Homily Two for the Sunday After Theophany (St. John of Kronstadt)

From the Church of St. Spyridon in Flampouriari, 17th cent.

Homily Two for the Sunday After Theophany
(or Sunday After Illumination)

St. John of Kronstadt

Today’s Sunday is called the Sunday after Illumination, or the day of the week on which one should not occupy oneself with ordinary worldly, earthly affairs, but should do the works that bring salvation to one’s soul — after Illumination, that is, after Baptism, which both formerly and now has been called and is called Illumination, because through Baptism spiritual light is bestowed by God upon our souls, the light of the knowledge of God and of piety. A sign of this even to this day is the lamps or wax candles lit at the baptismal font, as well as the lighted candles held in the hands of the sponsor and the sponsoress. This spiritual light — incorruptible and eternal, communicated to our souls — is Christ our God Himself, the true Light, who enlightens every person coming into the world. Spiritual darkness, however, is sin, or the author and ruler of sin, the prince of darkness, the devil, who darkens and deceives the human race by sin, teaching every sin and drawing man into eternal perdition.

In accordance with such meaning of today’s Sunday, the Gospel read at the Divine Liturgy speaks of the coming of Jesus Christ from the city of Nazareth, where He lived and was brought up, into pagan Galilee, to people sitting in darkness in the land and shadow of death, and of their illumination, as the Prophet Isaiah foretold seven hundred years before Christ’s coming to earth, saying: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the land and shadow of death light has dawned” (Matthew 4:15–16; Isaiah 9:1–2). And since spiritual illumination is accomplished through sincere repentance of sins — which are true darkness, eternal darkness and eternal torment — the Lord, having settled in this land of darkness and the shadow of death, began to preach and to say: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Thus, true repentance drives away sinful darkness — sin and the author of sin, the devil, who lives and reigns in the hearts of sinners — and establishes in the heart of the believer who has repented the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of Christ. Such is the content and meaning of today’s Gospel: it speaks of our spiritual illumination, of repentance from sins, and of the nearness to us now, with the coming of Christ God to earth, of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of grace, which is His Church — this grace-filled Kingdom on earth — in which are given to us all the divine powers for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Therefore, today’s discourse must be about Christian illumination.

Are all of us illumined Christians? Do all of us live in constant, sincere repentance, as perpetual sinners deserving of God’s judgment, or do we add sins to sins? Do we zealously strive to do good works, for which we were created, or have we become vain, diminished, and pursue the fantasies of our hearts? I have posed these questions to myself and to you in order to show that true Christian illumination consists in self-knowledge, that is, in knowing who we are and for what purpose we exist; what we were in the beginning when created by God; what we became after committing sin; and what we must inevitably become.

Furthermore, true Christian illumination consists in sincere, active repentance — not empty, formal, or false repentance — performed by many of us each year on prescribed days and not subsequently accompanied by fruits of repentance: a corrected life, works of righteousness, mercy, temperance, purity, holiness, and a zealous striving for Christian perfection, according to Scripture: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Moreover, it is to show that true Christian illumination does not consist merely in literacy or in the study of various sciences pertaining to the earth and what is on the earth, or even to the heavens and celestial mechanics, nor even in the study of Christian theology itself, for one may be literate and a theologian and yet lack true illumination in the soul; one may even be — as indeed often happens — a person completely darkened by the darkness of the passions.

Rather, Christian illumination consists in the illumination of the eyes of the heart by the light of Christ’s gospel; in the removal, with the help of Christ’s grace through repentance and prayer, of every darkness of the passions; in putting away deceit, unbelief, self-love, self-conceit, malice, pride, anger, hatred, envy, judgment of others, hardness of heart, and greed; in turning away from idleness and vanity, or from the destructive art of passing and killing time — for example, in card playing and various spectacles such as theaters and circuses; from injustice and extortion; from an impure and adulterous life; from the reading of empty books, which may contain a skillful and clever weaving of words and mastery of language, but in their essence contain no edification and leave only regret for the time wasted on them.

Thus, Christian illumination, beloved brothers and sisters, consists in sincere faith in Christ, in self-knowledge, in unfeigned repentance and turning away from evil, and in a constant striving for Christian virtue and perfection for the sake of eternal blessedness in God and with God. If you have come to know that you are dust and ashes, that you are the stench of sin, that you are a sinner always deserving of God’s punishment; if you are guileless and simple-hearted, meek and humble of heart, peaceful and peace-loving, patient and self-denying, loving righteousness, standing for it and despising unrighteousness; if you are sincerely benevolent, merciful, and compassionate; if you are temperate and pure in heart, honoring purity and chastity, hating idleness and idle amusements, and day and night you meditate on fulfilling the gospel — this wise, life-giving, righteous, eternal science of sciences — then you possess incorruptible Christian illumination, not the illusory, worldly illumination that vanishes like a meteor; and you are not far from the Kingdom of God — or the Kingdom of God is already within you (Luke 17:21). May God grant that we may one day congratulate ourselves on this. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.