Homily Two on the Feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
"O fervent Protectress, Mother of the Lord Most High! You pray to Your Son, Christ our God, for all, and You bring salvation to all who flee to Your mighty protection." (Troparion of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God)
Hear, brothers and sisters, what the Holy Church sings concerning our Most Holy Lady, the Queen and Mother of God. She sings: “O fervent Protectress, You pray to Your Son, Christ our God, for all, and You bring salvation to all who flee to Your mighty protection.” These words of the Holy Church concerning the Most Holy Mother of God are the purest truth. They describe what continually takes place, for the Most Holy Theotokos, in Her maternal love for us, intercedes for us before the throne of God day and night. “Day and night You pray for us,” the Holy Church says to Her in the midnight service, and “the scepters of kingdoms are established through Your prayers.”
Each of you has seen, and often sees, the Most Holy Theotokos depicted in icons either with both hands extended in prayer toward Her Son and God, or with one hand extended toward Him in prayer. In the latter case, She holds in Her other hand Her All-Ruling Son, who holds all creation in the hollow of His hand (See the stichera at “Lord, I have cried” for the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord.) This visible image clearly reveals to us the invisible work that continually takes place in the spiritual world, in Heaven: the unceasing prayer of the Mother of God for us before God. For in Heaven there is no nightly repose, as there is here on earth; there is eternal day, eternal wakefulness, eternal and all-joyful glorification of the Creator, and unceasing prayer for us.
Oh, how comforting it is, my brothers, to think and be assured that in Heaven we have such a constant, fervent, and ever-watchful Protectress and Intercessor before God for us sinners! What could She not obtain through Her intercession for the Christian race, which continually blesses, glorifies, and magnifies Her? Indeed, She can obtain everything—but only for those Christians who have not fallen asleep in the death of sin, who themselves stretch out their hands to Her in faith, praying for help or offering prayers of praise and thanksgiving; who strive to live as Christians and fulfill Christ’s commandments; and who, although they sin through human weakness and a certain forgetfulness, soon rise again, recognizing the deceitfulness of sin, and return to good works and the pursuit of their salvation.
The prayers of the Mother of God greatly help such Christians. But Her prayers are not effective for those who are negligent in prayer and every good work, who through their own carelessness fall from one sin into another and from one vice into another. For we receive the gifts of God’s grace through faith, through our own desire for them and our seeking after them. God does not cast His pearls “before swine, lest they trample them under their feet” (Matthew 7:6).
Yet why do I say that Her prayers are not effective? No—even for such people, the prayers of the Mother of God are effective, for She also asks Her Son on their behalf to continue bearing with them, again and again: perhaps they will awaken from the sleep of sin; perhaps they will recognize the abyss of evil into which they have sunk; perhaps they will desire heavenly help and sigh toward God. And how many She has raised from the depths of sin through Her prayers! The Venerable Mary of Egypt is an example: from being a most notorious harlot, she became a supremely righteous woman, equal to the angels. It was precisely the prayers of the Mother of God that brought this about: she awoke from the sleep of sin, hastened to repentance, and resolved to change her life.
My brothers, the Most Holy Theotokos is our Queen and Mother by grace. She is the loving Mother of our Creator and Savior according to His humanity. After our Savior, no one loves humanity more than She does; no one grieves more deeply over people, and no one cares more for their eternal salvation. How, then, could She not pray for them with a mother’s love, lest they be cast into Hell and the fire of Gehenna forever?
And I would add: how can we fail to pray for ourselves? How can we fail to care for our own eternal salvation and everlasting blessedness? If She is our Queen and Mother, and the Mother of God, then let us honor Her as is Her due—not with our lips alone, but especially through our deeds: meekness, humility, self-restraint, purity, obedience to God, observance of His commandments, submission to His will, and patience.
She is the Leader of the spiritual edifice, that is, She is first in holiness and greatness in the Church of Christ, as its Queen. Yet we, too, are members of the Church of Christ, though we are weak. Let us therefore strive to conduct ourselves worthily of such a great Leader of ours, endeavoring, according to our strength, to imitate Her meekness, humility, purity, submission to the will of God, patience, and love for God and our neighbors.
Let us not forget to have recourse often to Her mighty protection with faith, hope, and love. She will continually intercede for all who flee in faith to Her mighty protection—all who are beset by trials, sorrows, and illnesses; those burdened by many sins; and those who stand before Her most pure image, praying to Her with a tender soul and a contrite heart, with tears and unwavering hope. Without a doubt, She grants deliverance from every evil and bestows upon all what is beneficial, for She is the divine protection of Her servants. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
