Homily Two for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers 

By St. John of Kronstadt

"This is eternal life, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3)

My priestly office compels me and this Sunday to converse with you about very important matters that we all must know in order to please God and save our souls. Today the Holy Church remembers the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea, who affirmed the true teaching about the Divinity of the Son of God, or the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father, against the heretic Arius and his associates, who falsely taught that the Son of God is not of one essence with God the Father and is allegedly not the true God, but was created by God the Father. They, the blasphemers, wanted to shake the Christian faith at its very roots and foundations: for if we were to admit that Jesus Christ is not the consubstantial Son of God and not the true God, then our redemption and salvation would be a dream, we would be more wretched than all men, for we would all be in sin, without purification and sanctification, we would have no hope of resurrection from the dead and eternal life. The Holy Fathers demonstrated the complete absurdity of this heretical teaching, for, in fact, it was impossible for anyone other than the only-begotten and consubstantial Son of God to renew the corrupted nature of man and cleanse its immeasurable sins, and no one else, except the only-begotten Son of God, could offer himself as a sacrifice for the whole world and take upon Himself its sins. The heretics wanted, through their impious teaching, to take away from men their hope, refuge, consolation, purification, sanctification, their strength and their glory, which the Lord Jesus Christ was and is for all believers. This heretical teaching, destructive to souls, was publicly and wisely refuted and condemned by the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod, which took place under the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and in his presence, in the year 325 after the Nativity of Christ in the city of Nicaea, and the Orthodox teaching about the Son of God, our Savior, was solemnly renewed; it is found in the Creed and reads thus: “I believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Who was begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by Whom all things were made.” 

The Holy Church gratefully glorifies the Lord today for having founded on earth the rational luminaries of our fathers and through them instructed us all in the true faith; and in the weekly Gospel, through the lips of the deacon, she pronounces the High Priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, which He uttered to God His Father before His suffering. This wondrous prayer, from which it is quite clear that He is the true Son of God, of one divine being with God the Father, who redeemed the world by His death, through Whom alone our salvation is possible (i.e., through suffering and death for the sins of the world, for His suffering and death for us is His glory, since through His suffering and death He triumphed over hades and death), reads thus: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word... And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are" (John 17:1–6, 10–11).

Since in our time, both abroad and in our own country, and even in our own city, there are some madmen who sometimes dare to blaspheme in frivolous conversations and to speak unworthily of God and our Savior, and since in the true knowledge of God and Christ, the Son of God, lies eternal life, and eternal life should be extremely dear to all of us, then let us now discuss how we can come to know God and the Lord Jesus Christ so that through knowledge of Him we can attain eternal life. For not every knowledge of God can lead to eternal life: very many do know, but still perish forever. We all know God and call His name, but the knowledge of many is fruitless, dead knowledge, which will not lead to eternal life.

Firstly, to obtain eternal life, one needs the correct knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ sent by Him, as well as all His teaching, His commandments, and not distorted by the false wisdom of heretics and schismatics, for there is a chaos of errors elevated to dogmas; otherwise it is impossible for a person to attain eternal life. The Holy Apostle Paul says: "If anyone preached to you a gospel different from the one we preached to you, let him be anathema" (Gal. 1:8–9), that is, forever excommunicated from the Lord and from eternal life. But in order to have the correct, true, saving knowledge of God, one must be a member of the Church of God, into which, as if into a rich treasury, the Apostles placed in full everything that belongs to the truth, and which is the door of life, leading into eternal life, according to the words of Saint Irenaeus. Only in the Church can one always hear the true teaching about God and have all the means to salvation and eternal life, but outside the Church there is no salvation.

Secondly, to attain eternal life, one must not only know God with a cold mind and heart, allowing oneself to be captivated by worldly interests, which is absurd; rather, it is necessary to prove the knowledge of God through the warmth of feeling and a fervent heartfelt love for Him, by amending one's entire life, rejecting worldly passions and interests, sinful habits or inclinations, temptations to sin, achieving success in every virtue, and striving relentlessly for holiness and perfection. "Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). In all their epistles to newly converted Christians, the Holy Apostles exhort them to combine the correction of life with the knowledge of God and to succeed in every virtue. Thus the Holy Apostle Peter writes in his epistle to the Jewish Christians: "Beloved, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot... Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever... Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever... Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter 1:14–23; 2:1–2). In another epistle he writes: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5–11). The Holy Apostle John the Theologian writes that we can know that we have come to know God if we keep His commandments. “Whoever says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3–4). So, Christian, if you want eternal life, then try to know God not only with a cold mind, but with all your heart, prove your knowledge of Him by your deeds; you know that God is holy, try to be holy yourself; you know that God is good and merciful, and you be compassionate, indulgent and merciful; you know that God is long-suffering, and you be long-suffering; "by your patience save your souls" (Luke 21:19); "he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22), says the Lord. You know that God is just, you also observe justice in everything; "you know the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Ps. 144:9). Cease your miserliness and do not blaspheme the All-Generous One with your stinginess; know that God is pure, and you should love spiritual and bodily purity while shunning the impurity of sin, especially the impurity of the flesh. Know that Jesus Christ taught about the benefits and necessity of fasting for man; strive to be temperate as well; do not contradict yourself, knowing one thing yet doing another entirely. Such knowledge of God and Christ will surely lead you to eternal life. The merciful shall obtain mercy; the pure in heart shall see God (Matthew 5:7–8).

If you really want to know God and be known by Him, then immediately take the path of action, the path of virtue, and immediately abandon the path of lawlessness; otherwise, your very deeds will testify against you that you do not know God and despise your own eternal good; or you flatter and deceive yourself, as if with faith in Christ you can combine carnal, sinful deeds and, calling yourself a Christian, do pagan deeds. But the Apostle clearly says to you and to people like you who dream like this: "Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves will inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9–10).

You see how absolutely necessary it is for one who has come to know God and Christ, the Son of God, to turn and leave the path of sin and take the path of virtue. So, I repeat, do not contradict yourself; if you have come to know God, then do not deny Him by your deeds. Be faithful, peaceable, humble-minded, simple-hearted, meek, self-controlled, industrious, kind; - "be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10); – chaste, obedient, patient, elevated, thinking about higher things and not about earthly things. Do not follow the inclinations of the flesh and blood and do not be worse than dumb animals, who know the measure and time for satisfying their needs. Put off the old man, which is corrupted by deceitful lusts, and put on the new, created according to God, in the image of God, in righteousness and holiness (cf. Eph. 4:22–24). All the saints who pleased God, having come to know God, immediately abandoned carnal lusts, all lawless deeds and led an active, spiritual, virtuous life; and if they fell, they immediately rose up and with great zeal took up the holy work of pleasing God. Indeed, even eternal life, continually blessed in the light of God's face, is worth enduring in the short time of this wandering life all kinds of labors, deprivations, temptations, sorrows and illnesses for the purification and perfection of oneself, one's soul, so that later, upon completion of the feat, one may rejoice eternally. "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him (Ps. 125:5–6), says the holy king and prophet David.

This is what I found necessary to tell you today, under the guidance of the word of God, for your spiritual benefit. Try to remember what was said and to fulfill it in deed for the salvation of your souls, redeemed by the most pure blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.