Homily Five for the Sunday of Saint Thomas
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
Today, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I wish to offer you a word on today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Its content is as follows:
"By the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people (that is, those who were in Jerusalem); and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Portico. None of the outsiders dared join them, but the people magnified them. And more and more believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of men and women, so that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, so that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. Also many gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy; and they laid hands on the apostles and put them in the public prison. But an Angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said: Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life" (Acts 5:12–20).
Here the reading from the Apostle ends.
What made the first small community of Christians strong? It was strong by its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by its unity and love, by the spirit of truth, holiness, and mercy, and by a united striving toward one high goal — the honor of the heavenly calling.
Since the first Christian community was exemplary in its spirit, we Christians also ought to imitate it.
We too, in our city, have such a community of Christians, strong in spirit, unity, truth, and striving toward one charitable goal; and I am confident that God will help it in its good intentions, undertakings, and works. The Lord has never put to shame those who unite together to do work for the glory of His name. And Russia will be strong both inwardly and outwardly only by its inner righteousness, unity, and mutual help of all estates, by wholehearted devotion to the Church, to the royal throne, and to the fatherland; for righteousness exalts a nation, but sin diminishes peoples (Proverbs 14:34).
A wondrous power of grace, beloved brothers and sisters, shone forth in the Apostles of Christ after the descent upon them of the Holy Spirit, sent from the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple, humble, unlearned fishermen were deemed worthy of such wisdom that they suddenly glorified the greatness of God in different languages; they received such powerful speech that they silenced all opponents; such supernatural power that they healed every illness by a word, a touch, or even the shadow of their body; by prayer and command they raised the dead and drove out demons; they were filled with such burning love for God and neighbor that for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ they were ready to go both to prison and to death — to endure countless sufferings — only not to be deprived of communion with Christ, or even to be themselves in eternal torment if only those to whom they preached the word of God might receive eternal life. Again I say: wondrous is the power of grace in the Apostles!
And what a wondrous life the first apostolic Christians and the disciples of the Apostles had! They all had one heart and one soul; there was not a single needy person among them, for to each was given whatever he needed (Acts 4:32–35).
Thus the first Christian community was very strong and glorious by its unshakable faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by its unity and love, by the abundance of miracles that testified to the presence in them of the almighty Spirit of God, by the spirit of truth and holiness, mercy and generosity, and by their common, harmonious striving toward one high goal — the honor of the heavenly calling of God.
Every Christian community — or, speaking more broadly, every Christian state — ought to strive for such virtues, and especially our Orthodox fatherland, which from the beginning received the Orthodox Christian faith and has been nurtured in it for more than a thousand years. The more zealously any society or state follows the gospel, the firmer it stands in Christian love, the stronger and more flourishing it will be, and the more successfully it will develop and be perfected in every respect. “Righteousness exalts a nation,” says the Wise One, “but sin diminishes peoples.” Look at the history of any nation and you will immediately see that it was especially great, rich, strong, and invincible when it was pious, led by its ruler — and it never fell so low, never reached such poverty and political weakness, never descended into such depths of evil as when it forgot God and fell into the abyss of unbelief and vice. So it was, so it is, and so it must always be; for the Christian faith — holy, heavenly, life-giving — brings into the life of civil societies the principles of wisdom, order, strength, and every virtue; it enlightens, strengthens, restores, and renews them, perfecting them in all respects.
Our time is an evil time. Sins and lawlessness are growing and multiplying in the Russian land; among us who bear the name of Christ and call ourselves Orthodox, the holy faith is shaken and weakened, the commandments of piety are not fulfilled, fidelity to the Church’s rules and order is broken, good customs are abandoned, and the traditions of the fathers are counted as nothing. Into family and married life have entered discord and disorder; into the upbringing of children — weakness and indulgence; into public and civil service — carelessness and self-interest; into learning — unrestrained freethinking; into the soul of each person — pride, greed, love of pleasure, lack of self-control, and envy. But if the life of Christians is disfigured, it depends on us to correct what is disfigured and make it beautiful.
And how is this to be done? In the same way as the ancient inhabitants of the great city of Nineveh did: they sincerely repented at the word of the Prophet Jonah, who foretold the destruction of the whole city if its inhabitants did not repent within forty days. And they all, from the least to the greatest, brought sincere repentance to the Lord and corrected their corrupt ways (Jonah 3). Let us also repent and take as our example the first apostolic Christians. Let us learn from them unity, mutual love, mutual mercy, non-possessiveness, self-restraint, truth and honesty, purity and holiness. This is the image of true Christianity!
“Be therefore perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
“Be therefore merciful, as your Heavenly Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.