Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Luke
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
By St. Innocent of Kherson
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
By St. Innocent of Kherson
If there is any Gospel reading that may give rise to many objections among superficial minds, it is the one appointed for today. “How,” asks a person unaccustomed to thinking deeply, “is it possible for someone to become the dwelling place of evil spirits while still alive? Is this possible? Where, then, would the personhood of a human being be? His dignity? The very nature of a rational being? And is it not a reproach to creative Providence that it should permit such a terrible invasion of our world by evil spirits? That it should deliver such a creature as man over to their ferocity? To what purpose could this serve in the governance of the world? What would be its purpose with regard to man? With regard to the evil spirit itself? The moral existence of a human being would cease in such a case; he would lose the time necessary for his perfection and suffer torments. Is it possible that all this could exist in a world governed by the All-Wise and All-Good?”
Some people are regarded, and regard themselves, as being possessed by evil spirits. But in some, this belief is a consequence of a disordered understanding; in others, it results not from reflection upon the matter as it is in itself, but from commonly accepted opinion. If such cases are presented in the Gospel, they are not presented as actual truth, but according to the opinions of those times, as symbols of moral truths.
Before answering these objections, let us pause to consider the matter itself. What a strange contradiction in the human mind! It is not satisfied with knowing everything visible and strives to penetrate the mystery of supersensible existence, although it cannot do so. Yet when Revelation lifts a corner of the veil and shows something of the invisible world, that same person opposes it, closes his eyes so as not to see, turns away, contradicts, persists in opposition, and blasphemes.
And why is all this? Only because what is revealed to us from another world does not fit our measure, our ordinary concepts and laws of action. But must things in that other, invisible world necessarily be as they are here? Can there not be things there that do not exist here?
We must consider only whether what is revealed contradicts that which, in our minds—or, rather, in our consciences—is immutable, for the foundations of truth and righteousness must be the same throughout the entire world and for all rational beings. To demand more is inexcusable pride and folly.
From these observations, let us turn, brethren, to the subject before us.*
(* This homily seems to have come down to us in its incomplete form.)
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
