ? This means not to fulfill the commandments of God out of pleasing them, but to fulfill their orders and whims, contrary to the will of God, or to live and raise children for the world, for connections, for wealth, for pleasures, for the glory of the world, and not for God, not for the salvation of the soul, not for eternity.
And what does it mean to take up one's cross and follow Christ? It means to walk the narrow and sorrowful path - a constant struggle with passions and lusts, with the temptations of the world, with the temptations of the devil, to endure illnesses, troubles, misfortunes, persecutions, exiles. For the Apostles' abandonment of all the blessings of the world and for their following Christ, the Lord promised them the greatest honor - the thrones of judgment over the whole world at His future coming to earth; and for all people who abandoned the blessings of the world for Christ, a hundredfold reward and eternal life. Such an infinitely great reward for devotion, for short-term devotion to the Lord, for abandoning insignificant earthly goods, for short-term patience, deprivation!
How, beloved brothers and sisters, can we not surrender ourselves with all our hearts to the Lord, how can we not endure sorrows in this momentary life! Let us surrender, let us certainly surrender ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ God. Many of those who were first here will be last there, and those who were last here, many will be first there. God is no respecter of persons: before Him shall stand king and soldier together, priest and laity, learned and ignorant, noble and simple, rich and poor, male and female, all with equal dignity; for each one will be either glorified or shamed by his own deeds (1 Cor. 3:8, 14, 15). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
