Orthodox Truth

Pascha II Saturday: John 6: 14-27

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At that time, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, those men said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

St. John records only seven miracles of Christ in the fourth Gospel, and he calls them not miracles (thaumata) but signs (semeia).   He uses this term not to downplay the miraculous nature of these actions, which is manifest and needs no emphasis, but rather to raise our lowly minds from the miracles’ temporal effects to their eternal meaning – what they tell us about Who Jesus is.   These seven signs, which prepare the soul of the reader to receive the greatest Sign of all – the Eighth Sign given on the Eighth Day, the Resurrection of the Lord – are 1. changing water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana (chapter two), 2. healing the nobleman’s son (chapter four), 3. healing the paralytic at the Sheep’s Pool (chapter five), 4. feeding five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes (chapter six), 5. walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (chapter six), 6. healing the man born blind (chapter nine), and 7. raising Lazarus from the dead (chapter eleven).  

The sixth chapter begins with two of these signs, the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on the water.  Today’s reading begins after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, narrating the reaction of the multitude who had been fed.  They realize that the Lord Jesus is indeed “the prophet that should come into the world” prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15, a prophet Who, like Moses, would feed the people by miraculous loaves in the wilderness, and Who would be greater than Moses.  But their response to this realization is wrongheaded:  They wish to make Jesus an earthly king, in order to inaugurate an earthly kingdom of utopian prosperity, because their minds are filled with worldly cares, lacking perception of spiritual things and thirst for eternal blessings.  They do not understand that the Lord worked this sign in order to call them to the eternal banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

St. Cyril of Alexandria says that Our Lord’s abjuring this worldly project and fleeing the honor of the multitude gives us an example to follow: 

When Christ flees from those who want to give him honor and refuses that highest earthly prize of a kingdom…He teaches us that it is unseemly for those who pursue divine grace and thirst for everlasting glory to seek after worldly greatness.  We must then forego the love of glory, the sister and neighbor of arrogance, residing not far from its borders.  Let us have nothing to do with illustrious honor in this present life, which is hurtful.  Let us rather seek after a holy humility, giving preference to one another. – Commentary on the Gospel of John, 3.4.   

St. Augustine, assuming that the Lord escaped to the mountain alone in order to pray, connects the need for escaping worldly temptations to the need for prayer:  

Indeed, Our Lord teaches us here that whenever escape is necessary, there is an even greater necessity for prayer. – Harmony of the Gospels, 2.47.100 

When we are tempted to lose ourselves in the never-ending desires and disappointments of the kingdom of this world,  let us follow the example of the Lord Himself, and flee the tumult of society in order to discover the Kingdom of God within our hearts. 

Christ walks on the water of the sea and calms the disciples fears by saying “It is I (ego eimi) ; be not afraid.”   By using the words spoken at the Burning Bush – ego eimi (I Am), He reveals that He is not merely the great prophet foretold by Moses:  He is the God Who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.  

The Venerable Bede recognizes the marvelous paradox revealed in these two simple words, ego eimi (ego sum in Latin).   On the one hand, it is an informal greeting between close friends: you can read ego eimi as”Hey, it’s just me.”  You can also read it as the stark claim to ontological uniqueness, complete non-contingency, and absolute self-sufficiency:  “I AM.”   Here’s what St. Bede says: 

He says only, “I am.”  He trusts that they will easily recognize His voice, which was so familiar to them.  Or, more probably, he shows that He was the same Who said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, the One Who Is has sent me to you.” – Commentary on Matthew 3.14.  

This reminds us that a characteristic mark of true compunction is the heart’s realization of its utter nothingness before the One Who Is and its simultaneous perception of the most intimate presence of that One dwelling within.  The tears of repentance arising from this paradoxical realization lead us to salvation.  

II Pascha Friday – John 5:30 – 6:2

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The Lord said to the Jews who came to Him,  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

Throughout Great Lent, the prophetic types in the book of Genesis and the prophetic utterances of the Prophet Esaias prepared us to receive the fullness of God’s revelation in Christ, abundantly made clear in the Gospel according to St. John.   A passage like the one we read today overflows with so many truths of the highest order that one is struck dumb with astonishment and hesitates to speak.  The Lord Himself, however, today commands those who come to Him to “search the Scriptures,” and therefore let us attempt, the divine grace helping us, that which by man’s power is impossible, that is, to speak adequately of those things concerning which Our Lord speaks perfectly.  

The Arians point to the words “Of my own self I can do nothing” as supposed evidence that Christ is dependent, as a creature is, and therefore that He is not God equal to the Father.  Refuting this misinterpretation easily, St. Cyril of Alexandria explains that, on the contrary, this expression confirms both the Lord’s divinity and His Incarnation as a man:  

Since the Son is of one essence with the Father, by His nature He possesses all the characteristics of Him who begat him and essentially attains to one Godhead with Him by reason of His nature.  He is in the Father, and likewise He has the Father in Himself.  Thus He properly attributes to the Father the power of His own works, not excluding Himself from teh power of doing them but attributing all things to the operation of the one Godhead.  For there is one Godhead in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… Since he was made man and in the form of a servant, He, Who as God and Lord is the lawgiver, is Himself also made under the Law.  Therefore, sometimes He exists as though under the Law and sometimes as though above the Law – and has undisputed authority for both.  But He is speaking now with the Jews as a law-abiding man, as one who is not able to transgress the commands ordered from above or venturing to do anything of His own mind that is contrary to the divine law.  This is why He says, “I can do nothing on my own authority:  as I hear, I judge.” –  Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.9

St. John Chrysostom says it like this: 

Christ’s meaning is nothing other than this: I do not have a will different and apart from that of the Father.  Rather, if the Father desires anything, then I do as well.  If I desire it, so does He. – Homilies on the Gospel of John 39.4 

As One of the Holy Trinity, the Son has the same will as the Father and the Holy Spirit.  As the New Adam, using His perfectly functioning human will, He is completely obedient to, of one mind with, the Father.   How could it be otherwise?  

We should ask ourselves if, during the Great and Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion, the Lord’s example of obedience to the Father truly humbled us and brought us to compunction of heart, weeping for our own disobedience, shedding the tears of repentance that are needed to prepare the soul to be illumined by the light of the Resurrection.  Seeing the Lord of all humbling Himself to the utmost for our salvation, how can we not desire to obey God’s will with all our hearts?   St. Augustine reminds us to look to the perfect obedience of the Lord as a reminder to war against our self-will: 

The only Son says, “I seek not My own will,” and yet we want to do our own will!   See how low the One Who is equal to the Father humbles Himself!…Let us then do the will of the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, for this Trinity has one will, power, and majesty. – Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.15 

What happens to people who do not receive the words of Christ unto obedience and salvation, who, despite all that He has demonstrated to us and done for us, do not heed His words and do not obey the will of God so perfectly revealed in Jesus?   They dispose themselves to welcome the one who comes “in his own name (verse 43).”  Who is this person?   St. Hilary of Poitiers makes this clear:  

Jesus comes in the name of the Father, that is, He is not Himself the Father and yet is in the same divine nature as the Father.  For as Son and God it is natural for Him to come in the name of the Father.  But then, when another comes in the same name [ironically] he is the one they will receive.  And he is one from whom people will expect glory and to whom they will give glory in return, though he will pretend to come in the name of the Father.  By this, doubtless, is signified the Antichrist, glorying in his false use of the Father’s name.  He is the one they will glorify, and they will be glorified by him.  But the glory of Him Who alone is God they will not seek. – On the Trinity 9.22 

Those who reject the path of the Cross, the path of obedience to the Gospel, and seek earthly comfort and approval from men, live by the spirit of Antichrist, and thus dispose themselves to follow one or more of the many antichrists, the false teachers, who have arisen to lead men astray from the time of the apostles until now.   Such men, in the last times, will believe in the final and greatest deceiver, who will appear before the Second Coming.  

O gracious Lord, risen from the dead, grant us daily tears of compunction for our self-will and disobedience, that we may receive the Gospel into our minds and hearts, and be delivered from delusion and the final destruction that delusion brings.   May the Father’s will be understood in our minds and done in the earth of our hearts, as it is in heaven, where, in Thy glorified humanity, Thou dwellest as God with the Father and the Holy Spirit  Amen.  

II Pascha Wednesday – John 5: 17-24

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The Lord said to the Jews, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

One will notice that the readings from St. John during this period do not follow the course of the Gospel in strict order.  Yesterday, for example, we read from chapter three.  Today we read from chapter five.  One reason for this apparent discontinuity is that the accounts of certain significant events, such as the healing of the paralytic, which we shall celebrate on the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, are reserved for the Sundays of the Pentecostarion, and therefore the words  of Christ that He spoke after these events, in order to explain their meaning, are sometimes proclaimed in the weekday Gospel readings before we read the accounts of the events themselves.  

Today we read the Lord’s response to the corrupt and blind leaders of the Old Testament Church, who condemn Him for healing the paralyzed man at the Sheep’s Pool on the Sabbath.   As usual, He sets them straight, but they are not listening. 

St. Theophylact comments thus on the words of Our Lord in verse seventeen, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”:  

The Jews condemn Christ for working the miracle on the Sabbath.  But He Who is equal in honor to the Father and shares the same divine authority, replies, “God my Father works on the the Sabbath and you do not condemn Him; neither should you fault Me.”  How can he say that the “Father worketh hitherto,” when Moses says that God “ceased on the seventh day from all His works”? Look at the world and study the works of His providence: the rising and the setting of the sun; the sea, the springs, the rivers, and all living things.  You will see the creation energizing its own elements, or rather, being energized and moved by the ineffable Word of providence.  No on can doubt that divine providence imparts energy to that which is its own – even on the Sabbath.   Therefore, since the Father works and governs the creation on the Sabbath, it is reasonable that “I, His son should also work,” says Christ. – Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to John 

In many passages of the Fourth Gospel, the Lord clearly proclaims His divinity.  He does so here in verse seventeen by asserting that He is the Word and Wisdom of God Who directs all things by the divine providence.  Contrary to the myth of deism, which claims that the Creator wound up the creation like a clock, set it to work by its own logic and energy, and then abandoned it, we know that God is at every moment directing His creation by His wisdom and energizing it by the power of His divine energies upholding and activating the created potential of each created thing.  As St. Theophylact teaches by his explanation here, God rested on the seventh day from the initial work of creation, but He continues to work in order to care for that which He created.  When the Lord Jesus justifies His work of healing the paralyzed man on the Sabbath by equating it to the Father’s providential activity in the world, which operates at all times, including the Sabbath, He is claiming to be equal to the Father.  

As the Word Who reveals all that the Father is, Our Incarnate Lord also reveals the Father’s judgment of our own lives:  He “…hath committed all judgment unto the Son (verse 22).”   St. Ambrose encourages us by pointing out that this is evidence of God’s great mercy and desire to save us:   

But if there is fear that the judge may be too harsh, think about who your judge is.  For the Father has given every judgment to Christ.   Can Christ condemn you when He redeemed you from death and offered Himself on your behalf?  Can He condemn you when He knows that your life is what was gained by His death?  – Jacob and the Happy Life, 1.6.26

Though we must be ever vigilant to see and confess our sins, and to strive with attention in the life of repentance right up to the moment of death, we do so on the basis of firm hope in God’s mercy to us.   How can I doubt this mercy, knowing that He became a man and died for my sake?  God’s will to save us is infinitely greater than ours, as He is infinitely greater than we are, full – indeed more than full – of lovingkindness and graciousness to mankind as a whole and to each soul considered separately, including yours and mine.   Authentic spiritual effort is shot through with the spirit of the joy of salvation, not the spirit of gloom and hopelessness.   As we read yesterday, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”   

This joy and this hope are sometimes obscured by an overreaction against a superficial soteriology that is popular in some Protestant sects, the idea that all you need to do is to confess faith in Christ verbally at some point and from then on your salvation is guaranteed.   The popularity of this false idea due to its attractiveness to the self-indulgent tendency of the fallen ego makes it extremely dangerous, and such an error does indeed require clear correction.   We must not, however, fall into the opposite extreme of despair over our salvation, which is a grave sin against the theological virtue of Hope.  The command to acquire Hope, without which Faith is dead and Charity becomes unattainable,  is absolute, and we must not ignore it.  The readings and hymns of the Pentecostarion, this spiritual feast of joy in the Resurrection, if only we take the time to read them and to chant them, are the obvious instrument given us by the Divine Providence, at this very spring of this very year, to fight off gloom and to kindle in our hearts a firm hope in our salvation.   

Verily, verily, saith the Lord, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Amen. 

I Pascha Saturday – John 3: 22-33

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At that time, came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.  John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

Did the Lord Jesus Himself actually baptize anyone?   The holy Evangelist clears this up at the beginning of the next chapter:  

” When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. – John 4:1

St. John Chrysostom explains it thus: 

The Evangelist says further on that Jesus did not baptize, but His disciples did…He had not yet given the Spirit, and so there was good reason why He did not baptize.  But His disciples did because they wanted to bring as many to faith as possible. – Homilies on the Gospel of John 29:1 

St. John the Forerunner himself had said that the One Who was greater than he would come after him and baptize “…with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16).”   Prior to Our Lord’s Ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit, however, the baptism of grace was not yet given.   The baptism of John and the baptism of the disciples of the Lord, at this point, possessed the same power and had the same purpose:  a call to faith and repentance as a preparation for the true baptism of grace which was to come.   Those baptized by this preliminary baptism became, in a sense, catechumens, prepared to receive the full revelation that was to come after Christ was glorified and sent the Holy Spirit. 

Though the Forerunner told his disciples plainly that he had come to prepare the way for Jesus, and that Jesus was greater than he, they continued to be jealous for their master’s pre-eminence.   Fallen human nature acts thus:  we can all become unreasoning partisans of our chosen leader and chosen faction.   The holy Baptist reproves his disciples for this lack of understanding while also consoling them by lifting their minds to a higher understanding of the One to Whom their master is yielding the pre-eminence.   

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid explains it thus: 

...After the quarrel about “purifying,” meaning, baptism,  John’s disciples approached their master and attempted to provoke him to indignation by saying, “He that was with thee – formerly one of your disciples – has left you and is now baptizing on his own.”   By the words “to whom thou barest witness” they mean, “The man whom you baptized and made famous dares to usurp your place.  No longer do the people heed you; instead, they run to him.  “All men come to him,” and disdain you.”  But John wants to instill the fear of God in them, and teach them that they battle against God when they obstruct the work of Christ and demean Him.  “A man can receive nothing”…he says, “except it be given him from heaven.”  Unless it were given to Him from above, the One Whom you resent would not be winning renown.  Opposing Him, you sin in two ways:  you resist the will of God, and attempt to do the impossible.”  At the same time, John gently consoles them: “Not man, but God gains preeminence over us.  What we once had, we too received ‘from heaven’; it did not stem from our own power.  Be not dismayed that Christ’s deeds are more glorious than ours – it is the will of God.”  – The Explanation of the Gospel of John 

The disciples of John were learning a hard lesson that we all have to learn at some point, or, rather, at many points, during our lives:   We think that we are doing God’s will, and then God tells us that we are wrong or simply have more to learn about what His will really is, and we don’t like it.    We want to remain at the level of catechumens, that is, to live the Faith externally, and not surrender to the action of grace within the mind and heart, which invariably comes with suffering and humiliation.  These are the crises, the turning points in life, at which we are confronted with a choice of the greatest consequence:   we can choose pride and self-reliance – often even while remaining “religious”! –  or we can choose humility and total reliance on the will of God and the grace of God.   By the prayers of the Holy Forerunner, may we always choose as he did:  “He must increase, but I must decrease.”   

O Risen Lord, Bridegroom of the Church and Bridegroom of our souls, illumine our minds and hearts to know Thee as Thou desirest to be known and to love Thee as Thou desirest to be loved.  Amen. 

The Son of Thunder 

The Gospel Readings of the Pentecost

I Pascha Friday – John 2: 12-22

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At that time,  Jesus went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

When St. John uses the term “the Jews,” it usually refers to the religious authorities of the Old Testament Church, members of the Sanhedrin, the priestly authorities, and the scribes and Pharisees who were considered the teachers of the Law.    Less often, he uses the term to mean the entire  Israelite people as the chosen people of the Old Testament, from whom the Savior of the world would come, as when Christ tells the Samaritan woman, “…for salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22).”   

Here “the Jews,” in the former sense, demand from the Lord a “sign” to justify His courageous action in cleansing the Temple of those who were turning His Father’s House into a “house of merchandise.”   The evident purity of intention and zeal for the holiness of the Temple – the Lord’s evident virtue – meant nothing to them; they claimed that He had to produce a marvel in order to prove His authority.   

St. John Chrysostom asks, “Why did they ask for a sign?”  

But was there a need for a sign before putting a stop to their evil practices and freeing the house of God from such dishonor?  Was not the fact that He had such great zeal for the house of God the greatest sign of virtue? …They did not, however remember the prophecy [i.e., the words of Psalm 68 quote by the Evangelist, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up.”] but asked for a sign, at once irritated that their shameful traffic was cut off, while at the same time expecting to prevent Him from going further.  For this dilemma, they thought, would oblige Him either to work miracles or give up His present course of action.   But He refuses to give them a sign, as He did on a similar occasion, when He answers them that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonas the prophet (Matthew 16:4) – only the answer is more open there than here.  He, however, Who even anticipated people’s wishes and gave signs when He was not asked, would not have rejected here a positive request, had he not seen that their minds were wicked and false and their intention was treacherous…As it was, Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” – Homilies on the Gospel of John 23.2

The Temple authorities were extremely religious and extremely immoral at the same time.   Such personalities, a type familiar throughout the history of the Old Testament and New Testament Churches, often emphasize supposed signs, visions, etc., by means of which distraction they separate their gullible followers from the essential miracle of Faith leading to salvation.   Signs and wonders, even real signs and wonders, apart from the confession of the true Faith and a life lived in repentance, are simply entertainment.   They do not give salvation and may in fact prevent it.   

Here Our Lord gives the hypocrites the same answer that He gives to the same demand made on a different occasion, as recorded by Ss. Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  The sign that He will give them is His resurrection from the dead by His own power. In the synoptic Gospels, He refers to His Resurrection as the fulfillment of the “sign of Jonas.”   Here, in St. John,  He describes the Resurrection as the rebuilding of the Temple, not the temple of stone in which the Jews worshipped, but the temple of His Body.  

Let us recall that in another place, the Lord concludes His account of Lazarus and the Rich Man with these words, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31).”   The all-good Lord, Who did in fact work countless miracles out of love for mankind, without being asked, knew that even this greatest miracle of His resurrection would not change the hearts of these men, because they had closed their hearts to the true meaning of Moses and the Prophets, and instead twisted the sacred words of the Scriptures to invent their own self-serving false religion. 

The Arian heretics, who claimed that the Son was a creature and not able to raise Himself from the dead – that He had to be raised by the Father or He would not have risen – are clearly refuted by the words of Jesus Himself:  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”    When we hear the expression that God the Father raised up Jesus, this does not mean that Jesus is not God, for the action of the members of the Holy Trinity are always a single action. 

St. Ambrose comments on the Lord’s saying thus:  

We can easily show that the words treat of the Son’s action, for the Son Himself indeed raised His own body again, as He Himself said:  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  And He himself quickens us together with His body: “For as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, so also the Son quickens whom He will (John 5:21).” He, therefore, Who has achieved the work of our resurrection, is plainly pointed out to be truly God. – On the Christian Faith, 3.2.13-14

Here St. Ambrose does what all the Fathers do, because they were not idle debaters but serious men tasked with leading souls to salvation.  He leads the reader from the theological truth in question – in this case the Resurrection of Christ – to the moral demand of basing one’s life on that truth.    Christ raised Himself from the dead, and He raises us also by the power of that same Resurrection.    He “…has achieved the work of our resurrection…”   

At the baptism of every Orthodox Christian we read the words of St. Paul that we heard last week at the Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). ”  Our resurrection of the soul has already taken place, by the infinite power of His Resurrection, through baptism.  We have only to preserve and multiply the grace, by means of this infinite power, which is of God and not of man, so that our resurrection of the body on the Last Day will be not unto eternal torment, but unto unceasing joy in the light of His countenance.   

Christ is Risen!

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My son: He that keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble. 24 A bold and self-willed and insolent man is called a pest: and he that remembers injuries is a transgressor. 25 Desires kill the sluggard; for his hands do not choose to do anything. 26 An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day: but the righteous is unsparingly merciful and compassionate. 27 The sacrifices of the ungodly are abomination to the Lord, for they offer them wickedly. 28 A false witness shall perish; but an obedient man will speak cautiously. 29 An ungodly man impudently withstands with his face; but the upright man himself understands his ways. 30 There is no wisdom, there is no courage, there is no counsel against the ungodly. 31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle; but help is of the Lord. 22:1 A fair name is better than much wealth, and good favour is above silver and gold. 2 The rich and the poor meet together; but the Lord made them both. 3 An intelligent man seeing a bad man severely punished is himself instructed, but fools pass by and are punished. 4 The fear of the Lord is the offspring of wisdom, and wealth, and glory, and life. 

In verse 26, when the sacred author writes, “An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day,” the expression “all the day” signifies not only all the hours of a given day but also the span of one’s entire life.  Abba Evagrius, in commenting on this expression – as found again in Proverbs 23:17 – explains it thus: 

It belongs to angels never to have evil desires; it is human sometimes to have evil desires and other times not to have them; it belongs to demons always to have evil desires.  The expression “all the day” signifies the entire life.  So also, “continue in the fear of the Lord all the day (Proverbs 23:17)” applies to the whole life. –  Scholia on Proverbs 

Human beings, then, are not entirely good nor entirely wicked:  they go back and forth. We experience this, at least in our thoughts, every hour of every day.   God has provided the grace-filled life of repentance in the Church so that, during the span of his lifetime, the repentant Christian may tend more and more to good desires and less and less to evil desires each single day of the entire “day” of one’s life, until the Lord sees that the soul has become ripe for Paradise.   

We are tempted, however, by the thought that, seeing no improvement in ourselves, our repentance is in vain.   We must combat this thought by the understanding that the Lord does not allow us to see our improvement, lest we become complacent about our spiritual state, imagine that we have attained our salvation already, despise others as not as “advanced” as we, and be found trapped in demonic pride at the time of death.   We must simply abide in humility and constant self-reproach, but cheerfully, trusting in the Lord for our salvation.   

To combat the evil desires that arise in our hearts “all the day,” we must practice the constant remembrance of God, and the chief weapon in this warfare is the Prayer of Jesus, which is indispensable in retaining the grace that we receive in Holy Communion.  The course of our lives becomes intertwined with, identified with, the action of this Prayer within, and by it God both reveals the evil desires that arise in our hearts and at the same time destroys them.   Yet we do not see our progress but only more evil desires!   In a strange way, nevertheless, the Lord grants us a firm hope in our salvation.   

In his beautiful treatise on the Jesus Prayer, a new confessor of the Catacomb Church in Russia,  Archbishop Antoniy Golynskiy-Mikhaylovskiy,  explains the matter thus: 

The penitent does not notice that the Prayer is bearing fruit in him.  The Grace of God arranges this imperceptibly for his benefit because of man’s conceit.  The penitent prays; however, it seems to him that he is not advancing but is going backwards.  He keeps praying, but it seems to him that he is not making any progress.   Thoughts repeatedly banish his prayer, and consequently their pernicious character becomes increasingly evident.  This struggle compels him to begin to humble himself.   He has no recourse except to surrender to the will of God, which is exactly what he needs at this juncture. – On the Prayer of Jesus and Divine Grace, p. 31.  

Humility and surrender to the will of God!   This is what we need above all, every day of the day of this life, and especially at this holy season, as we prepare to glorify the Son of God Who was obedient to death, death on a cross, for our salvation.   Let us hasten to renew our warfare in prayer, combatting evil thoughts at every moment, so that we may worthily glorify Him Who, in His dread struggle in prayer in the Garden, on the night before He died, said to the Father, “Thy will be done,” and went forth to the world-saving exploit of the Cross.  

For the Lord Hath Spoken

The Lenten Readings from Esaias 

VI Lent Wednesday – Esaias 58: 1-11

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Thus saith the Lord:  1 Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up thy voice as with a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. 2 They seek me day by day, and desire to know my ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God: they now ask of me righteous judgment, and desire to draw nigh to God, 3 saying, Why have we fasted, and thou regardest not? why have we afflicted our souls, and thou didst not know it?  Nay, in the days of your fasts ye find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power ye wound. 4 If ye fast for quarrels and strifes, and smite the lowly with your fists, wherefore do ye fast to me as ye do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying? 5 I have not chosen this fast, nor such a day for a man to afflict his soul; neither though thou shouldest bend down thy neck as a ring, and spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall ye call a fast acceptable. 6 I have not chosen such a fast, saith the Lord; but do thou loose every burden of iniquity, do thou untie the knots of hard bargains, set the bruised free, and cancel every unjust account. 7 Break thy bread to the hungry, and lead the unsheltered poor to thy house: if thou seest one naked, clothe him, and thou shalt not disregard the relations of thine own seed.  8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily spring forth: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall compass thee. 9 Then shalt thou cry, and God shall hearken to thee; while thou art yet speaking he will say, Behold, I am here. If thou remove from thee the band, and the stretching forth of the hands, and murmuring speech; 10 and if thou give bread to the hungry from thy heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light spring up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as noon-day: 11 and thy God shall be with thee continually, and thou shalt be satisfied according as thy soul desires; and thy bones shall be made fat, and shall be as a well-watered garden, and as a fountain from which the water has not failed. – Esaias 58: 1-11 

As we draw near to the Great Week of the Lord’s Passion and the Day of the Radiant Resurrection, let us recall that there are three great themes found in the hymnody of these holiest days of the year:  First, there is of course, the historical and soteriological theme: the commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, which occurred in time 2,000 years ago, but whose true meaning lie outside of time, in the eternity of the Heavenly Kingdom.   Thus there is also the eschatological theme of Holy Week:  frequently we hear the call to watchfulness, as we await the return in glory of Him Whom we saw glorified first in His Extreme Humility for our salvation.   Third, there is the moral and ascetical theme: frequently we hear exhortations to live in newness of life, to show forth in our thoughts, words, and deeds the fruits of the Lord’s great redemptive work for us, as we make use of the grace that His Passion has won for us in order to become fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Today’s reading from Prophet Esaias emphasizes the moral theme of our conversion from the old way of life characterized by selfishness to the new way of life characterized by grace-filled charity, which is the highest of the virtues.   The men of Old Israel whom the prophet reproves here are proud of their outward fasting, but lack charity to their neighbor.  We must constantly recall – even now at the end of the Great Fast, as we did at the beginning – that fasting is not an end in itself.  It is an instrument for the acquisition of virtue.    

St. John Cassian writes, 

You see, then, that fasting is by no means considered an essential good by the Lord, inasmuch as it does not become good and pleasing to God by itself but in conjunction with other works. …By reason of accessory circumstances it might be considered not only vain but even hateful, as the Lord says, “When they fast, I will not hear their prayers.”  – Conferences

St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his commentary on this passage, addresses the well-known problem of outward piety coupled with inner corruption, a theme we have constantly recurred to since the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee: 

There were those among them who received a reputation for piety but behaved shamefully without being noticed, decorating themselves on the outside and gaining a reputation of gentleness.  They undertook fasts and made prayers, thinking that through this they could turn aside God’s anger.  …Here they learn what their sins are and that they must turn from these if they want to be rewarded by God and become worthy of His sparing them. – St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Isaiah

It is not likely that someone reading this commentary at this moment is a wealthy, hardhearted  oligarch oppressing the poor, of the kind whom the prophet excoriates in today’s passage from his writings.   All of us, however, must extend the mercy that we are capable of to those around us, starting with our immediate family, our friends, our fellow Church members, and our co-workers.    This can begin most simply, by our bridling our irritation and practicing quietness of spirit, cheerfulness, and kindness to the person in front of us.   St. Jerome, a notably fierce faster in his own right, nevertheless reproves one of his correspondents for thinking himself better than his brother for fasting more strictly, though he is angry and quarrelsome, while the other is cheerful and gracious:  

If you have fasted two or three days [i.e., keep absolute fastswith no food or drink for days at a time], do not think yourself better than others who do not fast [i.e., those who do not keep absolute fasts but who eat fasting food in moderation]. You fast and are angry; the other eats and wears a smiling face.  You work off your irritation and hunger in quarrels.   He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks.  – St. Jerome, Letter 22

Let us give the last word today to St. Isaac the Syrian, who gets to the heart of the matter, as usual, by reminding us that all of our sacrifices must be directed to the destruction of the idolatry of our logismoi – our thoughts – and our self-will:  

You offer your own wills as whole burnt offerings to idols; and to the wretched thoughts, that you reckon in yourselves as gods, you daily sacrifice your free will, a thing more precious than all incense, which you ought rather to consecrate to Me by your good works and your purity of conscience. – St. Isaac the Syrian, Sixth Ascetical Homily 

Let each of us, then, make a short list of the good works that we can by God’s grace accomplish in the sacred days lying before us, prepare for the cleansing of our conscience by a sincere and thorough confession of our sins, and greet the Lord in His saving Passion with purity of heart. 

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My son:  17 The paths of life turn aside from evil; and the ways of righteousness are length of life. He that receives instruction shall be in prosperity; and he that regards reproofs shall be made wise. He that keeps his ways, preserves his own soul; and he that loves his life will spare his mouth.  18 Pride goes before destruction, and folly before a fall. 19 Better is a meek-spirited man with lowliness, than one who divides spoils with the proud. 20 He who is skillful in business finds good: but he that trusts in God is most blessed. 21 Men call the wise and understanding evil: but they that are pleasing in speech shall hear more. 22 Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessors; but the instruction of fools is evil.  23 The heart of the wise will discern the things which proceed from his own mouth; and on his lips he will wear knowledge. 24 Good words are honeycombs, and the sweetness thereof is a healing of the soul. 25 There are ways that seem to be right to a man, but the end of them looks to the depth of hell. 26 A man who labours, labours for himself, and drives from him his own ruin. 27 But the perverse bears destruction upon his own mouth: a foolish man digs up evil for himself, and treasures fire on his own lips. 28 A perverse man spreads mischief, and will kindle a torch of deceit with mischiefs; and he separates friends. 29 A transgressor tries to ensnare friends, and  leads them in ways that are not good.  30 And the man that fixes his eyes devises perverse things, and marks out with his lips all evil: he is a furnace of wickedness. 31 Old age is a crown of honour, but it is found in the ways of righteousness. 32 A man slow to anger is better than a strong man; and he that governs his temper better than he that takes a city. 33 All evils come upon the ungodly into their bosoms; but all righteous things come of the Lord.  17:1 Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house full of many good things and unjust sacrifices, with strife. 2 A wise servant shall have rule over foolish masters, and shall divide portions among brethren. 3 As silver and gold are tried in a furnace, so are choice hearts with the Lord. 4 A bad man hearkens to the tongue of transgressors: but a righteous man attends not to false lips. 5 He that laughs at the poor provokes him that made him; and he that rejoices at the destruction of another shall not be held guiltless: but he that has compassion shall find mercy.  6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and their fathers are the glory of children. The faithful man has the whole world full of wealth; but the faithless not even a farthing. 7 Faithful lips will not suit a fool; nor lying lips a just man. 8 Instruction is to them that use it a gracious reward; and whithersoever it may turn, it shall prosper. 9 He that conceals injuries seeks love; but he that hates to hide them separates friends and kindred. 10 A threat breaks down the heart of a wise man; but a fool, though scourged, understands not. 11 Every bad man stirs up strifes: but the Lord will send out against him an unmerciful messenger.  12 Care may befall a man of understanding; but fools will meditate evils. 13 Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not be removed from his house. 14 Rightful rule gives power to words; but sedition and strife precede poverty. 15 He that pronounces the unjust just, and the just unjust, is unclean and abominable with God. 16 Why has the fool wealth? for a senseless man will not be able to purchase wisdom. He that exalts his own house seeks ruin; and he that turns aside from instruction shall fall into mischief. 17 Have thou a friend for every time, and let brethren be useful in distress; for on this account are they born.  

What does the sacred author mean by the second half of verse 17:6, “The faithful man has the whole world full of wealth; but the faithless not even a farthing?”  Frequently our experience is the opposite:  The man that takes the path of the Gospel, as commanded by Christ, experiences poverty and hardship, while the worldly man has an easy life with plenty of material abundance.   Here is what St. John Cassian says on the subject: 

Instead of the pleasure that a person has in possessing one field and house, he who has passed over into the adoption of the children of God (Ephesians 1:5), will enjoy a hundred times more all the riches that belong to the eternal Father and that he will possess as his own, and in imitation of the true Son he will proclaim by disposition and by virtue, “All that the Father has is mine (John 16:15).”  No longer occupied with the criminal concern of distraction and worry, but secure and happy, he will enter everywhere as it were into his property, and every day he will hear it said to him by the apostle, “All things are yours, whether the world or things present or things to come (I Corinthians 3:22).” And by Solomon, The faithful man has the whole world full of wealth (Proverbs 17:6b).”  – St. John Cassian, Conferences

The wealth of the rich but faithless man is an illusion, in two senses:  First, everything he thinks he owns really belongs to God.  Second, it’s all going to be lost to him at the time of his death.  He will take nothing to the grave.    Lying on his deathbed, after a lifetime of chasing shadows, he will experience the words of Holy Scripture at the core of his being:  “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” but he will not be able to get that lifetime back.  It has been wasted on chasing that which is insubstantial and temporary, and even this illusory gain will now be taken away. 

The poverty of the poor yet faithful man is also an illusion, but one that often tempts him to despondency and loss of hope in God.   When he plunges himself into prayer, however, and discovers the riches of prayer in his heart, he looks out on God’s creation with new eyes, realizing that it all belongs to God, and, because he is a child of God, that it all belongs to him.   That he can control and use so little of it now for his earthly needs and those of his family is a temporary condition allowed by God, in order to call him to deeper faith and hope, and to illumine his mind to see the inner meaning of his fellow creatures: that their ultimate purpose is not to satisfy the desires of man, but to give glory to their Creator.  This thought gives freedom and consolation, and he thinks, “Yes, it is all so beautiful, and that makes me happy.  Certainly I can last one day more, trusting in the loving God Who will always provide for me and being joyful in the contemplation of the beauties of created things, which lift me up to contemplation of His infinite beauty and perfection.”   

St. Clement of Alexandria, commenting on the first half of the same verse, says this: 

“Children’s children are the crown of old men; and their fathers are the glory of children,” it is said.  Our glory is the Father of all, and the crown of the whole Church is Christ. – St. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator 

Amen. 

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My son: 15 The simple believes every word: but the prudent man betakes himself to after-thought. 16 A wise man fears, and departs from evil; but the fool trusts in himself, and joins himself with the transgressor. 17 A passionate man acts inconsiderately; but a sensible man bears up under many things. 18 Fools shall have mischief for their portion; but the prudent shall take fast hold of understanding. 19 Evil men shall fall before the good; and the ungodly shall attend at the gates of the righteous. 20 Friends will hate poor friends; but the friends of the rich are many. 21 He that dishonours the needy sins: but he that has pity on the poor is most blessed. 22 They that go astray devise evils: but the good devise mercy and truth. The framers of evil do not understand mercy and truth: but compassion and faithfulness are with the framers of good. 23 With every one who is careful there is abundance: but the pleasure-taking and indolent shall be in want. 24 A prudent man is the crown of the wise: but the occupation of fools is evil. 25 A faithful witness shall deliver a soul from evil: but a deceitful man kindles falsehoods. 26 In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and he leaves his children a support. 

The word “simple” in verse fifteen does not refer to the holy simplicity of the saint who believes in God without doubting and receives the Kingdom of God into his heart with the childlike innocence praised by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Here, rather, by a “simple” man the sacred author means a simpleton, a fool.  St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this verse, says briefly, “Surely it is typical of folly to believe everything.”  It is well said that someone who stops believing in the true God will believe anything else, no matter how ridiculous. Naïveté and credulity are not small sins in a grown man, for he is responsible for seeking the truth earnestly and praying for wisdom daily, in order to carry out with prudence the tasks assigned him in life by God. People today have forgotten – or have never been told – that they will answer to God for their culpable ignorance.   Those who refuse to undertake serious study about the most serious things – how to attain eternal happiness in the next life and  how to carry out the duties imposed on them by God in this life – will answer to God for the waste of the minds He gave them and the perversion of their wills that logically followed upon their ignorance. 

In order to have time and energy to study the sacred truths of our Faith, as well as serious works on secular topics, we have to stop wasting time distracting ourselves with silly things like sports, video entertainment, mindless chatter on social media, and all the nonsense on the Internet and television about current events.   Remember, the so-called news is not serious; it is theater cynically manufactured to retard your intellectual and moral development by trapping you in ignorance and gratifying your passions.  The pronouncements of high government officials and media “experts” are not even meant to be taken seriously:  they are theater scripts written by nihilists – that is, products of our universities – who do not believe in God and who believe themselves both wise and virtuous for denying the existence of the real, objectively knowable, and permanent essences of created things.  Thus nothing they say means anything, because they are unable to intend to say anything that means anything. The first step to wisdom, therefore, would be to refuse to discuss the Thing that everyone else began discussing instantly today when they were informed by such blind and hopeless idiots that This Thing is now the One Important Thing rather than That other One Important Thing they were discussing yesterday. 

Orthodox Christian, know your dignity!   Almighty God your Creator has given you a mind to use for the study of His truth, both His truth directly revealed in the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church, and His truth indirectly revealed through the created order of existing things that are the legitimate subjects of the arts and sciences.  Do not lower yourself by occupying your hours with the false, the trivial, the superficial, and the absurd. Our Lord Himself told us to be wise as serpents as well as innocent as doves.   St. Paul writes,  “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men (I Corinthians 14:20).” 

O Christ our Lord, Thou Eternal Wisdom of the Father, enlighten our minds with Thy truth, govern our wills according to Thy goodness, and direct our desires to the love of all those good things that are pleasing to Thine Eternal Father, Who is glorified with Thee and Thine All-Holy Spirit unto the ages.  Amen. 

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My son, 19 A righteous son is born for life: but the persecution of the ungodly ends in death. 20 Perverse ways are an abomination to the Lord: but all they that are blameless in their ways are acceptable to him. 21 He that unjustly strikes hands shall not be unpunished: but he that sows righteousness he shall receive a faithful reward. 22 As an ornament in a swine’s snout, so is beauty to a ill-minded women. 23 All the desire of the righteous is good: but the hope of the ungodly shall perish.  24 There are some who scatter their own, and make it more: and there are some also who gather, yet have less. 25 Every sincere soul is blessed: but a passionate man is not graceful. 26 May he that hoards corn leave it to the nation: but blessing be on the head of him that gives it. 27 He that devises good counsels seeks good favour: but as for him that seeks after evil, evil shall overtake him. 28 He that trusts in wealth shall fall; but he that helps righteous men shall rise. 29 He that deals not graciously with his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise man. 30 Out of the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life; but the souls of transgressors are cut off before their time. 31 If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?  12:1 He that loves instruction loves sense, but he that hates reproofs is a fool. 2 He that has found favour with the Lord is made better; but a transgressor shall be passed over in silence. 3 A man shall not prosper by wickedness; but the roots of the righteous shall not be taken up. 4 A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but as a worm in wood, so a bad woman destroys her husband. 5 The thoughts of the righteous are true judgments; but ungodly men devise deceits.  6 The words of ungodly men are crafty; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. 

Verse eleven is one of the better known Proverbs, because of its wry humor, and because it rings so true to experience.  How often, indeed, have women who possessed physical beauty but were evil-minded (in the Septuagint kakophron), or just silly and empty-headed (in St. Jerome’s Latin version, fatua) – or both – destroyed the lives of their husbands and children by their swinish behavior!   

The Holy Fathers, however, do not rest content with the obvious meaning of the verse, that pious women should aim at exhibiting good will, sobriety, and prudence in their thinking and their conduct.  The Fathers raise the bar (as usual!) in order to apply this verse to God-loving souls, both men and women, who, despite their outward piety and striving after virtue, nonetheless keep giving in to their passions.  That’s us.  

St. John Cassian, in his Fourteenth Conference, “On Spiritual Knowledge,” quotes Abba Nesteros as follows:  

As for those who seem to have some semblance of knowledge yet do not abandon the sins of the flesh even when they apply themselves diligently to the reading and memorizing of Scripture, Proverbs has the following well-put statement: “The beauty of a woman of evil ways is like a golden ring in the snout of a pig.” What use is it for a man to possess the jewel of heaven’s words and to give himself over to that most precious loveliness of Scripture if he himself is stuck fast in muddied works and thoughts?   

St. Gregory of Nyssa applies this insight specifically to those who have consecrated their lives to God in virginity: 

Let eagerness for virginity be written down as the foundation for the life of virtue, but let there be built upon this foundation all the products of virtue.  If [virginity] is believed to be precious and befitting to God, as it is, but one’s whole life does not conform to it and is stained by the rest of the soul’s disorder, then this is “the golden ring in the swine’s snout” or the pearl trampled under the feet of the swine. – St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 18 .   

This does not mean, however, that our profession of the Faith and outward piety are useless.  On the contrary, our orthodoxy – professing the the right faith – and striving after orthopraxis – right behavior – are absolutely essential, and through them God will save us, though we fall a thousand times a day.   But we must be willing to endure whatever tribulations He sends us for the cleansing of our passions, that we may obtain that purity of heart without which we will not see God.  

St. Peter quotes verse 31 of today’s reading in his First Epistle:  “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear (I Peter 4:18) ?.”    St. Bede, commenting on this verse, says that even the righteous have countless falls due to our fallen nature, but they are saved through tribulations, while those outside the Church’s realm of grace do not even have the starting point for running the course of salvation:   

“If the righteous receives [retribution] on earth, how much more the wicked and sinner?”  This is to say clearly, “If the frailty of mortal life is so great that not even the righteous who are to be crowned in heaven pass through life without tribulations on account of the countless slips of our flawed nature, how much more do those who are cut off from heavenly grace await the certain outcome of their everlasting damnation? – The Venerable Bede, Commentary on I Peter 4:18 

Let us, then, accept with humility and gratitude whatever trials come our way, so that, purified of the passions through repentance, we may attain the heavenly kingdom.