Homily on Holy Tuesday: About the Need to be Watchful (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

 

Homily on Holy Tuesday

About the Need to be Watchful

By Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)

(Delivered in 1962)

 

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved brothers and sisters, approaching the days of His suffering, the Lord was especially close and frank with His disciples. "I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I called you friends, because I told you everything that I heard from My Father" (John 15:15), the Savior said to the Apostles. Now He was no longer covertly, but with particular clarity, announcing to them that He needed to suffer in order to thus prepare them for His suffering: "You know that in two days there will be Passover, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified" (Matthew 26:2). Seeing the grief that gripped the Apostles, He consoled the disciples with the promise that He will not leave them.

Homily on the Hymn "Behold the Bridegroom Comes in the Middle of the Night" (St. John of Kronstadt)

By St. John of Kronstadt

You have just heard, beloved, a touching hymn: “Behold the bridegroom comes in the middle of the night,” which is sung at Matins in the first three days of Holy Week. In order that it may be comprehensible to all, and that it may be of the desired benefit to all, let me offer an explanation of it to your love. The hymn: "Behold, the bridegroom comes in the middle of the night" reminds us of the parable of the Savior, in which He likens the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins, who, according to ancient custom, took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The compiler of the hymn had this parable in mind. We will present it here and explain it briefly.
 
"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins," says the Savior, "who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."
 
Explanation of the parable: the ten virgins – the five wise and the five fools – signify us Christians. Some of us are wise because of our faith, our virtuous life, and because we are prepared for our death; others are foolish due to their unbelief or cold indifference to the faith, their impure carnal life, and their being unprepared for their death and the judgment that will immediately follow it, "for it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Heb 9:27). The foolish ones, it is said, took their lamps but did not take oil with them. What do the lamps and the oil for the lamps mean? The the Saviors words: "the lamp of the body is the eye" (Matt 6:22), by “eye” He means the heart of man, or soul. The oil symbolizes alms, according to St John Chrysostom’s interpretation, or good deeds in general. Therefore, the foolish Christians, going out to meet the bridegroom, did not prepare for their souls good deeds, which could have supported their spiritual life. The wise ones, it is said, took oil in their vessels with their lamps, meaning that they stocked up on good deeds in order to worthily meet the bridegroom. Who is the bridegroom? Jesus Christ. When and how do we go out to meet Him? Our entire lives must be since their beginning a preparation for our personal meeting with Him, because every soul after its death must appear and answer before Him, as to the Author of our life. Throughout our lives we must take care to acquire and preserve in our hearts a living faith and an ardent love for God, so that after our deaths standing before the terrible throne of the Lord of glory will neither be shameful nor to our condemnation. We will go out for the general meeting with Him during our resurrection from the dead, when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28–29). The bridegroom, that is, Jesus Christ, is in no hurry to cut our lives short with death, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), and is equally delaying His glorious, and dreadful, second coming so that the sons of the kingdom may multiply more and more.

Meanwhile, people, temporarily seduced by the sweetness of sin, by its impunity, and seeing that the world remains stable, think it will remain as such forever, and they themselves, enjoying robust health and other material goods, immerse themselves in spiritual slumber, not caring for their correction, and thus sleep the sleep of sin. However, precisely at the midnight of their sinful sleep, when none among the sinners thinks about the grave dangers in which they find themselves, a loud voice is heard: "Behold, the bridegroom comes, go out to meet Him!" Then all will tremble and light their lamps, that is, will exert spiritual attention. At that time it will be good for the wise Christians: their souls will ignite with the sweetest love for God; but for the foolish, it will be bad. Their souls, like lamps without oil, will die out, that is, they will grow dark and cold from the lack of love for God, the source of love, and will start to taste the torments of hell. They will ask the wise Christians for oil, that is, for good deeds, but those will not give it to them, so that they also may not be opportunities to do them, however, precisely at this time when they wish to do good deeds, the bridegroom will come, death will catch them by surprise, and will place them before the heavenly Judge without any virtues whatsoever, reeking of the filth of their own lawlessness. They will desire to go inside the bridal chamber of the heavenly kingdom, which all of us from birth are destined to enter, the reason for which we live. Their Lord will not allow them to enter, and will say to them: "I do not know you." Watch therefore, the Lord concludes the parable, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Now all of us understand the church hymn: “Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is that servant,” that is, every Christian, “whom He shall find watching, and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless (sleeping the sleep of sin). Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep (that is, do not be weighed down with the sleep of sin), lest you be given up to (eternal) death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, are You our God, through the Theotokos have mercy on us.” Amen.

 

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Escaping the Judgment of the Fig Tree (St. Theophan the Recluse)

 By St. Theophan the Recluse

(Mark 11:11–23)

The Lord took away His blessing from the fig tree which was rich with leaves but had no fruit, and it dried up. This is a lesson in action. The fig tree represents people who in appearance are proper, but in essence are not worthy of approval. Who are these people? They are those who eloquently discourse about the faith, but do not have that faith—they hold the objects of faith in the intellect only. They are those whose outward behavior is proper but their feelings and dispositions are very improper, and they manifest proper works only to hide their impropriety from people; whenever possible, they do not do these works. For example, such a person gives alms when someone asks of him in front of people, but ask him in private and he will berate you. He goes to church to pray to God, prays in sight of everyone, and prays at home as well, so as to not bring shame upon himself before his household. But as soon as he is alone, he does not even make the sign of the cross over his brow. He does not have any idea about turning to God with the mind and heart. Let us pray that God will not allow us to be as these. For then we will not escape the judgement pronounced over the fig tree.

- Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, January 19/February 1 

Homily on Great Monday (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

 

By St. John of Kronstadt

Today, beloved brethren, at the morning service three parables were read: the first - about the barren fig tree, the second - about a father who had two sons: one, to the father’s request: "Child, go work in my vineyard today," answered: "I don’t want to," and then changed his mind and went; and the other, in response to the same request, said, “I will go,” but he didn’t go; and finally, the third parable is about a man who, having a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, gave it to the workers and left, and then, when the time came for harvesting the fruits, he sent his servants to the workers of the vineyard to receive the fruit. The workers, in their bitterness, beat some of the slaves, killed others, and finally killed His Only Begotten Son (Matthew 21:18-43).

Let's talk at this time about the first parable. “Having spent the night in the village of Bethany, in the morning the Lord,” says the Evangelist Matthew, “returning to the city of Jerusalem, became hungry. And seeing a fig tree along the road, He approached it, and finding nothing on it except some leaves, He said to it: 'Let there be no fruit from you henceforth forever.' And the fig tree immediately withered. Seeing this, the disciples were surprised and said: 'How did the fig tree suddenly dry up?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer in faith, you will receive'” (Matthew 21:17-22).

Homily on the Entry of our Lord Into Jerusalem: About Meeting the Lord (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily on the Entry of our Lord Into Jerusalem

About Meeting the Lord

By Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)

(Delivered in 1964)

 

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Today, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, the Holy Church, and with her we, festively commemorates the solemn greeting of our Lord Jesus Christ at His entry into Jerusalem, arranged for Him by the best part of the people of Israel. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of the prophecy about Him as a meek and righteous King, after the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, six days before His death, reveals Himself to the Jews, resolutely making them understand that He is truly the Messiah and King for whom they are waiting.

Christ, Lazarus and the Cross (Monk Moses the Athonite)

By Monk Moses the Athonite

The resurrection of Christ's friend Lazarus in Jerusalem a week before the Jewish Passover, where a crowd of celebrants had gathered for the feast, definitely increased Jesus' popularity. He did not cause it, He was not interested in it and He had no desire for self-advertisement and self-promotion. He never wanted to create noise around His person. He didn't want fans cheering and clapping. Nevertheless, the scribes, Pharisees and chief priests of the Jews became seriously worried.

The physically dead Lazarus came out of the tomb with a word from the Lord. The spiritually dead are very difficult to raise. All the spiritually dead considered the presence of Christ near them dangerous. They were afraid of being exposed, revealed and unmasked. They are meeting to exterminate Him by any means. They don't want to allow this miracle worker to bother them anymore, who spoils their plans and takes the people away from them, sowing weeds on their prestige and authority. They wanted to destroy Lazarus as well, so the people would forget the miracle. But it's not that easy.

On the Resurrection of Lazarus (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

By St. Gregory of Nyssa

 

It is not the Human Nature that raises up Lazarus, nor is it the power that cannot suffer that weeps for him when he lies in the grave: the tear proceeds from the Man, the life from the true Life. 

 

(Against Eunomius, Bk. 5)

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Homily Twenty-Seven on the Passion (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Homily Twenty-Seven on the Passion

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on March 9, 1958)

The terrible scene of the arrest of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane has just passed before your eyes.

Have you seen the unfortunate Judas the traitor at the head of a crowd of servants of the high priest, armed with swords and stakes; have you heard the devilish words of the traitor who betrayed his Divine Teacher with a kiss; they saw the outburst of anger of the fiery Apostle Peter, who struck the servant of the high priest, Malchus, with a sword and cut off his right ear; have you heard the meek word of the Savior, who healed Malchus’ ear and commanded Peter: “Return your sword to its place, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword; or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels?” (Matthew 26:52–53).

Homily Twenty-Six on the Passion (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

Homily Twenty-Six on the Passion

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on March 2, 1958)

From Pilate's palace, where the unjust trial of our Lord Jesus Christ took place, and from the praetorium, in which Pilate's soldiers tortured Him, there was a long path outside the city, to the terrible Golgotha, where the death penalty was carried out.

This terrible, sorrowful path, Via Dolorosa, as the Roman Christians call it, had to be traversed by our Savior, the Son of God, carrying his terrible, heavy cross on His shoulders.

But He could not walk... After walking a few steps, He fell to the ground, and He had to be raised, removing the heavy cross from Him.