Homily One for Holy Tuesday
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
“As the Lord was going toward His voluntary Passion, He said to the Apostles on the way: ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered up, as it is written of Him.' Come then, let us also go with Him, purified in mind, and be crucified with Him, and put to death for His sake the pleasures of this life, that we may also live with Him.” (Vespers, Sticheron 1)
When the Lord said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” one of them cried out on behalf of all: “Let us also go, that we may die with him!” (John 11:11, 16). Now, brothers, the time has come not for the death of Lazarus, but for the death of our Lord Himself, who says that “after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matt. 26:2).
Will any of us hesitate to say: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him”? But it is not enough merely to say this — we must fulfill it in reality. With Lazarus, one could avoid dying; but with our Lord and Savior, we must certainly die.
Do you hear how He Himself calls us to this high honor? “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:38). After this, to refuse the cross and death with the Lord means to refuse the Lord Himself and our salvation. Who would dare to do this?
Therefore, brothers, come — come all — not only “to go with” the Lord who goes to suffering, as we urged you yesterday, but also “to be crucified with Him and to put to death for His sake the pleasures of this life.”
“But where is Golgotha and the cross necessary for such crucifixion?” Everywhere — wherever you and I are.
Indeed, brothers, in this world there is no lack of literal crosses. How many followers of Christ, in different times and places, have ended their lives, like their Savior, upon the Cross? And such things can still happen today, for a great part of humanity still considers faith in the Crucified to be foolishness and is ready to persecute His Cross with new crosses.
A Christian is not required to seek out such crosses; but when they come to him, he must go to them without hesitation. Therefore, each person, wherever he may be and whatever his position, must always nurture and strengthen within himself the holy resolve to stand, if necessary, for the name of his Savior even to the shedding of blood. He must prepare himself beforehand, so that when danger comes, he does not, out of fear of death, betray his faith and cause his Savior to be ashamed of such cowardice before God and the angels.
And when is it more fitting to strengthen this holy resolve to remain faithful to our Savior unto death than during the days of His own suffering and death, which He endured for us?
But these are crosses for the few. There are other crosses that are completely unavoidable for everyone — avoiding them is always a sin, because being crucified on them is the very essence of Christianity.
First, brothers, the whole external world in which we live and move is arranged in such a way that everything in it can become a cross for us. In the world, as the great cross-bearer Paul says, there are “dangers in rivers, dangers in cities, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea” (2 Cor. 11:26).
Second, every human society to which we belong, as members, is such that each of us encounters many crosses within it. And here also, as the same apostle says, there are “dangers from robbers, dangers from one’s own people, dangers from the Gentiles… dangers among false brethren” (2 Cor. 11:26).
Finally, the very complex constitution of our fallen nature, corrupted by sin, forms for each of us a terrible multitude of crosses. What a heavy and unremovable cross for the soul is our mortal and sinful body! Its very outward form shows this: it is enough to stretch out your arms to see in yourself the shape of a cross.
You will see this even more when you stretch out your hands in constant prayer; still more when you stretch them out to help others, to defend the innocent who are persecuted, to oppose evil that is strong and triumphant. And even more so if those hands — which you now resolve to stretch out for good — were once accustomed to stretch out for evil.
The Apostle Paul had already been crucified to the world and had long lived a new life in Christ; and yet he still felt at times the burden of the cross of the flesh so strongly that he cried out: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24).
Indeed, no one can deliver us! For even the spirit itself, which is meant to bear the cross of the flesh, contains within itself many crosses. How divided it is in its present sinful state — how conflicted, how self-opposed, how self-tormenting!
Conscience pulls it toward duty and truth, while impure desires pull it toward falsehood and sin. Faith lifts its gaze upward, while earthly reasoning drags it downward. Christian love inclines it to become all things to all people, while self-love strives to subject everything and everyone to itself.
How much pressure! How much struggle and inner torment!
And where is the end of all these crosses of body and soul? In one grave — if indeed even there “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” through grace (2 Cor. 5:4). Otherwise, from many temporary crosses one must pass to an eternal cross.
Therefore, if you desire to be crucified with Christ, do not fear that you will lack crosses. The wisdom of God knows how necessary it is for your old self to be crucified, and so it has already arranged everything needed to carry out this loving execution upon it. From the cradle to the grave you are constantly called, led, and drawn to the cross — through every physical and spiritual weakness, every sorrow and deprivation, every temptation and stumbling block. Only do not resist or harden yourself — and you will be crucified in body and spirit, in mind and will, both outwardly and inwardly.
Do you want to know, beloved, what our crucifixion should consist of? To understand this, imagine that you are actually on the cross. What would happen to you then? Your free movement — both of hands and feet — would cease; the whole world would lose its value for you; all its goods would become foreign, as though they did not exist. Only one thing would remain in your mind and heart: how to be freed as quickly as possible from the earth and the flesh, and to entrust your spirit to God.
Place yourself voluntarily in such a state of soul, by the power of faith and love for Christ — and you will be crucified with Him. One who is crucified with Christ no longer acts according to his own will, but everything is according to the will of God. His hands and feet are just as motionless toward evil and injustice as those of one nailed to a cross. The world, with all its goods and temptations, no longer attracts him. The thought of the end of earthly life becomes dear to him. He is already lifted in spirit from earth to heaven, and his life is hidden in God. Be like this — and you will be crucified with Christ.
But how can one remain in such a state, which is so difficult for the flesh? How do those who are crucified remain on the cross? By nails.
Nail yourself to the cross of self-denial, first of all, by the fear of God and the remembrance of Him. “The fear of the Lord drives away sins” (Sirach 1:21) and temptations; it makes a person immovable toward evil and firm in good.
Nail yourself to the cross by remembering death. One who keeps his death before his eyes will not stretch out his hands toward forbidden fruit.
Nail yourself by the hope of eternal blessings promised to those who struggle even to the shedding of blood. If the hope of a corruptible crown drives thousands to face death, will not the hope of a heavenly crown do the same?
Finally, nail yourself to the cross by love for your crucified Savior. “Love, by its very nature, endures all things, hopes all things, and never fails” (1 Cor. 13:7). These four nails are enough to hold even the heaviest flesh upon the cross of self-denial.
“But this state is terrible and painful! Is this really the essence of Christianity?” Yes, beloved — this very state, terrible and painful for the old self.
Are you afraid? But is not this old self, condemned to crucifixion, itself terrible and painful? Was it not this very self that drove us out of paradise? Does it not torment us all our lives? Will it not lay us in the grave and deliver us to corruption? At least let us not allow it to cast us into hell. Let us put it to death by the power of the Cross before it robs us of eternal life.
And what is the use of trying to avoid the cross? That could have been done in Eden, before tasting the forbidden fruit — but now it is impossible. We cannot lay aside either the cross of the body or the cross of the spirit. We are born with them, and with them we will leave this world.
What depends on us is only this: whether we die on this cross to the world for God, or to God for the world; whether we surrender our spirit with Christ in faith and love, or surrender it to the devil in unbelief and self-love.
Therefore, if wounds are unavoidable, it is better to bear the wounds of the Lord than those of His — and our — enemy. If we suffer with the Lord, we will also be glorified with Him; but if we suffer with the world and with the spirit of evil, what will we receive except eternal shame and torment?
Let us also not forget, for our encouragement, that the Cross of Christ is terrible only at the beginning; beyond it lies paradise — not only in heaven, but even on earth. An ordinary cross takes away all life from the one crucified; but the Cross of Christ, taking away worldly and sinful life, gives in its place a new life in God and in Christ.
As much as “the outward man is wasting away” on this cross (testifies one who experienced nearly every cross in the world) so much “the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). And again: as sufferings abound for one crucified with Christ, so also abound the consolations of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, what could be more joyful for a person than to rise from the grave? And this is exactly what happens to the one who crucifies himself with Christ to the world and to sin: after the death of the flesh comes spiritual resurrection, which by its very nature is the most blessed state.
Therefore, brothers, putting aside all doubt and fear, let us follow our Lord to the cross of self-denial. Seeing our faith and love, He, who is all-powerful and all-good, will Himself hasten to strengthen our wavering steps in this holy and necessary struggle. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.