November: Day 27: Teaching 2: Feast of the Sign of the Mother of God

November: Day 27: Teaching 2:
Feast of the Sign of the Mother of God
 
(Whom Should We Seek Help From Against Enemies Visible and Invisible?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On this day, a great national celebration once took place in ancient Novgorod. It was a great celebration, but a great miracle also occurred.

One day, numerous and fearsome enemies approached this ancient city, besieged it from all sides with their army, and threatened to destroy it with fire and sword. The poor Novgorodians were dismayed and terrified; their military forces were small, they had no means of defense, and there was no one to expect help from. What should they do in such a situation? What should they decide? After long and varied consultations and deliberations, they finally decided to resort to the merciful Lord God, to turn with fervent prayer to the heavenly Intercessor, the revered Leader — the Mother of God. And so the entire nation rose to prayer; young and old flocked to the churches of God; prayerful cries and lamentations resounded from the streets and crossroads; fervent tears and fervent prayers flowed to the heavens; – and consider how important, how significant before God is a united, communal prayer founded on heartfelt faith, hastened by love, and nurtured by hope! – One night, following such a communal and ardent prayer, the Archbishop of Novgorod received in a dream a command to place the next morning on the city wall an icon depicting the Mother of God with her hands raised in sorrow. Upon awakening, the Archbishop received this command with unwavering faith and, the next morning, indeed, with due reverence, he placed the sacred icon on the city wall, positioning it so that it faced the praying people. As the service of supplication to the Most Holy Theotokos began, the enemies, who had intended to launch a decisive assault on the city at that moment, were suddenly thrown into confusion, disoriented, faltered, and, struck by an invisible force, scattered and fled! The weak Novgorodian army could only strike at the fleeing and gather the treasures of the enemy camp; – and now in Novgorod, on the day before this gloomy and sorrowful one, – there was universal joy, delight, and the greatest triumph! The enemies before them had seemed invincible – and they were scattered, there had been hunger and need – now there was abundance in everything; there had been despair and fear – suddenly, there was indescribable joy and merriment! Thus, the Mother of God saved the ancient Novgorodians from numerous and terrible foes; thus, She revealed to them the Sign of Her miraculous help and power; and thus, time and again, She has saved our homeland in times of internal strife and in the grave invasions of foreign enemies. In the same way, She now saves all of us, Christians, from all the hardships and misfortunes of life and from all our enemies, both visible and invisible.

II. a) The ancient Novgorodians were surrounded and oppressed by enemies, and we too are surrounded and oppressed by enemies: visible, social, family, everyday, with their malice, hatred, revenge and ill will; invisible enemies, with their temptations and seductions, for the most part almost unnoticeable to us, with their fiery arrows, flying against us day and night. Visible enemies are dangerous and difficult to fight; invisible enemies are even more dangerous and incomparably more difficult to resist. Our own flesh with its passions and encroachments wars against us, and who does not know how difficult it is to fight this domestic enemy! The world also attacks us with its pleasures and charms; our ancient, most evil, implacable enemy, the devil, wars incessantly, fiercely against us; – he entangles our souls with invisible nets, seduces the heart, inflames the flesh – and who has not felt the irresistible force of his attacks! So many enemies do we have – powerful, terrible, dangerous! And they are not preparing temporary captivity for us; they will not cast us into a temporary prison; no, they will kindle for us our ardent passions – the fire of Gehenna, unquenchable; worldly pleasures will bind us captive in eternal darkness; the devil will cast us into the prison of hades, into eternal Gehenna! This is what our enemies threaten us with – these are the terrible consequences that await us if we fail in our war with them! How can we defeat these fierce enemies? By what means can we escape their irresistible attacks?

b) The ancient Novgorodians had no natural means of getting rid of the enemies who waged war against them. We Christians also have few natural means against invisible enemies. One can arm ourselves with reason against the attacks of passions; but this armament is weak, unreliable, and very often fails us in the midst of the battle. One can arm ourselves against worldly temptations with firmness of will, good-natured patience, and contentment with one’s situation; but the lust of the eyes and worldly pride easily weaken our armour and, almost without resistance, carry us off into their captivity. One can arm ourselves against the devil with prayer and fasting; but praying to God is a tiring work for many, a heavy burden; our prayers, for the most part, are short-lived, inconstant, absent-minded, and inattentive; and many no longer consider fasting a Christian duty. There are even those who find Christian fasts even harmful to their health — that's how we neglect and abuse our only saving means against our worst enemy — the devil! How can we escape his nets when we don't even try to extricate ourselves from them?

III. There remains only one thing – to turn, like the pious people of Novgorod, to the merciful Lord God; to seek with sincere prayer our common Intercessor and Advocate, the Mother of God! She is the fervent Intercessor of all Christians, the swift Helper, the loving Mother! She is the haven of all those tormented; She is the tamer of our passions and the extinguisher of our intrusive thoughts; She is the torment of invisible enemies and the exorcist of evil spirits! To Her, our merciful Helper, let us now turn and let us continually turn from the depths of our souls, crying: "O Lady, have mercy on us, make haste, for we perish from the multitude of our sins; do not turn Your servants away in vain, for You are our only hope" — and let us believe beyond all doubt that the prayer of the Mother of God can accomplish much in bringing about the mercy of the Lord of all, God. Let us sincerely hope that even to us, the unworthy, the loving Mother will someday reveal a miraculously effective Sign of Her heavenly help! Amen.

 

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