Homily on Great Friday
Discourse 1
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
Discourse 1
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
The Prophet, having once beheld God upon a Throne exalted in glory, and feeling his own uncleanness and frailty, in terror cried out: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). What then, brethren, ought we now to say, seeing God not exalted in glory, but humbled by dishonor, not upon a throne, but in a tomb? By what name should we call ourselves, considering that these wounds, this tomb, are the work of our hands? O, wretched are we men, who by our sins not only brought down to earth the Son of God, but also lifted Him up upon the Cross and shut Him in the tomb! Ah, if sin had not raised a dreadful partition between heaven and earth, then we all, like the Prophet, would behold God exalted in glory: the Son of God would appear in the human world as He appears in the angelic worlds; He would visit the earth as a master of the house and a friend. With what joy would the uncorrupted sons of the innocent forefather meet and accompany Him! But now!… O, “who will give to our head water, and to our eyes a fountain of tears” (Jer. 9:1), that we might weep day and night over this image, that we might lament that not only we ourselves from the height of immortality have been cast down into dust, but we have also cast into the tomb the Son of God!
Such, brethren, is the power of sin! It appears as a momentary forgetting of duty, and it disturbs an entire eternity; it is accomplished in a small space of earth, but shakes all the heavens; it harms, seemingly, one man, and the Son of God Himself must suffer for its erasing! Unhappy forefather, would you have stretched forth your hand to the forbidden fruit, if you had foreseen what now lies before our eyes? Would you have desired to become as God, if you had known that this desire would cause God to die upon the Cross?
But the past is irretrievable! Man can dispose only of the present. And therefore, what is impossible for our forefather, that is entirely possible for us, his descendants: we can save our Lord from new sufferings. Indeed, brethren, the fruits of the forbidden tree grow not in Eden alone — they are everywhere; the tempting serpents even now do not cease whispering in the ear of each: “you shall not die; you shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:4–5). Transgressing the law of God, we repeat the transgression of our forefather; and repeating it, by this very thing we again cause our Savior to suffer. Before the committing of every lawlessness, He stands before the judgment of our conscience, as He once stood before the judgment of Pilate, and awaits from us a sentence: in our will it is to release or to crucify Him. Remaining firm in righteousness, faithful to truth, we set Jesus free; but giving ourselves over to sin, plunging into lawlessness, we condemn Him to the Cross!
To crucify one’s own Savior!… To crucify not in ignorance, as the Jews did, thinking Him the son of a carpenter, but in full knowledge that He is the Only-begotten Son of God!… Who will not shudder at the very thought of this? Who will not hasten rather to give his hand to be cut off, than consent to raise it against his Lord and Judge? – Yes, brethren! – But what profit is there in these burning feelings of zeal, when our deeds show the opposite?
Indeed, do we not sin continually? – What then — do we sin for the sake of pleasing our Savior? Do our sins constitute a healing balm upon these wounds? I repeat again: it is in our will to believe or not to believe; but it is an undoubted truth that when we give ourselves over to lawlessness, by this very thing we deliver our Lord to death. This is not my word, not a conjecture of human reason, but the direct and strong admonition of the Apostle, who says that those who “have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit” (and who among Christians has not been a partaker of the Spirit, at least in the mystery of baptism?), that such people — that is, all we Christians — “falling away” from a holy and pure life into the abyss of impiety and corruption, “crucify again” the Lord (Heb. 6:4–6). At this testimony every doubt must fall silent; after this there is no middle: one must either lead a virtuous life or belong to the number of the crucifiers of Jesus: “he who is not with Me is against Me” (Luke 11:23), as He Himself says.
Who then among us is not against You, O Lord? Who can stand before this tomb and, kissing these wounds, say: I did not give You the kiss of Judas? – Alas, “all have turned aside, they have become unprofitable: there is none that does good, not even one” (Ps. 13:3).
Is there much difference then, and wherein do our present-day worship and glorifications differ from those shakings of the head, from those greetings: “Hail, King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:29), with which the Divine Sufferer was greeted in the praetorium of Pilate?
Only one tolerable meaning, one sound sense can our worship have — the worship of sinners to their crucified Savior: when it is joined with a firm resolve no longer to walk the path of lawlessness, to love purity of conscience, and to amend one’s life. In this case, the sinner at the Lord’s tomb is like the prudent thief, who from the cross through repentance entered straight into paradise. And such, brethren, are the worshippers whom our Lord now seeks among sinners. “If indeed you truly speak righteousness" (Ps. 57:1), He says to us now through the Prophet, “if indeed your words and glorifications of Me are not an empty sound, if you truly wish to show your love for Me: then ‘judge rightly, O sons of men’ (Ps. 57:1); ‘put away wickedness from your souls. Learn to do good’ (Isa. 1:16–17). With such feelings do not fear to appear at this tomb, though it has been made by your hands; do not be afraid to kiss these wounds, though they were caused by your sins: boldly lay down at the foot of My Cross all the burden of your sins. But having laid it down, do not return again for this burden. The Cross of your Savior (if you no longer have the desire to lighten it) will not bend under any weight, but you yourselves may be crushed by it and cast down into the abyss before you are able again to turn to Me and approach My Cross. I, despite the glory which I now enjoy, for this reason continue to appear to you in the whole form of My past humiliation, that even the most senseless among you may know what your sins cost Me and where they lead you yourselves. Therefore come to understanding and repent! Otherwise every one of your acts of veneration of My Cross will one day become a new testimony against you.”
Can we, brethren, say anything better to this voice than the prayer of the thief: “Remember me, O Lord… in Your Kingdom!” (Luke 23:42). But praying with the lips of the prudent thief, let us also acquire his heart. He did not descend from the cross to continue the path of lawlessness; let us also not depart from this tomb to our former path of unrighteousness. Let us return by another way — the way of faith and piety, of purity and truth, of humility and meekness. At the Lord’s tomb it is best of all to begin the burial of our old man. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.