Homily on the Third Sunday of Great Lent*
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
Today the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross are remembered, and the Gospel read today points to the Cross as the instrument of our salvation. Look, dear ones, what a sorrowful and difficult path Christ our Savior had to pass while He, leaving the judgment hall of Pilate, went to the hill of Golgotha. Long is this path: first He goes through the valley, and then He ascends over rocky ground up the mountain, and along this sorrowful road Christ must carry upon Himself His enormous Cross. What pain this Cross caused to the body of Jesus, covered with blood and wounds as a result of His scourging in the courtyard of Pilate!
But look with what joy He carries His Cross, with what patience. They strike Him, they laugh, they mock Him, but He is silent and opens His mouth only for the consolation of others: He consoles His grieving Mother, He consoles the women of Jerusalem who accompany Him with weeping to Golgotha.
Why then did He, Himself God and King of the world, so patiently — even with gladness — carry His Cross? Was it not so that we also might patiently and joyfully carry our own cross? Of course, we could not carry that heavy Cross which Christ carried to Golgotha: we would soon fall beneath its burden at the very beginning of our path. Therefore the Savior, knowing our weakness — both of soul and body — said: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me” (Mk. 8:34), that is, take the cross according to your strength, such as you can carry, with His help and with the help of others, to your Golgotha, or to your grave.
Believe that the Lord does not send upon any of us such heavy trials as could exceed the measure of our patience. Yet we constantly complain in life both against God and against people. The slightest misfortune casts us into despair; we completely lose heart — and the cause of everything is our faintheartedness and lack of faith, or even unbelief.
One monk was loved by five elders, but disliked by one, who tried in various ways to offend him. The monk lost patience and, leaving the monastery, departed to another. There eight people treated him kindly, but two hated him. The monk left there for a third monastery; but there only seven brothers showed him some goodwill, while five looked upon him with great displeasure. The monk decided to seek a new refuge.
On the road the monk reflected on his misfortune and was horrified, imagining that the same thing would happen to him everywhere. He sought a way by which he might live peacefully in one place, and after long reflection he found it. It was patience.
Rejoicing at the happy thought, he took a sheet of paper and wrote: “Endure!” Then he entered the first monastery he came upon. There it often happened that the good monk received annoyances not only from one or two people, but sometimes from the whole brotherhood. However, having made a vow to God, he never wished to break it; he never even attempted in thought to change his place. And when someone greatly offended him, he would simply take from his bosom the paper and read: “In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I endure.” After this he would calm himself. Thus the virtuous monk spent his whole life in peace (School of Piety,** 8).
Let us also learn, dear ones, to endure without complaint all misfortunes in our life; let us arm ourselves with Christian patience! Only then shall we bear the name of true servants of Christ, because the cross is our portion, our lot on earth. Without the cross there is no path to heaven: heaven belongs only to those people who follow Jesus Christ along the path by which He Himself went — and this is the path of the Cross.
Let us therefore fall down before the life-giving Cross of the Lord and cry out from the depths of our hearts:
Glory, O Lord, to Your honorable Cross! Amen.
Notes:
* The sermon was delivered on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross during Great Lent. Year unknown. Published from a typewritten manuscript from the archive of E. V. Apushkina. First published by Father Alexei Mechev.
** School of Piety, or Examples of Christian Virtues Selected from the Lives of the Saints. In two volumes. 19th ed. Vol. I. St. Petersburg. 1915. Page 16. With reference to the Prologue, February 15.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
