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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.
Homily for the fifth Sunday of the Great Lent
Five weeks of the Great Lent have passed already, dear brethren. Only two weeks remain until the glorious Resurrection of Christ. And so this week the Church gives us both solace and a supreme example of penitence and fasting.
Yesterday we glorified the Holy Virgin. This was a spiritual consolation for us, as we were reminded that the Mother of God is always with us and never ceases to pray to the Lord for us. And today we are the given the ultimate example of penitence and fasting, as we commemorate St. Mary of Egypt.
Saint Mary of Egypt came from the city of Alexandria. In her youth she was renowned for her great beauty and her life of depravity. One time she saw a group of pilgrims from Alexandria preparing to embark for the Holy Land, for Jerusalem, in order to venerate the Holy Cross, and Mary decided that she, too, wanted to go along, but only to have a good time. And so she sailed together with the others. In her own words, she was surprised that the ship on which she sailed did not drown because of the debauchery which she created.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem she went with everyone else to church. All the others proceeded to enter the church, except for her. She just could not get in. At first she thought it was because of the crowd, because she was being pushed aside. However, when everyone else went in, while she alone remained outside and could not enter, she realized that some force was detaining her, was not letting her go in. She fell on her knees and cried. She realized that it was her sins that were not allowing her to enter the church.
Suddenly on the wall she saw an icon of the Holy Virgin. Falling down before the icon, Mary tearfully asked the Mother of God to help her. She then heard a mysterious voice inside her, instructing her to go to a priest and repent her sins, and then to go into the desert, cleanse her sinful life there, and never return.
Mary did as she was told and went into the desert, where she spent the first 17 years in a terrible battle with her passions, living in the desert a total of 47 years. At that time the end of her earthly existence drew near and so, by God’s providence, the holy elder Zosima came to the desert and saw Mary, who was no longer a sinner, but a saint.
Let us note, dear brethren, how everything is tied in this week. We see a young woman, a sinner, so beautiful in body and so hideous in soul. And how her soul woke up, as she turned for help to the Mother of God, Who continuously prays for everyone. We see the penitence that is necessary for the cleansing of sins. We see the fasting that is required for the taming of our flesh and the regeneration of our soul. We see the obedience which every Christian is called upon to fulfill. And all of it is tied into a single example of purification of the soul.
On this fifth Sunday of Great Lent we must carefully look into our souls. Have we turned to the Mother of God, and have we tried to earn Her protection as did Mary of Egypt? Have we repented our sins? Have we fulfilled our obedience of fasting and prayer?
For 17 years Mary of Egypt cleansed her sins by means of fasting. She, too, experienced extreme temptations from the evil spirits. But she patiently endured them all and only prayed to God to forgive her sins. Our fasting lasts only six weeks, plus one more week of the Lord’s Passion.
Let us emulate this great saint who is highly venerated in the Orthodox Church, so that we might merit the protection of the Mother of God, and so that the Lord might forgive us our sins. Then we, too, will be able to sing with a pure heart: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ Saviour, is sung by angels in heaven; may we, too, glorify Thee with a pure heart on earth.” Amen.
And so, dear brethren, we have reached the fifth Sunday of the Great Lent. Today the Holy Church offers us St. Mary of Egypt as a supreme example of repentance. Not everyone is able to understand why, precisely, the Church has chosen her. “She led a most sinful life,” - they say, - “she was a terrible sinner.” But such words can be said only by those who have not yet come to understand the sacrament of penitence.
Let us carefully consider this extraordinary sacrament. Let us first look at how it is revealed to us in the example of the venerable Mary. St. Mary of Egypt led a dissolute way of life. Arriving in Jerusalem, even there she continued to engage in debauchery. But when she wanted to go into the church and venerate the Lord’s precious Cross, she was barred from entering. Gradually she understood why that was happening and began weeping bitterly. Catching sight of an icon of the Mother of God, she prayed to it, repented her way of life and vowed, under the guidance of the Holy Virgin, to reform her life.
At first glance it may seem an easy thing to do. However, let us think, dear brethren: how many of us have truly repented our sins? The Church calls us to penitence and communion. And so we go, and we confess our sins, and we partake of the Holy Mysteries. But… during confession, do we truly repent? or do we only ennumerate our sins?
It is easy to go to confession. When we stand before the priest, there is usually a list of sins available. We can look at it and be reminded of our sins. An experienced priest will be able to help us by suggesting possible sins that we may have committed. At the end of confession the priest asks us: do we repent of our sins? Note the question, dear brethren! We are not asked: have you confessed your sins? But - do you repent of your sins? And when we answer: yes, I repent, - we must feel complete remorse in our hearts and truly repent, repent in the same way that Mary of Egypt repented her sinful life.
At least once in our lifetime we receive encouragement towards penitence. Mary of Egypt was barred from entering the church. She understood the reason and spent the following 47 years in penitence. For us the doors of the church are not closed; however, we close them ourselves. “How is that?” - you may well ask. - “I go to church, I confess, I take communion.” Dear brethren! If we, knowing that a service is going on in church, go out to amuse ourselves instead, or sit around the house in idleness, or if we, having taken communion, immediately begin to pass judgment on others and commit anew the sins that we have just confessed, - we close the doors of the church upon ourselves. Even if we enter the church physically, our constant and unrepented sins bar from our souls the grace, the purity, the comfort which we expect to receive in church.
We must understand the sacrament of penitence and immerse ourselves fully in it. After St. Mary of Egypt realized her sins and her guilt, the Holy Virgin led her out of society into the desert, where she became completely immersed in repentance and spent many years in this spiritual labor. For her absolute repentance, her soul was totally healed and she ascended to a level of absolute sanctity. When the venerable Zosimas found her in the desert, she was waiting for him. She had become like the angels.
St. Mary actually confessed only three times in her life: the first time - before the icon of the Mother of God, when she became aware of her sins; the second time - in church before her departure for the desert; and the last time - to the elder Zosimas, when she recounted her life to him. But she repented for 47 years. Through her penitence she so purified her soul, returned both her soul and her body to such a paradisiacal state, that she lay dead in the desert for a whole year, untouched by corruption, or beasts, or the burning sun, or the windswept sands, and when the elder Zosimas found her, a lion came out of the desert and helped bury her. Thus the Lord Himself glorified her and gave her to us as an example of supreme repentance.
Five weeks of the Great Lent have passed already, dear brethren. Let us ask ourselves: have I begun to repent as Mary of Egypt once repented? Have I become aware of my sins? Have I truly understood them, and have I repented of them with a sincere intention of reforming myself? Let us not come to confession simply to list our sins, dear brethren, but let us come and repent of them in all earnestness, let us purify our hearts, so that we could truly sing: “The angels sing in the heavens of Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, and may we on earth glorify Thee with a pure heart.” Amen.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff |
