July: Day 4: Teaching 1: Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

July: Day 4: Teaching 1:
Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

(On How One Should Repent)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Andrew the Archbishop of Crete was born in Damascus in the 7th century and, healed of muteness after receiving the Holy Mysteries, devoted himself to reading the word of God, and at the age of 14 was received by Patriarch Sophronios into the clerical ranks of the Church of Jerusalem.* When the Arabs took the Holy City, Andrew continued to reside there. In the rank of Archdeacon, he was present at the 6th Ecumenical Synod and denounced the heretics who recognized in Christ the one divine will. Upon returning from the Synod, Andrew devoted himself to prayer and care for the poor and sick. Then, appointed Archbishop of the island of Crete (now Candia, on the Mediterranean Sea), he wisely ruled his flock, edifying them through both word and deed. Through his prayers, he saved the island from the invasion of the Saracens. Being summoned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical matters, Andrew, on his return journey, foretold that he would not see the island of Crete. Indeed, he passed away on the island of Mytilene, having not reached Crete. 

Among the hymns of Saint Andrew, the most significant is the penitential canon, which is read during Great Lent at compline of the first week and at matins on Thursday of the fifth week. Here, Saint Andrew laments the sorrowful state of the sinner and, by depicting the figures and events of the Old and New Testament, teaches us to grieve for our sins and to hope in God's mercy. The Great Canon was brought to Constantinople along with the life of Saint Mary of Egypt, which was written by Saint Sophronios, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and at that time, both these works were included in the Lenten service. 

II. Saint Andrew of Crete, who composed his immortal Great Canon of repentance, urges us, brethren, to converse with you about how one should repent.

The purpose of our fasting is to prepare for the uncondemned reception of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, for the reception of the Lord Himself, Who says: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." As the Lord is most pure, while we are unclean, therefore, before partaking of the holy and most pure Mysteries of Christ, we must undergo a purification of conscience and seek complete forgiveness in the Mystery of Repentance.

He who is pure will undoubtedly commune with Christ the Savior: He is communicative and seeks communion with us, and if He does not communicate, the reason lies in our impurity. Therefore, the primary task for us is the purification of the conscience and the obtaining of forgiveness in the Mystery of Repentance. This is what we will now direct all our care and concern to.

He who repents as he should will be cleansed of sins and will receive forgiveness. Now the question arises: Who repents as he should? He who recognizes his sins and confesses them sincerely; having confessed them, is grieved over them and weeps over them; having grieved and wept, makes a firm intention to no longer offend God with his sins; and finally, in this disposition, humbly confesses all his sins before his spiritual father, in order to receive absolution for them and to appear at the Lord's cup justified and pure before the eyes of God.

a) Therefore take care to know your sins and confess them. To know your sins means to say that such and such a sin has been committed by us; and to confess them means to condemn yourself for them, to say: “I am guilty,” without allowing any justifications or excuses. “I have sinned,” “I am guilty” – these two words must be pronounced first of all and pronounced sincerely.

Look then: in what and how have you sinned? I do not think that this is difficult. The commandments are known and the conscience is there. The commandment will indicate what we should do, and the conscience will testify whether we have done it or not. For this, look through the commands of the Ten Commandments and the commands of the Beatitudes and see which commandment has been broken and what virtues are lacking in the heart. As in a clean mirror, when you look into it with unclosed and unfogged eyes, small specks on the face are visible, so all our misdeeds and sins in words, deeds and thoughts will be revealed when we force our conscience to look into the mirror of God's commandments, indicated in the word of God.

It only remains to add to this self-condemnation, the consciousness of one’s guilt, and this will come when we reject any justification of ourselves, either by the circumstances of life, or by the type of service and the conditions of relationships, or by passions, or by ignorance, in a word, by nothing, but we will do it so that, as soon as a sin is noticed, we will sincerely say: “I am guilty, I am undeniably guilty.”

b) Having recognized the sins, one must mourn them, be distressed that they have been committed. He who sincerely said: “I am guilty,” is not far from saying: “Why have I done all this?” – to regret it, to be ashamed of himself, to ache before the Lord, to fear His judgment and the misfortune that awaits the one who remains unjustified in his sins! Not far from this, however, even this requires work on oneself, self-government and self-compulsion, for there is a hardening of the heart, according to which, both recognizing sins and having nothing to justify them with, they say: “What is this?” Remember how many times you said: “I will not,” “I will not,” and still sinned and even more and more stubbornly than before. Remember that no one forced you: you yourself, in your evil nature, sinned and insulted before the face of God, Who sees everything, and you pushed aside His hand, with which He stopped you. Remember death, judgment, hell; remember everything else with which you hope to crush your stubborn heart. Disturb it in every way, excite it and set it in motion. To these reflections add prayer to the Lord, that the Master of all things may give you dominion over your heart. What kind of repentance is this, in which there is no sorrow, no contrition!

c) Following the pain of the heart about sins will come the intention to abandon them, not to offend the Lord with them anymore and not to destroy oneself. That repentance is not true, after which one again falls into former sins without any struggle with one's passions and lusts, and without a fervent tearful request for help from above and without any spiritual means and exercises, such as, for example, fasting, withdrawal from temptations, zealous reading of the word of God, frequent confession, communion of the life-giving mysteries, etc., means that ensure our victory in the struggle with the flesh, the world and the devil.

d) And after this will follow the most sincere confession of sins, and the most effective resolution of them. And repentance will be accomplished in truth, unto salvation.

And what good will it do if we stand at services without feeling, bored or distracted, annoyed that they drag on too long; we spend our free time from services half asleep and inactive; then we coldly say in confession “I am sinful” about the sins that are asked about, and not having any thought about the fact that our main goal should be the complete correction of our lives... What good will it do? This will mean fulfilling the custom of fasting, and not fasting for salvation.

III. Be careful how you walk, especially on the days of fasting, when the enemy, without tempting us with sins, manages to make useless the means given to us by the grace of God for cleansing ourselves from sins and thus continue his dominion over us. 

 

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

 

* This should be corrected to say that Saint Andrew went to the Lavra of Saint Savvas the Sanctified in the Holy Land at 14 or 15 years old, was tonsured a monk there at the age of 18, and not long after this was ordained a Reader and an Archdeacon.