ON PATIENTLY BEARING ONE’S CROSS

“And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:17-18).

The major tenet of Christian moral teaching is the teaching about the narrow path or the bearing of one’s cross. Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov indicates that the narrow path has been established by God Himself for His true followers.

“Our Lord Jesus Christ spent His earthly life in the greatest humbleness, being subjected to constant sorrows and harassment, being persecuted, slandered, humiliated by His enemies, who finally sent Him to a shameful death with criminals. The path of salvation that leads to eternal life has been established by the Lord as a narrow way full of sorrows – established both by the Lord’s holy example and by His holy teaching. The Lord advised His disciples and His followers that they would be sorrowful in the world, i.e. during their earthly lives, that the world would hate them, would persecute and humiliate them, would put them to death. The Lord likened His disciples’ and followers’ situation among depraved humanity to that of sheep among wolves. From this we can see that a life on earth full of trials and tribulations is the Lord’s own establishment for His true servants. And being the Lord’s own establishment, it cannot be deflected by any human means, any wisdom, any sensibility, any prudence, any vigilance.”

The great Russian pastor Protopriest Valentin Amphiteatrov also paid a great deal of attention to the Holy Fathers’ teaching on the bearing of one’s cross, and provided constant instruction on the proper endurance of sorrows, unquestioning fortitude, and complete submission to the will of God.

“Let us, Christians, follow the example of the Mother of God and immerse our will in the will of the Almighty, awaiting from Him instruction and aid in all good things…” “Why does the Saviour exhibit such wondrous tranquility amid the most terrible suffering? – because of His complete submission to the will of God the Father. He suffered, He pleaded in His humanity to have the chalice of suffering pass Him by. But the moment arrived in which He ended with a prayer: not as I will, but as Thou wilt. After that the Saviour no longer prayed to have His predestined chalice of suffering pass Him by…

The Lord showed such an example so that we, too, would seek tranquility in absolute submission to the will of God. For this reason He demands self-sacrifice from us, saying: whoever wishes to follow Me should deny himself. It is as though He were saying: whoever wishes to attain the perfection prescribed in the Gospel should reject his own will and live according to God’s commandment, because without God’s will even a single hair will not fall from your head. Do not pay any attention to things that are both pleasant and unpleasant for your vanity. Do not depend on mighty protectors and do not be offended by your visible enemies. Pleasant things are given to you for you not to become despondent, while unplea-sant ones are given so that you do not overstep yourself. The mighty of this world may offer support to you only if God allows it, while persecutors may torment, humiliate, and harm you only as long as God allows it. Raise you mind and heart to God, and you will easily believe that God decisively rules over everything. One can do evil without the will of God, but even evil itself leads to a point at which good becomes clearer and more precious.”

In showing that life on earth does not represent any real joy or comfort except for the hope of salvation, St. Ignatius explains that the entire Christian life on earth consists solely of repentance. “Having taken upon Himself the human flesh and all human weaknesses except sin, the Lord also took penitence upon Himself… The innocent and most holy Lord, having suffered in His humanity for the guilty and sin-infected mankind, has shown suffering to be the path of salvation for all His followers, for all those of His provenance and ancestry… The innocent and most holy Lord spent His entire earthly life in suffering: even more so should the guilty suffer in full realization that they deserve to suffer; they should rejoice that by means of short-lived suffering they are delivered from eternal torment, they enter the ranks of the Lord’s followers and intimates. Whoever rejects suffering or does not believe himself worthy of it, – such a one does not acknowledge his fall and damnation! Whoever passes his earthly life in pleasure – such a one renounces his own salvation!”

Acknowledging oneself worthy of all manner of punishment leads to a knowledge of the Saviour, as can be seen in the example of the wise thief. Some may say, perhaps, that the thief was an obvious criminal, and thus such a repentant state was natural for him. However, the other thief who was crucified next to Christ was likewise an obvious criminal, and yet he did not arrive at a realization of his sinfulness because there was no mercy or humility in his heart, but only hardness and pride. God’s saints continuously thought of themselves as sinners despite evident gifts of grace; the greatest villains, on the contrary, justified themselves and, being up to their neck in evil deeds, did not cease to proclaim their own virtue.”

All righteous people spent their earthly lives in sorrow: “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Heb. 12:6). When the Lord came across the virtuous youth in the Gospel, He offered to him to follow after Him, taking up his cross. Let us not reject the summons! The summons is accepted when, upon the arrival of sorrows, a Christian deems himself worthy of these tribulations; a Christian takes up his cross and follows the Lord when he thanks and glorifies God for all the sorrows that have been sent, when he submits himself entirely to the will of God, when he fulfills the Gospel commandments, especially the commandment on loving one’s enemies.

“The cross of true crossbearers is a good-natured endurance of unmerited suffering. When we see a sick person calling upon the name of God without complaint, when we see before us widows and orphans who, having lost their dear ones, submit themselves to the will of God, – these are Christ’s crossbearers. When we see before us people who are ragged and deceived, when we see people whose honor and innocence is being trampled upon by envy, malice, and slander, – these are Christ’s crossbearers. And we ourselves are Christ’s crossbearers when we allow goodness to take over our hearts.”

The Holy Spirit Himself extends a celestial greeting to those who have been subjected to misfortunes: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations” (James 1:2). “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt. 5:11-12).

Nowadays this teaching is especially important, because, according to the prophecies of the Holy Fathers, in the end times the monastics and all Christians will be saved primarily through endurance of sorrows. Other endeavors: fasting, spiritual labors, great physical feats, nightly vigils, etc. will be taken away from us because of a paucity of spiritual and physical strength. “One time the Holy Fathers of an Egyptian skete were prophetically discoursing about the last generation. “What did we do?” – they said. One of them, the great abba Ischerion, replied: “We fulfilled God’s commandments.” They asked him: “What will those who come after us do?” “They, – said the abba, – will fulfill only half of our endeavors.” And again he was asked: “And what will those who come after them do?” Abba Ischerion replied: “They will not engage in any monastic endeavors, but they will be subjected to sorrows, and those of them who endure will have a higher standing than either we or our fathers.”

The same applies to the whole of Christendom!

 

(Reprinted from “Orthodox Russia,” No. 17, 2004.)

 

 

 

FIFTH WEEK OF GREAT LENT

 

Already we have reached the fifth week of Great Lent, dear brethren. For the past several weeks the Church has been instructing us in the different aspects of spiritual life that we must develop within ourselves, in order for the Triumph of Orthodoxy to become an actual fact of our everyday life. On the second Sunday of Lent the Church taught us prayer, especially inner prayer as its most perfect example, uniting us in constant communion with the Lord God. The third Sunday was devoted to the bearing of the cross, which is necessary to each Christian who wishes to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who redeemed us and granted salvation to all of us through His sacrifice on the Cross. On the fourth Sunday we learned how to ascend the ladder of virtues, which led us straight into paradise and eternal life.

Now we have reached the most important stage of spiritual life – repentance. Repentance is the most important in the sense that it the very basic stage, the beginning of all spirituality. All our prayers, virtues, and Lenten endeavors are very well in their own right, but without repentance they have little value, they are in vain. And that is because without repentance we cannot come to a realization of our sins, of our spiritual shortcomings, and without realizing them we cannot rectify them by asking the Lord for forgiveness and receiving the remission of our sins.

We see the importance of repentance from the moment when Adam and Eve fell into sin by disobeying God’s commandment. We see how God called upon Adam to repent while he was still in the Garden of Eden: “Adam, where art thou?” But instead of repenting and realizing his sin, Adam began to justify himself. And from that time on, this self-justification continues throughout man’s entire existence on earth.

In the Orthodox Church repentance is one of the seven sacraments. Without repentance there is no salvation. We see this in the writings of the Holy Fathers, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He came down to earth, said to His disciples: “I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.” The Lord had no need to call the righteous, because their righteousness was based upon a foundation of humility, and through humility they clearly saw the sinfulness of their nature. Even such a notable desert-dweller as Anthony the Great, who by the end of his life reached an angelic state, used to say to his disciples with great humility and weeping over his sins: “I have not even begun to do anything for my salvation.”

Such is the humility of the righteous, while sinners, following in the footsteps of the fallen Adam, engage only in self-justification. How many times we have heard people say the following words: “While I’m still young, I’ll enjoy life to the full, and when I get old, then I shall begin to think of repentance.” But will it turn out that way? Are not such people deceiving themselves? What assurance do they have that they will live until tomorrow, not to mention old age? “As we live, so shall we die” – says popular wisdom.

And so, on this fifth Sunday of Lent, while calling us to repentance, the Church as usual offers us a supreme example of it by showing us the life of St. Mary of Egypt. And what an extraordinary and deeply-moving example it is! Here before us is an absolute sinner. For seventeen years she leads an incredibly depraved life. Suddenly she decides to go to Jerusalem, in order to continue her iniquity even there. She follows this impulse, totally unaware that this is God’s Providence working within her, calling her to repentance. At that moment she probably did not yet realize that her soul was yearning to free itself from the shackles of sinful life. And so she comes to the Holy Land, where she spiritually awakens and realizes the grave error of her ways, and under the protection of the Holy Mother of God she goes away into the Jordanian desert, where she spends 47 years in incredible spiritual endeavors, repenting all the while her sinful life.

Similarly the Lord calls each one of us to repentance, dear brethren. And we can see in our everyday life what unrepented sins lead to. Look at the horrors we see all around us: it is no longer only adults who commit murder, robbery, violence, etc., but even children.

It is now the fifth week of Great Lent. Have we begun to repent of our sins? Do we come to confession, do we take communion? Even if someone were to think that he is not yet ready, did not have time to prepare himself – do not wait, dear brethren! Next week we will be greeting our Saviour. With what kind of soul will we meet Him? With what kind of heart will we glorify Him, sing “hosannah” to Him? Perhaps someone may think that Lent is nearly over, and that he will probably have no time left to repent? No, dear brethren! We must repent immediately, we must repent always, we must repent throughout our entire life. While we live on this earth, it will never be too late. The only time when it may be too late is when we die, when our soul leaves our body. Then it will truly be too late, and we will be totally unable to do anything for ourselves. Then, at best, perhaps someone will be left on earth who will pray for us, and at worst – we will remain in hell with our unshriven sins.

Dear brethren, it is not too late to realize our sins, to come to the Lord in penitence, to step upon the path of salvation. Let us heed the wondrous example of St. Mary of Egypt, let us heed the example of the wise thief, who repented at the very last hour of his life, and let us say to the Lord in the words of the humble publican: “Lord, have mercy upon us, sinners!” Amen.

 

     Father Rostislav Sheniloff

 

 

 

 

THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE SAVIOUR’S TRIAL

 

The Lord Jesus Christ was tried according to two legal systems: the Judaic system, which was considered to be the fairest (being built upon the principle of handing out punishment equal to guilt, as had been originally established in the law given by God to Moses – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth), and the Roman system, which contained the most superior legal enactments and which lies at the base of modern jurisprudence.

And according to these two systems the Saviour was condemned.

Did this mean that the law pronounced a death sentence over itself when it condemned to death by crucifixion the very incarnation of Truth and Justice?

This would have been true had the Saviour’s trial been legal. However, both trials suffered from gross judicial errors.

 

The Judaic trial of the Saviour

 

After the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, many Jews came to believe in Christ’s divine power. “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said: ‘What do we do? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.’ And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them: ‘Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not’… Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put Him to death” (John 11:47-50, 53).

The Jewish leaders feverishly sought the means to accomplish their intent. Falling into the sinful passion of avarice, one of Christ’s disciples, Judas Iscariot, offered to betray his Divine Teacher to them for 30 pieces of silver. In the evening of Thursday, after the Mystic Supper, Judas accomplished this betrayal. Christ was seized.

Jewish law forbad making an arrest in the evening or at night. As an exception, a nighttime arrest was allowed when the threat existed that a criminal would commit a new crime during the night, or that he would flee. But even then the trial could begin only on the morning of the following day. (In the Acts of the Apostles we see that for this reason the incarcerated apostles were kept in prison until the morning.)

In accordance with Jewish law, the inquest began with an accusation from eyewitnesses or individuals who were victims of the crime. The court warned the accusers not to forget that it is one thing to testify in regard to property, and quite another thing when a human life is involved. When slander was spoken, and on the basis of such false testimony a man was condemned to death, the responsibility for the injustice fell upon the false witness and his descendants. [This explains the cries of the Jewish crowd during the trial before Pilate: “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). The Jews, as the Saviour’s accusers, took upon themselves the entire responsibility for their testimony in accordance with this oath.]

The Saviour’s trial and His detainment took place at night in violation of the law. Moreover, the inquest began without an accusation from witnesses or victims. At that time only the high priest investigated the existence of guilt, thus bringing an accusation before the Sanhedrin.

According to ancient Jewish law, just as in present times, the court should be objective towards the accused. But in the trial of Christ, the high priest simultaneously took on the functions of both prosecutor and defense attorney. The holy Evangelist St. John the Theologian confirms this: “The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples and of His doctrine. Jesus answered him: ‘I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort… ask them which heard Me, what I have said unto them’.” (John 18:19-21). In His first words at the trial Christ did not try to justify Himself. He was more concerned for the soul of the high priest, which was under the threat of damnation in this unjust affair. His words reminded all that the law demands an accusation from eyewitnesses. For this reason, when one of the servants struck the Saviour in the face because of His answer, Jesus Christ said to him: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?” (John 18:23).

In view of the obvious violation of the legality of the inquest, it was useless to expect objectivity from the court, and so Jesus ceased to participate in the unjust trial. “And when He was accused of the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing” (Matt. 27:12).

Then they began to search for witnesses. “Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death” (Matt. 26:59). Many were found, but their testimony was false.

According to Jewish law, there were three categories of witnesses: false witnesses who were obviously lying; idle witnesses whose testimony was not confirmed by other proofs in the case; and reliable witnesses, whereby the testimony of several witnesses coincided.

At the daybreak of Friday, the Sanhedrin convoked its meeting. It was a session of the lesser Sanhedrin assembly, although criminal cases, which were punishable by death, were required by law to be investigated by the greater Sanhedrin assembly. This assembly was twice as large, which was a requisite guarantee of the objectivity of the verdict.

Many false witnesses appeared at the Sanhedrin assembly. From the holy Evangelist Matthew we learn that two of them declared: “He said: ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days’.” (Matt. 26:61). The judges accepted them as reliable witnesses. But St. Matthew called them false witnesses. They distorted Christ’s words about the fact that He, the Omnipotent God, will erect a new temple – not built by hands – on the site of the hand-built temple of Jerusalem, with which He foretold of His resurrection.

Despite the testimony of the false witnesses, the described action did not merit the death sentence. Then the high priest himself began to conduct the inquest on the Saviour. The high priest said: “I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, Son of God?” (Matt. 26:63). Jesus replied: “Thou hast said; nevertheless, I say unto you: hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). Hearing such words, Caiaphas did something completely unprecedented – he tore the high priest’s garment. He thereby tried to publicly show his “righteous wrath,” but in essence he demonstrated his frenzied rage against the Lord. The high priest’s garment – gold-embroidered, made from finely-woven golden and silver threads, was preserved and passed on as a holy relic from the time of Aaron. Thus the tearing of it became a visible sign of God’s invisible punishment – the depriving of Jewish priests of God-given priestly dignity.

The high priest exclaimed: “He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy” (Matt. 26:65). These words clearly show how the “judge,” instead of preserving legality, becomes an accuser himself. However, the high priest said this because some of the members of the Sanhedrin, among whom was Joseph of Arimathea, insisted that they found no guilt in the accused.

Soon after that the Jewish leaders pronounced the verdict: “He is guilty of death” (Matt. 26:66). Another violation was committed. Jewish law demanded that when the trial was over, the crime proven, and a death sentence expected, the accused was to be taken to prison, while the court sat in session the entire day, discussing the crime, the proofs, and the punishment (during this time it was forbidden to drink wine). And it was only on the following morning that the punishment was determined. The members of Sanhedrin violated this important guarantee of the fairness of the verdict. They were in a hurry, for the day of Sabbath, sacred to the Jews, was approaching, and it coincided with the feast of Passover, at which time it was forbidden to engage in any affairs. This also explains why the previous violations of the law were committed: the nighttime arrest, the nighttime trial, an inquest without accusations from eyewitnesses or victims. If the Saviour had been detained on Friday morning, the trial would have taken place on Friday, and then the entire Sabbath day the court would have had to discuss the fairness of the verdict. Being in a hurry to condemn the Saviour to death, and at the same time officially observing the law of Moses, the Jews committed a vicious and unjust act. Thus, while preserving the letter of the law, the Jewish leaders renounced its spirit of mercy and truth.

In order to punish the Saviour with death, the Jews rejected their original accusation for which they had found false witnesses, and condemned Christ for blasphemy. Such a condemnation was based only upon His words to the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:65). In the language of the law this is defined as self-confession. However, according to law, the punishment cannot be based upon the accused person’s self-confession without being confirmed by the testimony of other witnesses, gathered in the process of the trial, because it was believed that due to extreme psychological tension, a person who stood trial tended to confess to non-existent crimes.

In view of the fact that Judea at that time was subordinate to the Roman Empire, in order to execute a death sentence, it had to be confirmed by the Roman procurator.

The Saviour was taken to Pontius Pilate, who was the procurator of Judea, i.e. the deputy of Emperor Tiberias, and possessed full administrative, legal, and priestly powers. The place where the procurator stayed was called the praetorium. Since this place contained statues of the Roman gods, the Jews led the Saviour up to the praetorium, but did not enter it, in order not to be defiled before Passover. The Jews stopped at a place called the Pavement, from which the Roman procurator announced his verdicts and decisions. This was a podium about 80 cm. high, encompassing an area of about 180 square meters. The podium was paved with flagstones and covered with an awning.

 

The Roman trial of the Saviour

 

Attracted by the noise of the Jewish crowd, Pilate mounted the judgment seat and asked: “What accusation bring ye against this man?” (John 18:29). The procurator’s words show that he had decided to strictly follow Roman law. According to Roman law, it is impossible to begin a trial without a final accusation. The Jews were not ready to present it. On the one hand, they sought to preserve their relative independence in religious affairs, and on the other hand they feared that their accusation would not stand up in an unbiased and objective court. They therefore replied: “If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee” (John 18:30).

Pilate refused to judge without an accusation: “Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law” (John 18:31), – he said. Thus the Jews were forced to present an accusation against the Saviour. The holy Evangelists do not describe this accusation, but it is implied in Pilate’s question to Jesus: “Art Thou the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33).

The elders’ accusation was ambiguous. The formal truth was reflected in the word “king.” The Sanhedrin condemned Christ because He had declared Himself to be the King of kings, i.e. God, and thus blasphemed. It was not clarified to Pilate precisely what kind of king the Saviour was – earthly or heavenly. The scribes did not dare to accuse Christ of believing Himself to be an earthly king, because many people knew of Christ’s words: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s” (Matt. 22:21), while an open assertion that Christ was being punished for blasphemy would not have been accepted by Pilate.

Pilate led Jesus into the praetorium for questioning. Here the Lord answered, for the trial was being held in accordance with the law. From His words Pilate understood that Christ’s teaching threatened neither the government, nor civil order. The procurator became convinced of Christ’s innocence also from the fact that the high priests were persecuting Him out of envy, and so he testified: “I find in Him no fault at all” (John 18:38). He therefore made an offer to the Jews, in accordance with existing custom, to let Christ go on account of the feast of Passover. However, spurred on by the high priests and the elders, the people expressed their preference for the brigand Barrabas.

At that time Pilate’s wife, too, spoke up in defense of the Saviour, when she told her husband about the terrible prophetic dream she had seen that night. Subsequently Pilate began to search for a way to free Christ.

Then the high priests came forth with the following accusation: “He stirreth up the people…beginning from Galilee to this place” (Luke 23:5). Pilate focused on the word “Galilee” and decided to free himself of a difficult affair by passing it on to the ruler of Galilee – King Herod.

At that time Herod was in Jerusalem to participate in the celebration of Passover. He had long sought a meeting with the Saviour in the hope that he would witness a miracle. But Christ did not satisfy the ruler’s idle curiosity and did not answer his questions. In resentment Herod gave the Saviour up to humiliation. However, as a sign of His innocence, Herod ordered the accused to be dressed in light garments and returned to Pilate for trial. The ruler of Galilee did not have enough courage to declare Christ’s innocence and free Him. He preferred to return the affair to the Roman procurator.

Pilate found himself in a quandary. He gathered the Jews and told them: “Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people; and, behold, I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse Him; no, nor yet Herod, for I sent this man to him, and, lo, nothing worthy of death has been found in Him” (Luke 23:14-15).

In order to satisfy the desires of the Jews and at the same time pacify his own conscience at least slightly, the procurator determined the following: “I will therefore chastise Him, and release Him” (Luke 23:16), – and gave the Saviour over to flogging.

Pilate declared more than three times that he found no fault in the Saviour. Despite this he gave Him over to flogging. The punishment was severe. Roman whips – made of the sinews of oxen with ribbed tin tips – cut the flesh open, killing a person or leaving him half-dead.

The compromise verdict delivered by the procurator was a step towards his final abandonment of truth and legality. Pilate’s faint-heartedness encouraged the Jews, and they increased their pressure. “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend; whosoever maketh himself a King speaketh against Caesar” (John 19:12), – they shouted. These words made Pilate afraid. Several complaints against him had already been sent to the Roman Emperor. Moreover, the accusation of “speaking against Caesar” constituted a betrayal of state and, according to law, was punishable by death.

Pilate retreated. He violated the statute proclaimed by Roman law that only a single punishment could be meted out for a single action. Despite the fact that Christ had already undergone an unjust and inhumane punishment – flogging, the procurator approved the death sentence of the Jewish Sanhedrin. “And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will” (Luke 23:24-25). St. John the Theologian notes: “Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away” (John 19:16).

(Pilate was the procurator of Judea from A.D. 26 to 33. He crushed a Sadducean revolt with great cruelty and was recalled from Judea. In Rome Pilate was unable to stand the accusations and did away with himself. Due to the faint-heartedness he had exhibited, his life ended similarly to that of the betrayer Judas Iscariot.)

No one raised his voice in defense of the Saviour.

The sentence was put into effect. Human injustice appeared to have taken the upper hand, and the forces of evil were victorious. But spiritually and invisibly the supremely victorious God’s love triumphed, and a truly great sacrifice was offered for the redemption of mankind.

 

     Protopriest Radko Poptodorov

 

(Reprinted from “Orthodox Russia,” No. 6, 2000).

 

 

 

THE JOY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

 

The holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, speaking in his Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ’s last farewell talk with His disciples, cites the Saviour’s words: “Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

That farewell talk at which these words were said took place during the Mystic Supper, before the Saviour’s journey to suffering. In this talk the Saviour encouraged and fortified His disciples before those great and at the same time terrible events that were to take place in the night of His suffering – His divine laborand His death for the salvation of the world. Whoever reads or listens piously and attentively to the Gospel narrative on this talk, sees not only the divine depth of its content, but also its very special nature. Reading or hearing it, one could think that it was not the Saviour Himself who was embarking upon suffering, but rather His disciples – so agitated and upset were they, and so majestically calm was He, – knowing and seeing in advance all that He would have to undergo and suffer in just a few hours’ time. As a loving Father and a caring Teacher He fortifies His beloved and loving children, and as a good Shepherd He prays to His Father for them…

At that time it was not yet revealed to the apostles all that their Lord and Teacher knew, but from His words and actions they clearly and undoubtedly felt that some terrible event was approaching, and that some kind of danger threatened their Teacher. It is for this reason that, comforting and encouraging them, the Lord said to them: “Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

The hours of Christ the Saviour’s redemptive suffering finally arrived, and His sorrowful prediction came to pass: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone”… The apostles became afraid and abandoned their Teacher – and were themselves left alone. Inexpressible sorrow filled their souls, and darkness enveloped them… They loved their Lord with all their soul, all their heart, all their strength, all their thoughts, in the entire world there was no one and nothing more precious to them than He, and with His death the sun seemed to stop shining for them, and the world became empty, cold, and dark…

But then – Christ arose! A miracle of miracles occurred! There came the day of which in deep antiquity King David sang: “This day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice in it!” And the Church joyfully proclaims: “Now all is filled with light: the heavens, and the earth, and the netherworld; let all creation celebrate Christ’s resurrection, in which it is affirmed”… The feast of feasts and the triumph of triumphs!

The Holy Gospel tells us that the first word which the Lord said to the myrrh-bearing women who saw Him after His resurrection was an appeal to joy: “Rejoice!” – He told them, and bright joy filled their souls. But He also knew what sorrow and grief had taken hold of those whom in His love and compassion He had called His brothers – His beloved disciples. And thus, on this very day of His resurrection, He appears to them as they are gathered together. “And the disciples rejoiced, seeing the Lord,” – notes St. Evangelist John. What the Saviour had prophesied to the apostles at the Mystic Supper now came to pass – their souls were filled with the joy of His resurrection. Now no one could take away this joy from them, and they spread this joy to all of mankind. For in their preaching they primarily stressed the fact that they were witnesses to His resurrection, and the book of the Acts of the Apostles specifically points out that the apostles testified to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with great power.

To this joy of Christ’s resurrection the Holy Church also summons all of us by saying: “Come, let us rejoice in the Lord who had destroyed the dominion of death”… Before Christ’s resurrection the “dominion of death” was indestructible – death lorded it over all living beings, and had the last word in regard to every living being by terminating its life. But the resurrected Christ trampled down death by death, destroyed its power, shattered the dominion of death, and now for every Christian believer death is only “eternal rest in blessed dormition” or, according to St. Basil the Great, “a passage from sorrow to that which is beneficial, sweet, comforting, and joyous.” This is what the Conqueror of hell and death granted to us through His resurrection. Come then – let us rejoice in the Lord!

And let nothing darken or take away from us the joy of the bright feast, of the great triumph of our faith, which is “the victory that overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4). Let dark clouds gather over the world. Let life become more disturbing and tense, and let our planet become like a powder keg thanks to the latest technological discoveries, ready to blow up any minute and destroy all existence. Let the world, which is getting farther and farther away from God and His truth proceed to its inevitable and inescapable end. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his work shall be” – says to us the Conqueror of death and hell (Apoc. 22:11-12).

Before embarking upon His mankind-saving endeavor, Christ warned His disciples, and through them all of us who believe in Him: “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He makes everyone who truly believes in Him a participant in this victory. And this victory is the victory of His Resurrection, the victory of life over death, of good over evil, of light over darkness. Let each faithful soul see Him, the Master of life and the Conqueror of death, through the eyes of faith, and let it rejoice with the triumphant joy of His Resurrection – and this joy no man will take away from it for ages unto ages!

 

Christ is risen!

 

Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky)

 

 

 

LIVES OF THE SAINTS

 

Commemoration of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

 

The feast of the forty martyrs of Sebaste was always a great celebration for the Orthodox Church. From ancient times, from the day of their martyric death which took place in the early 4th century, in A.D. 313, the Church lauded and glorified these saints. They suffered for Christ on the very eve of the triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire. At that time the famous Edict of Milan, which granted freedom to confess the Christian faith, had already been adopted, but there were still separate outbursts of persecution before the achievement of Christianity’s complete victory and its firm establishment in the Roman Empire.

These forty soldiers were martyred for Christ in the icy Lake of Sebaste. However, their death was especially glorious because they were simultaneously tempted by the possibility of deliverance from suffering: a bathhouse was heated up on the shores of the lake, and each one of them was offered the chance to leave his place of martyrdom and seek this means of salvation. This bathhouse was not the simple bathhouse we think of today. In those times the bathhouse was like a social club in which the entire life was spent; it represented all that a man who does not know God would be looking for in life.

This spiritual endeavor is also memorable for us because one of the soldiers was actually unable to stay the course and did do just that: he chose a safe and comfortable life without Christ over death with Christ. This was seen by one of the guards. By God’s unfathomable providence it was revealed to the guard that the place where the martyrs were standing contained life and glory. It contained the warmth which cannot be found anywhere else, at any time, for the Lord Himself was there. Seeing martyric crowns descending upon the sufferers, he cried out: “I, too, am a Christian!” – and joined them, in order to share with them both the suffering and the glory.

From the very beginning the Church saw in this image that which determines the life of every Christian and the life of the entire Church. For better or for worse each person faces such a choice at different periods in life, and each must choose either one thing or another. That is the way life is set up: we must either give up Christ, or give up our well-being. No one can avoid this choice.

Sometimes there are tribulations that overwhelm the entire Church. The persecutions which took place in the early days of the Church, and those which took place in recent times have all been defined precisely by that concept – some chose Christ, while others renounced Him. Some renounced Him when they were close to receiving a martyric crown. And yet among people indifferent to the Church and even among its persecutors were unexpectedly found those who preferred death with Christ to life without Christ.

And so we ponder the state of being Christ’s elect. The Lord tells us in His Gospel that the mystery of the salvation of each individual is deep, and that only the Lord, Who reads our inner hearts, knows who will endure the hour of persecution and who will renounce Christ. The Lord also tells us that it does not matter when a person is called to Christ: at the last hour or among the first. A person can seemingly be with Christ and in the Church throughout his entire life, yet at the last hour renounce Christ. Even an entire people can seemingly be with God and then suddenly renounce Him, as was the case with the Jewish people.

In commemorating the forty martyrs of Sebaste we ponder this mystic providence of God – the fact that the Lord calls each person to Him irrespective of the progression of the person’s external life. Some come in the first hour, as the Lord says in the Gospel, others in the third or sixth hour, still others come much later, and some, as it turns out, come when there appears to be no hope left whatever of conversion to Christ – in the eleventh hour.

The Lord calls some people to Him when they are in the bloom of youth, others at the noon of maturity, and still others at the sunset of their lives. Some can reach the Lord within the space of an hour, as did the wise thief, while for others even a whole lifetime is not enough to come to Christ.

Some people are called by the Lord when they have been able to accomplish a lot here on earth; others when they stand at the threshold of life, full of aspirations, perhaps even noble ones, of accomplishing great things; and others still when they have not even begun to live.

And all are equally received by the Lord, no matter when, or at what hour, or at what age the person is called to Christ. The Lord is compassionate towards all people and especially to those who seem to be unable to come to Him. To those who stand around until the eleventh, the last hour, like laborers who wish to be employed, who wish to use all their abilities and talents in life, but who are unable to make use of them. No one needs them. Or perhaps they do not have any special talents, and this is why no one needs them. The Lord is always deeply compassionate towards such people. He calls them to Him, too, and gives them His own work, the work of Christ, which, as it turns out, is not any lesser than the work done by other people. And we look with amazement upon the generosity with which the Lord recompenses all who come to Him. Some have labored throughout the entire day, while others have labored for only one hour and have not suffered the heat or toil of the day. Yet He gives the same recompense to all.

At this point a very important mystery of spiritual life is revealed to us: that in reality the Lord takes into account not the quantity of our labors, but our love. Everything we do in life is regarded by the Lord through the prism of the inner content of what we do.

This is what defines man’s entire life and his participation in the Church. It is so understandable: just like when a child draws a picture for his mother’s birthday – how precious the gift is to her! The mother is overjoyed, and this picture is dearer to her than any other gift. The same concept measures our offering to the Lord, only to an infinitely greater extent.

Let us absorb this mystery of life by remembering our New Martyrs of Russia. Let us not forget that the trials undergone in the 4th century and in the 20th century still await the Church at the very last turning point in history. The trials in which each person, the entire Church, the whole of mankind will have to make a choice: the terrible choice that was already made once when Christ was being crucified, when they shouted: “Give us not Him, but Barrabas.” The choice that was made by one of the martyrs of Sebaste, who preferred those “warm bathhouses” – life in all its well-being – to Christ. “Not Him, but Barrabas,” – such was the choice made by mankind at that time. And such will be the last choice before the end of the world. We see that it is already being made before our very eyes.

Let us remember that one person may be engaged in some grandiose activity, seemingly even a Christian one, and may occupy a very important place in the Church, while another person may be completely unnoticeable and unknown, and may perform his services humbly, quietly. Yet the Lord tests the hearts of people and accepts them not in accordance with their external service, but according to the spirit in which the person performs this service, in order to make him part of His bounty and His boundless love.

May God grant us a beneficial passage through the forty days of Great Lent. The forty martyrs are like these forty days, with each day granting us the possibility of either living or dying spiritually. Let us then die for sin, in order to become confessors of Christ’s truth, become those who prefer the Lord Christ to everything else on earth. Amen.

 

    Protopriest Alexander Shargunov

 

 

 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

 

NOAH’S ARK ON MOUNT ARARAT

 

For many years the Russian people were brainwashed into believing that the Deluge and the story of Noah were simply myths that had nothing to do with science. But recently some secret Soviet intelligence materials have come to light which confirm that back in the 1940s a Russian pilot, flying over Mt. Ararat, saw a huge ship on top of the mountain, frozen into a high mountain lake…

What do we know about Noah’s ark? From the offspring of Adam and Eve mankind multiplied very rapidly. From Seth came pious and good people – the sons of God, while from Cain the wicked and evil ones – the sons of men. Mingling among themselves, the descendants of Cain and Seth became depraved and iniquitous. Out of the whole of mankind only Noah and his family remained righteous. At that point God decided to cleanse the earth of iniquitous humanity, but to preserve the righteous Noah and his family for the restoration of mankind.

God appeared to Noah and warned him that He would send a deluge upon the earth in order to destroy the wicked people. He commanded Noah to build an ark – an enormous ship into which his family and the animals could be placed. Noah was told the exact measurements of the ship: 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in width, and 30 cubits in height (150x25x15 meters). This was an enormous structure, which Noah proceeded to build over a period of several decades.

In the age of rationalism doubts began to be expressed concerning the reality of the events described in the Bible, that supposedly the story of Noah was nothing more than a myth, despite the fact that all over the world there are various inexplicable structures attesting to the fact that the technical knowledge of antediluvian mankind was on a much higher level than that of contemporary mankind.

Strangely, the first confirmation of Noah’s story was found by scientists precisely in mythology. It turned out that diverse peoples, totally unrelated to one another and living on different continents, have legends very similar in content concerning a deluge and the salvation of chosen individuals.

The second confirmation of the historicity of a universal deluge came from modern geology, which found proof of a global catastrophe in the earth’s fossil layers.

But the most vivid confirmation of the universal deluge and the story of Noah would have come from the discovery of Noah’s ark.

The Bible says that the ark landed on top of the Ararat mountains. The Greater Ararat is a mountain 5,165 meters high, whose top is eternally covered with ice to a depth of almost one kilometer. In the early 1950s mountaineers made two attempts to find Noah’s ark, but both were unsuccessful due to snowstorms. The search was also made more difficult by Ararat’s location at the intersection of the borders of three countries that have concluded an agreement forbidding the ascent of Ararat.

In recent times the ark was discovered by French mountaineer Fernand Navarra. A report of this discovery in 1955 became a sensation. Navarra found the ark frozen into the ice of a mountain lake located at an altitude of 5 kilometers from the top, and was able to cut out a piece of the hull. A radioactive analysis performed in several countries confirmed the age of the structure – circa five thousand years. Scientists believe that the ark, which used to sit on the very top of the mountain, gradually slid down under pressure from snow avalanches, until it came to rest and froze into a lake situated in the path of its descent. The expedition was conducted by Navarra without official authorization. He was shot at by border guards and arrested, but was later let go with his photographs and the piece of the hull.

Navarra was not the first discoverer of the ark. In the 3rd century B.C., Babylonian and Greek historians wrote of how an ancient ark lay in the Kurdish mountains of Armenia, and how people tore off pieces of tar from it to use as antidotes or amulets. In his opus “Judean Antiquities” (1st century A.D.), Joseph Flavius reported that many people brought down pieces of the ark from Ararat. The same was confirmed by Theophanus of Antioch in the year 180.

Several reports appeared in the 19th century about people having seen the ark, while the Turks reported that they even went inside the ship, which was built with partitions that were now filled with ice.

One of the most interesting confirmations of the ark was obtained in 1916, when Russian aviator Roskovitsky unexpectedly saw the ark while flying near the top of the mountain. That year the weather was warmer, the snows on the Ararat melted down more than usual, and the ark could be seen more clearly. Roskovitsky reported his find to his superior, who repeated the fly-by with the aviator and then sent off a report to the Russian government. Emperor Nicholas II ordered an official expedition to be sent to Ararat which, despite many difficulties related to bad weather and snow avalanches, was still able to reach its goal and found the ark roughly in the same location and the same condition as it was later found by Fernand Navarra. A detailed report on the results of the expedition was sent to the Russian Imperial government, but by that time a revolution had taken place in Russia, and the report was “misplaced” (or deliberately kept quiet or even destroyed). Several years later, living abroad as an émigré, Roskovitsky revealed this story, but his account was doubted and even ridiculed, because it was no longer in keeping with the spirit of the times.

Only Navarra, some decades later, with his photos and his scientific research was visibly able to confirm the existence of the ark. Several more expeditions ascended the Ararat after him, bringing back new proofs and pieces of the hull. The ascents continued until the mid-70s, when the Turkish government firmly forbade any further climbing of Mt. Ararat.

 

(Reprinted from “Orthodox Votkinsk,” No. 8, 2001)

 

 

 

 

THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST

 

With the chant of paschal prayers And a pealing of the bells, Spring comes bursting in upon us From its distant southern lairs. And today in our garden, In a shy, secluded spot, I saw lilies of the valley Kiss a white-winged pale moth.   - K.M. Fofanov