Homily Two for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
The present week in the Church order of weeks is called the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee. It is so named because on this day the Lord’s parable of the publican and the Pharisee is read from the Gospel. In this parable, by the example of the publican and the Pharisee, the Lord teaches us with what disposition of soul we ought to pray in church or wherever we may be. Let us listen to how the Pharisee prayed and how the publican prayed; which of them pleased God by his prayer and which did not; by what one was pleasing and by what the other was not, so that we too may learn always to pray in a way pleasing to God and not unto condemnation. Prayer is a great thing: through prayer a person communes with God, receives from Him various gifts of grace, thanks Him as Benefactor for His unceasing mercies, or glorifies Him as the all-perfect Creator.
The Pharisee and the publican prayed in the temple. “Two men,” it is said, “went up into the temple to pray: one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.” The Pharisee prayed thus: “God, I thank You that I am not like other men — robbers, unjust, adulterers — or even like this publican. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.” The publican prayed quite differently. He spoke little, but grieved greatly over his sins; he did not lift up his head before others, but, bowing his face to the ground, out of deep sorrow he struck his breast and said only: “God make atonement for me the sinner.” Which of them had a prayer pleasing to the Lord and which did not, everyone knows: the publican went down from the temple to his home more justified, though he was a sinner; but the Pharisee did not, though he performed works of lawful righteousness (Luke 18:10–14).
Why, then, was the prayer of the publican pleasing to God? Because he was humble and had a contrite heart in prayer; and long ago the holy prophet and king David said that "a contrite and humble heart God will not despise" (Ps. 50:19).
And why did the prayer of the Pharisee prove displeasing to God? Alas! It takes little discernment to answer this correctly. “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (Isa. 5:21), says God through the Prophet. The Pharisee, in blind self-opinion and pride, forgot who he was and with whom he was speaking: a sinner imagined himself righteous; a sinner forgot that he was speaking with the All-Seeing and the All-Righteous.
My God, what are our good deeds, of which we sometimes dare to boast before people and before Your face? Every good deed of ours is of little worth, because, passing through an impure heart, it for the most part borrows from it some impurity — for example, the impurity of little faith, unbelief, self-love, hypocrisy, vainglory, pride, impatience, irritability, and so forth. Moreover, a good deed is done by us with God’s help itself, so that without the Lord, according to His word, we can do nothing (John 15:5). It is beyond doubt that each of us has incomparably more sins than good deeds. How, then, can I remember in prayer my few good deeds — done even then with God’s help — when I have incomparably more evil deeds? No: rather I will shed a tear of contrition over my sins; rather I will pour out a fervent prayer to the Lord and declare to Him my sorrows, for my soul is filled with evils and my life has drawn near to Hades; and of my good deeds, if I have done any, I will be silent or entirely forget them before the face of God, so that I may not imagine myself righteous and deserving of reward from Him for my virtues. I must remember the words of the Lord, which I must say after accomplishing every good deed: “When you have done all that is commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done what was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). How shall I enumerate the sins of others when I have countless sins of my own? No. I will not act so foolishly; I will not so greatly deceive myself with self-love and see in myself only what is good, ignoring what is evil; otherwise the passion of self-love and pride will easily seize me, and I will indeed see in myself only what is good, like the Pharisee, and forget very much what is evil. No, rather I will more often say to the Lord: “Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother.”
With such a disposition of soul let us all pray, brethren, and our prayer will be pleasing to the Lord and will serve us unto salvation. In church or in home prayer, humility before God and before people is absolutely necessary. Should a sinner be humble? The Lord shows mercy to the humble and saves them. “I was humbled, and He saved me” (Ps. 114:5), says David. God make atonement for us the sinners. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
