Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 28

The Month of September 

Day 28

29. To Unrepentant Sinners

(From the Life of our Venerable Father Chariton)

Unrepentant sinners, who have come into the depths of evil, whose habit of one sin or another has turned into a passion, not only do not think about correcting their lives, but are concerned with only one thing: where and how they might more conveniently commit some evil deed without punishment—for example, how they might kill someone, rob, deceive, or wrong someone. What do you think, brethren, will such hardening in evil pass these sinners by without consequence, or not? Know that it will not pass them by, either in this life or in the life to come. There is no need even to speak of the fact that it will not pass them by in the life to come; but that it does not pass them by in the present life, we shall prove by actual examples.

When the Venerable Chariton the Confessor was going to Jerusalem, robbers attacked him, seized him, bound him, brought him to their cave, and, intending to put him to a bitter death the following day, went out onto the main road in order to find more people whom they could either rob or kill. When the robbers had gone, Chariton prayed throughout the night that the Lord would deliver him from them, and the Lord truly delivered him. The robbers had left in the cave where they lived a vessel of wine. During their absence, a serpent crawled into the cave and, finding the vessel of wine, drank from it. Having become intoxicated, it vomited the wine it had drunk back into the vessel together with its poison, and then crawled away. The robbers returned home, and, overcome by thirst, all rushed to the vessel of wine, drank from it, and then, as it is said, “killed themselves with that deadly poison: for they all fell to the ground, and, having convulsed, died.”

Another case. Once three thieves came to the Venerable Gregory of the Caves, and two of them, pointing to one of their companions, said, “Father, this man has been condemned to death; give us something so that he may ransom himself from death!” Gregory perceived their deceit and asked, “And to what death has he been condemned?” The thieves answered, “To hanging.” “You have spoken the truth,” the Venerable One replied. “Tomorrow he will indeed be hanged.” Then, having no money, he brought out whatever books he had and gave them to the thieves, and they left him. When the thieves were alone, they first began to mock the Venerable One, and then immediately plotted to commit another evil deed. Venerable Gregory had a garden in which fruit trees grew, covered with ripe fruit. At night they came into the garden, and one of them climbed a tree and began breaking off apples and throwing them down to his companions. But then the branch of the tree on which he was standing broke; the thief fell, caught his neck between the branches, and hung from one of them. The thieves fled in terror, while their companion was taken down from the tree dead.

Therefore, unrepentant sinners, wake up. You, while doing evil deeds, say, “Oh, it is nothing; everything will pass; God is merciful!” Know, then, that He is merciful only to those who repent and are concerned with their amendment; toward the unrepentant, He is just, and His wrath awaits them. Look, in fact, at those like yourselves, at least in this life: what happens to them? One rots in prison, another has been made crippled for life, a third, like Cain, goes about groaning and trembling, and a fourth dies a violent death without repentance! And this is all still in this life; but what of the life beyond the grave? Standing before the judgment of God, they will hear that terrible voice: “Depart from Me, you accursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41) — and they will go “into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). “They will be cast into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:45–46). “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

Wake up, then, we repeat, and leave the path on which you stand. This path, as you see, is a terrible, slippery path, and it inevitably leads a person to eternal destruction. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 29:

1. What did the Venerable Chariton the Confessor do when the robbers brought him to their cave?

2. What did the Venerable Gregory of the Caves give the three thieves because he had no money?

3. With whom is God merciful?

4. How is God toward the unrepentant?

5. Standing before what will the unrepentant sinners hear that terrible voice?

 

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.