Homily Two for the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross
By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev
By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev
The Holy Church, leading us into the most important part of the Holy Fast —into the days of the Veneration of the Holy Cross — and saying: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” reveals to us our most important task on earth: to deny ourselves, to renounce what is sinful within us, to take up our cross and follow the Savior.
Saying this and glorifying the Holy Cross, the Church comes to our aid so that we may not fall into despair, thinking that this commandment is beyond our strength, and during the 5th and 6th weeks of Great Lent it gives us two images, two examples — John of the Ladder and Mary of Egypt.
The Church says to us: “Behold, you have been walking in this great school — you have walked, beginning with the awareness of sin within yourselves and mourning it together with the first Adam; you have passed through the Correct Glorification (2nd week), which brings us out of that state and leads us to the doors of paradise through life in the mysteries; you have passed through the illumination of the Taboric light (3rd week), and have come to what is most essential in your present life — to the bearing of the cross, to co-crucifixion with the Lord upon it.” And now the Holy Church gives us a visible example of people who, being just as sinful and bearing the flesh and sin of Adam as we do, have ascended to the height of the first blessedness.
I remember how I was once in a monastery during the fourth week of Great Lent, and a nun, showing me the church, said: “Now our weeks will come — the remembrance of John of the Ladder and Mary of Egypt.” — Why “ours”? Are they not also for laypeople?
Yes, we are at fault in that we separate the monastic life from our own life in the world. Many of us now think that the monastic life — the life of struggle against passions and desires — has ended, or even passed away, and that we, modern Christians, must live another kind of life, something different and unlike it. But the Church, during the days of this greatest school for all Orthodox Christians, points to two monastic examples: Mary of Egypt and John of the Ladder. It shows them not only to monks who honor them, but also to us — the laity — reminding us that in our own lives some measure of attainment is also possible. John of the Ladder tells us that the path he describes in his Ladder exists not only for monks who have “left the world,” but also for us.
John of the Ladder lived in the 6th century. He entered the Sinai monastery at the age of 16, and after some time withdrew into solitude and lived for 40 years at the foot of Sinai. From this solitude he was later called, already at an advanced age — 75 years — by the monks of Sinai, who chose him as their abbot.
Throughout his life, John of the Ladder followed the path of self-perfection in God. When the abbot of Raithu Monastery (a neighboring monastery) asked him to give them spiritual guidance, John, out of humility, considering himself ignorant and unlearned, wished to refuse, but accepted the task as an act of obedience and wrote the Ladder (in the exact Greek translation — The Ladder of Paradise).
The Ladder contains 30 chapters, which can be divided into two parts. In the first part, John speaks about vices contrary to Christian life and about the struggle with passions — slander, talkativeness, laziness, despondency, and so on. The first part includes 23 chapters, while the second, beginning with the 24th, speaks about virtues: meekness, discernment, humility, faith, hope, and, as the fulfillment of all — love.
These 30 steps of spiritual ascent are precious to us because they were written by a great ascetic in his old age — not by invention, but by observation, above all of his own soul, and also by consulting other Holy Fathers, whom he sometimes mentions, for example Evagrius, Cassian, and others.
For us, who wish to follow what the Holy Church offers to her children, who throughout the year have heard the teaching of John of the Ladder on despondency, vainglory, and so on — for us (in these days, when we still stand in the week of the Veneration of the Cross and approach the week of John of the Ladder) — it is necessary to state briefly how he understands what is most essential in our life.
“All are infants in Christ,” says John of the Ladder. All of us are infants in spiritual age, and our task is to be healed, to be cured of sin during this life.
“When we wish to leave Egypt and flee from Pharaoh, we also have need of some Moses — that is, a mediator before God and after God — who, standing between praxis and theoria, would lift up his hands to God for us, so that, guided by him, we may pass through the sea of sins and overcome Amalek of the passions. Therefore those are deceived who, trusting in themselves, think they have no need of any guide; for those who came out of Egypt had Moses as their guide, and those who escaped from Sodom had an Angel — that is, a man equal to the angels; for according to the corruption of our wounds, we need a very skillful physician.”
The point is that we are sick, all of us are sick — monks and laypeople, men and women — we are sick with our sins. This sea of sins prevents us from ascending to the heavenly dwellings. We need a physician who can lead us out of this condition.
What path, then, must we follow?
All of us, or our sponsors on our behalf, made a vow at baptism: “We renounce Satan and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pride.”
The one being baptized bears witness to this renunciation, saying three times “I renounce,” and three times in the past tense: “I have renounced,” and then gives a vow of union with Christ, saying three times: “I unite myself,” and again three times in the past tense: “I have united myself.”
The first discourse of John of the Ladder, “On Renunciation of the World,” which he places as the cornerstone, applies also to monks, although they seem already to have left the world.
The word “world” in Holy Scripture has several meanings.
First, the world is the creation of God, full of beauty. From this world a Christian should not renounce himself — but it no longer exists as such, for sin has entered into it, evil has entered, and now “the world lies in evil.”
The second meaning of “world” is evil, sin.
The third meaning is the world in which we live, which contains both beauty and goodness — and sin.
From which “world,” then, do monks and laypeople renounce themselves?
They do not renounce the world created and loved by God: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,” nor do they renounce the world in which they live. For even the monk, renouncing the world, still lives in the world — in the desert, in a cave, in a monastery.
But it is from the world of sin — from passions, from the devil — that every baptized person renounces, and again the one who takes monastic tonsure.
If this is so, how should we carry out our path of salvation?
At first, this renunciation is accomplished with great difficulty. “At the very beginning of renunciation,” says John of the Ladder, “we perform the virtues with effort, compulsion, and sorrow; but as we progress, we cease to feel this sorrow, or feel it only a little; and when our carnal mind is conquered and captured by zeal, then we perform them with all joy and eagerness, with desire and divine fire.”
This state of struggle and effort, of which the ascetic speaks — he who has already reached the heights and known both the joy of prayer and divine fire — is very close to us, and we must now relate to it differently, because we receive these words from someone who has already ascended and remembers his ascent, his labors, his compulsion, and his sorrow.
We must all remember what John of the Ladder says: “All who enter upon this good struggle, hard and narrow but easy, must know that they have come to cast themselves into the fire, if they wish the immaterial fire to dwell within them.”
Thus, on the one hand, this struggle is hard and narrow, and yet also easy. John of the Ladder testifies that the Lord, by His special providence, lightens the struggle for beginners, so that they may not immediately return to the world. Therefore, “rejoice always in the Lord, all servants of God, seeing in this the first sign of the Lord’s love for you — that He Himself has called you.” This path is easy because the Lord makes it easier, especially for beginners, and many of us know this from experience: how easy it was to go to church, how unwilling we were to leave the services, how light our cross seemed, and how we wondered why it was so difficult for others when it was easy for us. But at the same time, we must remember that constant labor must accompany us, that struggle is necessary. In our foolishness, we think that a Christian is one who “believes,” but even demons “believe — and tremble.” Therefore, this is not the main sign.
Here is what John of the Ladder says: “A Christian is one who, as far as is possible for man, imitates Christ in words, deeds, and thoughts, rightly and blamelessly believing in the Holy Trinity.”
Thus, first of all, we must imitate Christ in words, deeds, and thoughts, and believe blamelessly in the Holy Trinity.
And who is a lover of God?
We are accustomed to think that this is one who loves God, prays like the Pharisee, gives alms in the name of God — but the Church defines it differently:
“A lover of God is one who uses everything natural and sinless and, according to his strength, strives to do good.” And it is clear to us that we, being sinful, live unnaturally; otherwise we would not be sinners. We must use what is natural and sinless and strive to do good — that is what John of the Ladder requires.
Many of us only believe and are moved (for example, when we read about the Last Judgment), but in reality do nothing and do not think of imitating Christ. Many cannot even understand that there is only one path — the path of doing the works of Christ, the purification of the soul from desires and passions — the same for monks and for laypeople. The difference is only in the measure of progress.
How, then, does John of the Ladder view the choice of path? “Those who truly wish to serve Christ must first strive, with the help of spiritual fathers and their own discernment, to choose suitable places and ways of life, paths and training; for communal life is not beneficial for all because of sensuality, nor are all capable of silence because of anger; but each must consider what path corresponds to his qualities.”
Thus, on the one hand, there is one common path for all — the struggle with sins, the healing of passions — but at the same time each must walk his own path.
What does this mean?
When a person suffers from an illness, a good physician treats him according to his overall condition. Thus, pneumonia will be treated differently in different people. The general treatment is the same, but it is adjusted depending on the condition of each person.
The Lord likewise allows each person to proceed according to his qualities. John of the Ladder wrote for monks, but even among them there are different paths: solitude, solitude with one or two others, or communal life.
“All monastic life is contained in three principal forms: either to practice silence alone or with one or two others, or to remain patiently in community.”
We, in most cases, as beginners, must remember what he says further: “Do not turn aside, says Ecclesiastes, neither to the right nor to the left (Prov. 4:27), but walk the royal way.”
We must remember that we are to walk the path of community, not isolating ourselves individually, but going together: “Bear one another’s burdens,” says the Lord.
The communal path is for us the royal path. But we must also remember that while walking together, each walks his own path, each has his own weaknesses and shortcomings, and with the help of our spiritual fathers and the teachings of the Fathers, we must choose a path suited to our nature.
This is the fundamental principle on which John of the Ladder builds his teaching and unfolds his Ladder.
For us, who desire to venerate the Holy Cross and pray, “May the Holy Cross not be fruitless in us,” we must remember and understand that John of the Ladder was a Christian not only in faith, but also in imitation of Christ — in word, deed, and thought — and that he left us a path by which we, under the guidance of our spiritual fathers, may walk.
In the 10th century, the Ladder was translated into Bulgarian and came to us, and in the 19th century it was translated into Serbian and also came to Russia. By this book our great ascetics were formed — Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples. It was well known to Nil of Sora. In their time — the 14th and 15th centuries — when true spiritual labor was flourishing in Rus’, it existed in many manuscripts.
Later it was forgotten, and it had to be translated again almost in our own time by Paisius Velichkovsky. This book, the Ladder of Paradise, is little known today, although it has been published several times; the best edition is that of Optina Monastery.
Those of you who wish not only to speak about Christ but to act must know this book and remember that John of the Ladder is placed in Lent not simply to fill Sundays with commemorations — his separate feast will soon come (March 30) — but because the Church, by assigning even a whole week of Great Lent to him, shows that in the Ladder he left us a treasure that gives us spiritual structure.
Our present time has put everything at stake. There are those who wish to discard the monastic experience and follow another path. But the Church testifies that there is only one path — the struggle with passions and desires, the healing of the soul. John of the Ladder walked this path of healing and left us his experience, which we gradually study in the church from week to week.
If we feel that John of the Ladder speaks so much to us, revealing sins we did not even suspect, then how great must his significance be for true spiritual laborers. If even we feel this joy, then we can understand that this book and this ascetic are also important for our life in the world.
When we celebrate his memory, let each remember what he has received from him, and then you will understand the great wisdom in the arrangement of the weeks of Great Lent, when immediately after the Sunday of the Cross the Church shows us how the Holy Fathers, who left us this path, lead us also toward the heavenly dwellings.
With a call to ascent, the Venerable John of the Ladder concludes his Ladder:
“Ascend, brethren, ascend eagerly, setting your ascent in your hearts and heeding the prophet who says: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of our God' (Isa. 2), 'Who makes our feet like those of deer and sets us upon the heights' (Ps. 17:34), that we may become victors on His path. I also beseech you with the Apostle, who said: 'Let us strive until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Eph. 4:13). And Christ, being baptized at the age of thirty in visible years, received the thirtieth step in this spiritual Ladder; for Love is God — to Him be praise, to Him be dominion, to Him be power and glory; in Him is the beginning of all good, and it is, and was, and shall be unto the ages without end.” Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.