The following homily was delivered on October 19th 1905, immediately after Tsar Nicholas II was forced to sign the October Manifesto amidst massive national strikes and riots. It is a fiery, prophetic warning. He compares the complete obedience and humility of Saint John of Rila, who was Saint John of Kronstadt's patron saint, to the total rebellion of his contemporaries. He sharply notes that children had ceased obeying parents, students rejected teachers, and society had abandoned faith, predicting a demonic collapse if the nation did not repent.
Homily for the Day of the Glorious Commemoration of Our Venerable Father John of Rila
The Fruits of Faith and Unbelief
By St. John of Kronstadt
The Fruits of Faith and Unbelief
By St. John of Kronstadt
“The foundation of repentance, the model of compunction, the pattern of consolation, and the means of spiritual perfection was your life, equal to that of the Angels, O Venerable Father. Abiding in prayers and fastings, and in tears, O Father John, pray to Christ God for our souls.” (Troparion of the Venerable Father)
Today the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the glorious commemoration of our Venerable Father John of Rila, an earthly angel and a heavenly man. From his early youth, he began to labor with his mind and heart and with all the strength of his will to accomplish the Christian’s principal task in life: to put off the old man with his destructive deeds and “to put on the new man, created according to the image of God, in holiness and righteousness” (Ephesians 4:24). Through his firm and unwavering resolve, and by the grace of God, which is always ready to come to the aid of those who earnestly strive, he accomplished this task triumphantly and gloriously, attaining the glorious crown of incorruptible life.
The fact is, dear brothers and sisters, that from the very moment of our conception and birth, we inherit the vileness and corruption of sin, which separates us from God, the Source of life. Sin corrupts and gradually destroys our entire being - soul and body, plunges us into eternal darkness and torment, corrupts our bodies, and reduces them to earth.
The Venerable John triumphed completely over this dreadful corruption, as did all those who struggled as he did, and attained incorruptible, eternal, blessed life in Heaven. How did he achieve his glorious victory over sin, which corrupts everything, and attain the fragrance of holiness and perfect fulfillment of God’s will? A brief hymn composed in his honor and sung on his feast day explains this. He eradicated sin within himself and cleansed himself of it completely through awareness of his sins, tears of repentance, constant prayer, and bodily labors; through complete detachment from possessions; through comforting all who came to him grieving over their sins; and through his constant striving for Christian perfection and holiness — for meekness, humility, obedience, temperance, patience, and mercy. Thus, his life became equal to that of the Angels. He lived bodily on earth, but in mind and heart he lived in Heaven with God, whom he loved fervently and with whom he was united, becoming one spirit with Him. For, as the Apostle says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Corinthians 6:17).
I compare the life of this Venerable Father and the holy servants of God with the lives of the people of this age, especially those of our contemporaries, and I see a complete opposition between the two. In the former, there is peace and life, unfading light in the soul, quiet contemplation, repentance, unceasing prayer, peaceful spiritual and bodily labor, goodwill toward all, and love. Among worldly people, however, there are constant disturbances of the passions, turmoil, grievances, dissension, mutual ill will, pride, disobedience to authorities, unbelief, and self-confidence. Some even deny all divine and human laws, embracing lawless self-rule (autonomy), encroaching upon the property, freedom, and lives of others, and utterly denying the immortality of the human soul, the Resurrection, and the eternal Judgment. Such are, and such must be, the fruits of unbelief. The present-day rebels are ready to destroy the entire order of ecclesiastical, civic, and family life and reduce human society to a state of anarchy and savagery.
Who is waging this destructive war, declared against God and humanity? It is the one who was the first rebel in Heaven, who there declared war against God and the Angels and was himself cast down to earth. “I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning,” says the Lord (Luke 10:18). It is he who, by God’s permission — and also for the testing of humanity and the revealing of people’s thoughts, inclinations, and passions — stirs up all manner of disturbances, rebellions, and murders in our Russia and throughout the world, making instruments of those who have trampled upon their own consciences.
O suffering homeland, tormented by the rebellion of your enemies, turn sincerely to the faith of your fathers and cast out from within yourself the seeds of tares that choke the wheat. Bring forth and reveal those who are devoted to God and His Church. Rise up, rise up by the power of God, and hold firmly to the cornerstone of the Church — Christ, Almighty God and Savior. “Whoever falls upon this stone will be broken; but upon whomever it falls, it will crush him” (Luke 20:18). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
