January: Day 1: Teaching 4: New Year's Day

January: Day 1: Teaching 4:
New Year's Day
 
(True Happiness Can Only Be the Lot of True Christians)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Greeting each other today on the New Year, we wish each other happiness. The Holy Church also wishes us all good things today, and prays for this to the Lord.

II. But know, brethren, that true happiness on earth can be the lot of only a true Christian: for only he can enjoy a pure, calm conscience — the most precious of all treasures; only he can, with firm trust in God, endure all the misfortunes and temptations that are so numerous in life and inevitable for everyone; only he can rightly use the blessings of this world for the glory of God, for the salvation of his soul, and for the benefit of his neighbors; only a true Christian can always be content with any share that the Lord sends him — and it is in this contentment that true happiness on earth consists. Without Christian piety in his heart, a person is unhappy amid the misfortunes of life, which he will not be able to bear with complacency; unhappy even with all the abundance of worldly goods, which he uses only to the detriment of his soul, and which will never bring him inner peace and contentment, inaccessible to sinful souls.

If we now wish each other happiness and mutually greet each other with this good will, then we must desire more than just earthly happiness. What is this world we are entering? It is the place of our upbringing; here we will spend several years... And then? Then will come eternity, for which the Lord is actually educating us on earth; another, more perfect life will come, for which the present serves only as a preparation; the highest, most endless happiness will be revealed to all who have time to prepare themselves for it during this life. It is this happiness, the object of the most ardent desires for all true Christians, this happiness above all else, that I wish you as you enter this new period of your preparation for eternity... But the path to it — to our heavenly homeland, the path to heavenly happiness and blessedness, as you yourselves know, is one: it is the path of faith, hope, and Christian love, the path of good deeds and a pious life.

III. Be good, pious, and true Christians, and you will certainly be truly happy on earth and will be deemed worthy of eternal happiness in the house of the Heavenly Father. Happy is he who, entering now through the gates of a new year, has resolved to leave his former wicked way of life and embark on a new path, the path of faith and piety, so that, with God's help, he may walk along it firmly and steadfastly toward the "new heaven and new earth," which "according to the promise" of God we "look for" (2 Peter 3:13). This greatest and only happiness I now wish for all of you, brethren, with all my heart, on behalf of our Mother, the Holy Orthodox Church. 

 

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