Prologue in Sermons: October 10

Great Righteous People Are Not Safe From Sins, 

and Great Sinners Should Not Despair of Salvation

October 10

(On Our Venerable Father James the Faster)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many people go to extremes in their judgments of their moral state. Some, considering themselves completely established in goodness, believe they are safe from this or that sin; others, on the contrary, considering themselves the greatest sinners, believe that God will never forgive them. Both are mistaken. No one should consider themselves safe from sin, and no one should despair of salvation. This is evident from the following story.

Saint James the Faster spent eleven years (according to other accounts, forty-five) in the desert, fasting and praying, and attained such moral perfection that he was granted the gift of miracles. However, being servile to us, he suffered a great fall. A wealthy man once brought him a possessed girl, his daughter, and asked him to pray for her healing. James agreed, and through his prayers, the possessed woman was truly healed. Her father, fearing that the demon would return, begged the Saint to keep his daughter with him until she was completely healed. James agreed to this, and the girl remained with him. But then the devil attacked James with such force, arousing in him an impure passion, that James could not resist and fell with the girl. A grave sin indeed, but a new sin followed! Fearing her parents and shame, James killed the girl and fled the desert. At this point, the devil was already trying to lead him into a third sin, namely, despair; but he was unsuccessful. James soon awoke as if from a deep sleep, wept bitterly, and beat his chest. Then, having confessed his sins to the abbot and brethren in one of the monasteries, he entered a cave and spent a long time there, weeping over his sins. The loving Lord finally heeded his repentance and not only forgave him but also restored to him the gift of miracles.

What advice, then, brethren, should I give you after this account? Let no one consider themselves righteous, inaccessible to sin, and let no one say, "God, I thank You that I am not like other people — offenders, robbers, adulterers." And let those who consider themselves great sinners not despair of their salvation, but, having begun to correct themselves, let them, like James, mourn their sins and dissolve their tears in the hope of pardon. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.