Orthodox Truth

Tuesday of the Second Week of Matthew

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Today’s reading from the Holy Gospel is Matthew 7: 15-21 

 The Lord said:  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

St. Theophan the Recluse reminds us that there are false prophets in every generation, and he cites the example of the false prophets of his time, the scientistic ideologues and liberal churchmen of the late 19th century, who were promising a utopia on earth based on “progress” and “freedom” apart from Christ and the Church:  

Beware of false prophets (Matt. 7:15). From the beginning of Christianity and to this day there has not been a time when this warning was not applicable. The Lord did not indicate exactly which false prophets to beware of,  for how could they be pinpointed? They change like fashions and are continually generating more like them. They always appear in sheep’s clothing, with a likeness of good will in their deeds and a mirage of truth in their speech. In our time their clothing is sewn of progress, civilization, education, freedom of thought and deed, a personal conviction which does not allow for faith, and such like. All of this is a deceptive cloak. Therefore, if you come across this show of clothing, do not be hasty to open your ears to the words of “prophets” dressed in such clothes. Examine closely whether there is a wolf concealed under this sheep’s clothing. Know that the Lord is the only motivator toward true perfection, the sole softener of hearts and customs, the sole educator, the sole giver of freedom and filler of the heart with a feeling of the truth which forms a conviction so strong that nothing in the world has the power to shake it. Therefore, as soon as you perceive in these new “ prophets’ ” talk some shadow of contradiction to the teaching of the Lord, know that they are predatory wolves, and turn away from them. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 123-124

This dream of “civilization,” “freedom,” and “progress” has utterly failed by now, of course, as we all know, though some blind souls still believe in it – witness the absurdly fatuous  faith placed in the “science” establishment during the Covid psy-op of recent years.    Sensible folk, however, have come to realize that “progress” towards a “better world” based on “science” is a long-discredited 19th century myth, not a reality.  It is simply another false religion that needs to be relegated to the dustbin of history, another example of false prophets’ leading the masses astray. 

Our own time, however, has produced its own false prophets, and there are so many, whose teachings are so varied, fragmentary, and outrageous, that public life has degenerated into a vast psychiatric hospital where the lunatics are in charge.   Amid the chaos, the only reliable and sane voice is that of the Church, for alone now of all societal structures and sources of meaning, the Church remains what She has always been:  the one Body of Christ, the one society based on the Truth with a capital T, the Rock Who is Christ.  

Knowing, however, that even the vast majority of the historical Church leadership has now joined the Gadarene rush into the swirling waters of postmodern relativism via the globalist ecumenism project, one is faced with the challenge of discerning who are the wolves in sheep’s clothing at the head of what appears to be the Church.   This is not an entirely new situation; we all know of several times in Church history when the state-approved power structure became heretical and the real churchmen were disorganized, outwardly disunited, few, and banished to the margins, like now.    There are, however, notable attributes of our situation which distinguish it from similar situations in the past. Here are three of them:   

1. The techniques and technology of deception have been perfected to the extent that very few people can separate the virtual from the real.  Most people now base their perception of reality on visual images and short verbal messages seen and heard on the Internet.  

2.  In Orthodox circles, a bewildering multiplicity of visions, signs, wonders, dreams, myrrh-streaming icons, miracles of “elders,” and so forth – all heavily marketed on the Internet –  have become the decisive criteria for discerning the boundaries of the Church, replacing the traditional criteria of the Scriptures, the canons, the teachings of the Fathers, and the historical examples of the saints who combatted heresy in their time.  

3.  Life today is so chaotic that even a watered down and chimerical “Orthodoxy,” Orthodoxy-Lite, so to speak, a charming facade of beauty and comfort, the appearance of religion without the power thereof, presents itself persuasively as a safe haven in the storm.   The bar is so low that something, anything, is better than nothing.  When the bombs are falling all around you, any bomb shelter will do – or so it seems. 

In such a situation, we, like the Apostles, are tempted to cry out, “Who then can be saved?”  And the Lord assures us now, as He did the Apostles, that though to man such is impossible, with God all things are possible.   He assures us now, as He did the Prophet Elias, that He has reserved unto himself 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.  Our duty is not to change the world or even to rescue the historical Church institutions; it is to remain among the 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.  

Thus to discern where the true shepherds are, where the Church really is, is required of us.  I have written extensively about how to do this, in my Orthodox Survival Course series, classes 41 through 52, and I pray that those who have already read or listened to these talks have benefited from them and will benefit by reviewing them, and that these talks will benefit more souls in the future.

 ( To start with Class 41, here are the links for text and for audio:      

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/orthodox-survival-course-class-41-situation-report-faith-comes-first–18900778 )

For such material to benefit you, however  – for it to help you decide what you should actually do – you must simultaneously be engaged in cleansing the mind and the heart, so that your own passions and delusions do not lead you astray.   To help with this, I encourage everyone to listen to our metropolitan’s sermons at the Orthodox Tradition website:  https://www.youtube.com/OrthodoxTradition 

Finally, at the risk of sounding like a broken record:  We must engage in replacing our logismoi – the never silent fragmentary thoughts that eat up most of our mental life – with spiritual attentiveness through assiduously working at the Jesus Prayer.   Here is what the late Archbishop Anthony of Los Angeles, of blessed memory, wrote in his Last Will and Testament to his spiritual children:  

Our Lord destines us to a great blessing: to belong to the Holy Orthodox Church, for only here can we obtain Salvation, if we do not waste the time of preparing ourselves for eternity.

To avoid wasting this time, let us turn to the awesome admonitions of the Word of God, Gospel parables, prayers and church hymns which teach us that our mind is filled with unnecessary triviality and troubles, THAT THE ENEMIES OF OUR SALVATION GIVE TO US. And we, in our carefree manner, like to think that they are our own harmless and pleasant thoughts. Having distracted our mind from God, the enemy begins bringing sinful thoughts and wishes, which are extremely hard to resist. TO FIGHT AGAINST SIN SUCCESSFULLY, ONE MUST REPLACE HIS THOUGHTS WITH CONTINUAL PRAYER TO JESUS.

All the Saints had to do this to reach their sanctity. There is no other way. The great Saints of ancient times, as well as the Holy Father Seraphim of Sarov, St. John of Kronstadt, Holy Father Paissy Velichkovksy and the great Startsy of Optina all testify to this.

This prayer saves and is successful only if done patiently and humbly, not with the goal of pleasure, but rather release from sins, and it demands a lot of time.

Our Merciful Lord Jesus Christ, grant us eternal salvation by the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary, and of all the Saints! Amen.

(Signed:)

Archbishop Antony of Los Angeles

24 November / 7 December 1995

Holy Martyr Katherine

Monday of the Second Week of Matthew

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Today’s reading from the Holy Gospel is Matthew 6: 31-34, 7: 9-11

 The Lord said: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

St. Theophan the Recluse deals effectively with the natural question that arises after one hears these words of Christ:   How can I follow this Gospel command and still take care of my material needs and the the needs of those for whom I am responsible?

Here’s what he says: 

Take no thought (Matt. 6:31). Then how is one to live? We have to eat, drink, and wear clothes. But the Saviour does not say, “do nothing,” but rather, take no thought. Do not weary yourself with care that consumes you both day and night, and gives you not a moment of peace. Such care is a sinful disease. It shows that a man is relying upon himself and has forgotten God; that he has lost hope in the Providence of God, wants to arrange everything for himself solely by his own efforts, to procure all that is necessary, and to preserve what he has procured by his own means. He has become chained in his heart to his property, and thinks to rest on it as if it were a solid foundation. Love of possessions has bound him and he only thinks of how to get more into his hands. This mammon has replaced God for him. Work by all means, but do not weary yourself with evil cares. Hope for every success from God and commit your lot into His hands. Accept all that you obtain as a gift from the Lord’s hand, and wait with a firm hope that He continue His generous giving. Know that if God so desires, a rich man can lose all he has in one minute. All is decay and dust. Is it worth it to weary yourself for that? So, take no thought! –  Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, p. 123 

In these few short words of Our Lord, and in the short words of the saint commenting on the Lord’s words, we find a wealth of theology:  The dogma of God as the Creator Who brought all things from nothing into being, the dogma that we are creatures of dust and ashes, brought into being by God’s sovereign will, the dogma of God’s Providence, which sustains and guides all things – including us – to their appointed ends according to His will, the dogma of God’s infinite goodness and benevolence that desires to give man everything he needs in this life and the age to come, the dogma of the transitoriness of earthly life and the concomitant priority of spiritual concerns, the dogma of the heavenly Kingdom and the rewards that await those saved according to His will.  

Here we find also a wealth of practical spiritual counsel:  Remember God, remember that He is your Creator and you are only a creature; you cannot control everything as if you were God, and therefore be at peace.  He wants to give you good things, and above all spiritual good things, that is, graces and virtues; therefore you should ask Him for the cardinal virtue of courage and the theological virtue of hope, which virtues will totally replace your fearfulness, despondency,  and anxiety.   Practice gratitude for what you have and remember that God has provided and will provide all that you need.  Remember the hour of death and thereby put your current concerns into the only realistic perspective.  

The punchline of St. Theophan’s commentary consists of Our Lord’s own words:  “Take no thought!”  (The Greek original can be translated well by our old fashioned English word:  “Don’t fret!” )   It is our own thoughts, after all, usually distorted and exaggerated by demonic influence, that torture us.   In a recent sermon, our metropolitan has said that 5% of our problems are our outward circumstances and 95% of our problems are in our own heads.  But to deal with these problems, our real problems, we must become attentive to the interior life of the soul.   The Lord commands us in today’s Gospel to seek first the Kingdom of God.  In another place (Luke 17:21), He pinpoints the location of the Kingdom of God:  It is within us.   

When you are, therefore, beset by a multitude of concerns, the most practical thing you can do is to detach and to pray.  It is instructive that the Holy Fathers teach that the science and art of attaining sobriety, that is, making the transition from prayer as an occasional thing that interrupts our day to prayer as the state of continual spiritual attentiveness, is not a contemplative or theoretical subject for the few but a practical subject for everybody.  That is, it concerns us, who are in the stage of praxis, the prosaic warfare against the passions that comprises the first stage of spiritual life and is incumbent upon all Christians. For example, St. Theophan the Recluse, in his Russian translation of the Philokalia, quotes St. Photios saying this about the instructions of St. Hesychios on practicing the art of spiritual sobriety: 

…more than any other writings it is suitable for those who lead a life of striving for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  His exposition is clear and it is in every way suitable for men who do not go in for abstract researches but direct all their zeal and labour to the practical works of active life.    – Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, Kadloubovsky and Palmer trans., p. 278

My point here is not to say that everyone should immediately run to read St. Hesychios – what Photios the Great regards as “clear” may not, indeed, be entirely clear to us!   My point is that setting aside ten minutes a day for the uninterrupted practice of the Jesus Prayer, and saying the Prayer throughout the day as often as you can remember to do so, is an extremely practical way of dealing with your problems. And the Prayer is not our only weapon in the fight:  When you are beset by worries, stop and read the Psalter aloud till you calm down.   Read the Gospel aloud, and the Lord’s own words will free you and empower you.   Go to confession and reveal your thoughts to your spiritual father.   Prepare for several days in advance, with conscious attention, for a truly beneficial reception of Holy Communion.  We have an enormous armory here, a huge toolbox.   We have only to open it up and use what’s there.   

God is with us, and He is within us.  What are we worried about? 

Pentecost Week – Friday of the First Week of Matthew

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In today’s Gospel, Our Lord continues His Sermon on the Mount, the charter of Gospel perfection.

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. – Matthew  5: 33-41

What does it mean to turn the other cheek? The Church does not teach absolute pacifism, for there are times when we must resist evil on behalf of others: for example, a Christian man who does not resist someone invading his home to kill his family is not only not virtuous but rather the opposite. An Orthodox warrior who fights for his nation to resist alien conquest fulfills Christ’s words that the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. And we must always struggle fiercely, with unwavering intransigence, against the enemies of the Church who devour men’s souls. It is to one’s own enemies that one must turn the other cheek; no one has given us the right to practice non-resistance to the enemies of God, the Church, the family, and the nation. We must practice meekness towards the person right in front of us whom we see every day, the one we live with, work with, worship with. It is he who is constantly offending our self-love; it is he whom God has sent into our lives to help us find our salvation.

Furthermore, meekness gives birth to courage: the man who – not from some defect of his incensive faculty but out of a conscious choice to practice evangelical meekness with the help of grace – does not repay with slander the colleague who slanders him at work, or who does not voice resentment against his brother-in-law for not repaying a loan, or who practices absolute silence in regard to his wife’s defects of character, is more, not less, likely to lead the charge when the battle trumpet sounds. Self-sacrifice has become his fundamental orientation, and virtue to virtue gives birth.

To acquire both the discernment and the power to start practicing lofty evangelical virtues like meekness, however, we must have a conscious inner life. There is no external calculus one can apply infallibly to every single moral situation – you have to construct an inner compass. In the introduction to his Russian translation of the Philokalia, St. Theophan the Recluse states that cultivating the inner life of attentiveness is required of every Christian, not only consecrated ascetics:

Secret life in our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the truly Christian life, begins, develops, and rises to perfection (for each in his own measure), through the good will of God the Father, by the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit present in all Christians, and under the guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who promised to abide with us for all time…God’s grace calls all men to such a life; and for all men it is not only possible but obligatory… – Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, Kadloubovsky and Palmer trans., Faber and Faber 1951, p. 13

The Sermon on the Mount, with its demand for perfection above nature (“Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”), is comprehensible only to those leading the grace-filled life of the Church in the manner intended by God, that is, with the struggle for unceasing attention and prayer, under the guidance of the Church and in conjunction with the life of the Holy Mysteries. Teachings created by minds functioning outside of this life, whether on moral philosophy, social reform, or proposed political utopias, all contain fatal flaws. The only way back for us, the only return to sanity – for ourselves, our families, our nations, our civilization – is through the strait gate of the heart.

VI Pascha Wednesday, the Leavetaking of Pascha – John 12: 36-47

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The Lord said to the Jews that came to Him:  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

What does it mean, that God blinded the eyes of those who rejected Him, that they should not be healed?  (Verse 40).  We know that God is not the author of evil; He wills and does only what is good.   What, then, can this expression mean?    St. John Chrysostom uses the image of the sun blinding the eyes of men to explain this:  

For as the sun dazzles the eyes of the weak, not by reason of its proper nature, so it is with those who give not heed to the words of God.   Thus, in the case of Pharaoh, He is said to have hardened his heart, and so it is with those who are at all contentious against the words of God.  This is a peculiar mode of speech in Scripture, as also [when it is written that] “He gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Romans 1: 28)…that is, allowed, permitted them to go.  For, when we are abandoned by God, we are given up to the devil, and when so given up, we suffer ten thousand dreadful things.  – Homily 68 on John 

By saying “…not by reason of its proper nature,” St. Chrysostom means that the sun’s proper nature is to give light and warmth to man, but because of the weakness of our fallen bodies, sometimes the sun harms us, though through no fault of its innate properties.  God is entirely love, but we experience His love as wrath and condemnation when we choose to harden our hearts against Him.   He is entirely goodness, but we experience His goodness as physical and psychological evils, the “ten thousand dreadful things” that St. Chrysostom mentions, when we experience His abandonment caused by our sins.  

Yet God always yearns after us, as loving parents always yearn after disobedient children who have gone far from them, and He never ceases to do what is for our salvation.   His very abandonment of the sinner to the devil is a method of teaching him and bringing him to his senses, and all the while that the reprobate is experiencing those ten thousand dreadful things, the loving Lord is speaking to his heart, if only he will listen.  St. Chrysostom goes on to quote passages of Scripture that emphasize that God never ceases to desire our salvation:  

“…How often would I have gathered your children – and ye would not.” (Luke 13: 34).  Esaias also again, “I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to hearken.” (Esaias 50: 2). These things He saith, showing that we begin the desertion and become the causes of our perdition; for God not only desireth not to leave or to punish us, but even when He punisheth, doeth it unwillingly; “I will not, ” He saith, “the death of a sinner, so much as that he should turn and live.” (Ezekiel 18: 32).   Christ also mourneth over the destruction of Jerusalem, as we also do over our friends.”   

Having asserted the Lord’s steadfast lovingkindness and care for us, even when we go astray, the holy commentator now exhorts us to be likewise patient with our brethren when they go astray:  

Knowing this, let us do all so as not to remove from God, but let us hold fast to the care of our souls, and to the love towards each other; let us not tear our own members (for this is the act of men insane and beside themselves,) but the more we see any ill-disposed, the more let us be kind to them.  Since we often see many persons suffering in their bodies from difficult or incurable maladies, and cease not to apply remedies…Not at all, but we use every means that the sufferer may enjoy some comfort, since we cannot get rid of the disease.   This also let us do in the case of our brethren, and, even though they be diseased incurably, let us continue to tend them, and let us bear one another’s burdens.   

At the beginning of Homily 69, St. Chrysostom comments on verse 42, “Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” The saint points out that though these men indeed had feared to confess Christ before His Resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit, many came to believe the Apostolic preaching after the day of Pentecost and were baptized, becoming members of the New Testament Church, as St. Luke testifies in the Acts of the Apostles. The saint writes,  

It is necessary for us to avoid alike all the passions which corrupt the soul, but most especially those which from themselves generate numerous sins…Such…is vainglory.  See, for instance, how these men were broken off from faith thought their love of honor…So then, they were not rulers, but slaves in the utmost slavery.  However, this fear was done away, for nowhere during the time of the Apostles do we find them possessed by this feeling, since in their time both rulers and priests believed.  The grace of the Spirit having come, made them all firmer than adamant.  

The Lord Jesus, then, Who forgave these men from the height of the Cross as He suffered unspeakably from their injustice, did not cease to do all things for their salvation.  Having risen and ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of His Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to enlighten all men, including those who had condemned and murdered Him, and many of them had a change of heart, cast off their love of human respect, and united themselves to the Lord Jesus.  Without the divine grace, even the Apostles themselves did not understand Who Jesus really was and could not be converted, and so it is with with all men, including ourselves. Let us therefore heed the exhortation of St. John Chrysostom to be patient with our brothers who, having like passions with ourselves, may have cut themselves off from this grace somewhat by any sins little or great, and let us imitate the lovingkindness of our Good Shepherd, Who has never ceased and will never cease to do all things for our salvation. 

To Him be the glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Pascha V Friday – John 10: 17-38

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The Lord said to the Jews that came to Him:  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

St. John Chrysostom remarks upon the Lord’s long-suffering, as manifested by the calmness and gentleness of His replies to these men who wished to murder Him. 

Let us now imitate Him. For not only did He now hold His peace, but even came among them again, and being questioned answered and showed the things relating to His foreknowledge; and though called “demoniac” and “madman,” by men who had received from him ten thousand benefits, and that not once or twice but many times, not only did He refrain from avenging Himself, but even ceased not to benefit them.  To benefit, do I say?  He laid down His life for them, and while being crucified spake in their behalf to the Father.  This then let us also imitate, for to be a disciple of Christ is to be gentle and kind.  But whence can this gentleness come to us?  If we continually reckon up our sins, if we mourn, if we weep; for neither doth a soul that dwelleth in the company of so much grief allow itself to be provoked or angered.  Since wherever there is mourning, it is impossible that there should be anger; where grief is, all anger is out of the way; where there is brokenness of spirit, there is no provocation.  – Homily LX on John 

A priest who hears confessions cannot help but to remark that the sins of anger, condemnation, and the inability to truly forgive plague not only lax and casual Christians, but even the most sincere and pious.   These well-meaning souls do not justify their sin;  they are, on the contrary, deeply troubled.  But they simply cannot let go.  There are several reasons for this.   

One reason is that our sense of justice has been damaged by sin.  The demand of the conscience for justice is, indeed, planted in the soul by God; it is one of the several signs of our being made in the image of God, Who is All-Just.  Because of man’s brokenness, however, there has never been and never will be perfect justice in this world, except for the justification that comes to all men through the Cross.   We are commanded to be just, and, if we are in positions of authority over men, to require that they be just as well.   In our day to day dealings with others, we naturally expect justice from our neighbor. But inevitably both he and we shall fail.    Only the oil of mercy tempering the strong wine of justice makes life livable on earth.   We are all sinners before God.  Let us ask the Lord for the grace of true forgiveness, springing from a profound realization that He is the only Just One. 

Another reason we are not long-suffering in the face of offenses is our vanity.   Vanity is at the root of sinful anger.  We imagine that we are something, and that something not unimportant!  If only we could deeply sense and appreciate how truly unimportant, truly nothing we really are, and rejoice in the realization thereof!   It would be a great deliverance from a terrible burden.   Let us ask the Lord for the grace of realizing that He Alone truly is and that compared to Him we are nothing.   Someone who is nothing is not surprised, or even concerned, that someone else who is also nothing offends him.  What difference does it make?    If the Lord is everything to us, we have nothing that some other finite creature can take away, including our sense of self-worth, which derives completely from Him and from no one else.    

Another reason, that remarked upon by St. Chrysostom, is that we do not mourn continually for our sins.   As the saying goes, “Those who have the dead in their own house do not trouble themselves about other people’s funerals.”    Let us ask the Lord for the grace of growing ever more aware of our sinfulness while acquiring genuine compunction, rejoicing in His mercy and forgiveness to us.   In such a state of soul, it becomes constitutionally impossible to hold anything against anyone. 

O long-suffering Lord, Who forgave those who hated Thee and killed Thee, and, having risen from the dead,  hast to this day never ceased in working ten thousand benefactions for them, grant us the grace of true forgiveness, consistent long-suffering, and pure good will to our neighbors, who are indeed poor sinners like ourselves.  Amen. 

V Pascha Wednesday, Apodosis of Mid-Pentecost  – John 6: 5-14 

Listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/pascha-v-wednesday-what-are-miracles-for–60286608

At that time:  When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.  When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

St. Augustine introduces his exegesis of this account by meditating first on the meaning of miracles in general.  Here is what he writes:  

The miracles performed by our Lord Jesus Christ are indeed divine works, and incite the human mind to rise to the apprehension of God from the things that are seen.  But inasmuch as He is not such a substance as may be seen with the eyes, and His miracles in the government of the whole world and the administration of the universal creation are, by their familiar constancy, slightly regarded, so that almost no man deigns to consider the wonderful and stupendous works of God, exhibited in every grain of seed; He has, agreeably to His mercy, reserved to Himself certain works, beyond the usual course and order of nature, which He should perform on fit occasion, that they, by whom His daily works are lightly esteemed, might be struck with astonishment at beholding, not indeed greater, but uncommon works. For certainly the government of the whole world is a greater miracle than the satisfying of five thousand men with five loaves; and yet no man wonders at the former; the but latter men wonder at it, not because it is greater, but because it is rare.  For who even now feeds the whole world, but He who creates the cornfield from a few grains? He therefore created as God creates.  For, whence He multiplies the produce of the fields from a few grains, from the same source He multiplied in His hands the five loaves.  The power, indeed, was in the hands of Christ; but those five loaves were as seeds, not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied by Him who made the earth.  In this miracle, then, there is that brought near to the senses, whereby the mind should be roused to attention, there is exhibited to the eyes, whereon the understanding should be exercised, that we might admire the invisible God through His visible works, and being raised to faith and purge by faith, we might desire to behold Him even invisibly, whom invisible we came to know by the things that are visible. 

God works miracles, then, not simply to satisfy our temporary and temporal needs in difficult situations, but also, and more importantly, to raise our minds on high, to incite in us a divine desire for spiritual vision, that “…we might desire to behold Him even invisibly, whom invisible we came to know by the things that are visible.”   If our hearts were indeed purged by faith and pure, free of sin, our minds would delight daily in all of creation as a most stupendous miracle proclaiming the Creator at every moment.  Holy men, whom God has cleansed of the passions and given the grace of theoria, do not indeed, marvel any more greatly at exceptional miracles than they do at the ongoing, constant, and greater miracles, not only of God’s creation and governance of creation, but also the even loftier miracle of the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity in the heart cleansed from sin by faith in the redemption granted us through the Blood of Christ and the sanctification bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit.  The exceptional miracles – clairvoyance, healings, bilocation, and so forth – are to them not exceptions to the rule, but an ordinary part of a life lived in the Spirit.  These latter are not the greater miracles, in fact, but lesser ones, whose purpose is to call our attention to the greater ones we ignore every day.  

One miracle worked by God that is unseen by the physical eye, a miracle that is far greater than prophecies, visions, and healings, is the miracle of the prayer of repentance offered with attention, first by the lips, then in the mind, that descends into the heart, restoring a man to his paradisiacal true nature and wholeness, making him fit for eternal life.  A recent righteous new confessor of the catacomb Church in Russia, Archbishop Antoniy (Golynsky-Mikhaylovskiy), articulates this insight thus: 

For man there is nothing loftier than to converse through mental prayer with God, Who is everywhere present; there is nothing higher for him than to stand mentally before the Lord and implore the forgiveness of his sins.   Prayer is called the mother of the virtues, since only through prayer can true virtues be attained and Grace-filled gifts received.  Keep your concentration fixed on the [Jesus] Prayer, and God will accomplish things mystical and exalted at the appointed time, when your heart is fully cleansed of passions, and you have committed yourself to doing God’s will exclusively.  The Lord works through prayer and by means of prayer, and whatever does not come through prayer – no matter how good or conducive to salvation it may seem – provides no help in vanquishing the devil, because it has no real power…  

You must not pay attention to any supernatural phenomena, such as rays of light, even if they are emanating from icons, or voices, even if angels are singing, for you are standing in prayer before the Lord of Angels Himself, Who is invisible but everywhere present.  What could be loftier than this? … – On the Prayer of Jesus and Divine Grace 

“For man there is nothing loftier than to converse through mental prayer with God, Who is everywhere present…”     When you are weighed down to the earth by the cares of life, choose to go apart and converse with God in the prayer of repentance, imploring the forgiveness of your sins.   Force yourself to attention, and keep doing it, until the light of our Morning Star, the Lord Jesus Christ, dawns in your heart.   When that happens, you will have worked a miracle greater than any seen by the eyes of men.  Or, rather, the Lord shall have worked it for you.   He has promised, and He will do it.   

O gracious and man-befriending Lord, Who has created all things out of nothing for the sake of man, and Who became Man for our sake, glory be to Thee. 

Tuesday of the Week of the Samaritan Woman; Afterfeast of Mid-Pentecost

You can listen to an audio podcast of this commentary at https://www.spreaker.com/user/youngfaithradio/pascha5tues

In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul deals with a sorcerer:

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. – Acts of the Apostles 12:25-13:12

People today – even, strange to say, some Orthodox Christians – would regard St. Paul’s blinding the sorcerer as an act of “intolerance” or being “mean.”    If only St. Paul had preached Luv and Peace, perhaps old Elymas would have realized the error of his ways and come to his senses! Thank goodness – so goes this new and improved line of thought – today we have kinder, gentler methods to deal with people who are, you know, diverse!

Elymas was not simply different; he was evil in the extreme. Not only was he evil, but he also actively sought to rob Sergius Paulus of the truth of Jesus Christ.   What could be worse than that – to destroy another man’s soul on purpose? Someone who would do that is not open to gentle persuasion, for his heart is hard, he is given over to the service of the devil, and he needs to be “taken out,” as they say. According to the Mosaic law, St. Paul could have justifiably slain him. The treatment he chose was mild by comparison.

Man today recoils at the Church’s strictness in her judgment on such matters, because he does not believe in the soul or eternal salvation or eternal punishment. There are people who readily undergo all manner of torture – chemotherapy, drastic surgeries, the myriad pills and potions of “Big Pharma” with their terrible side effects, etc. – in order to eke out a few more years or even months of their miserable, corruptible biological existence, who think it dreadful that the Church would endorse severe measures to save their souls and bodies for eternity.   It all depends on what you think is real and what you think is important.

We are not sorcerers, and we pray that we will never require the Elymas treatment. But we will never have peace until we accept every pain and sorrow in this life as the necessary correction for our sinfulness, a correction willed by God from all eternity. And when Holy Church, in the person of a bishop or a confessing priest, decides to correct us by her ecclesiastical and spiritual methods, how grateful we should be: We can suffer a little here for a time and not there for eternity!

O All-Wise Lord, Who has given us the Apostolic Church to guide us to salvation, glory be to Thee!

IV Pascha Wednesday, Mid-Pentecost  – John 7: 14-30

Listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/pascha-iv-wednesday-mid-pentecost-seek-his-glory–60209698

Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.   And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?  Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?  The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?  Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?  But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.  Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.  But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.  Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

 The phrase “of himself” in verse 18 means “from” himself; that is, this person the Lord refers to, who seeks his own glory and not the glory of God, is one who teaches his own false and corrupt teachings, not the true teachings from God which Our Lord perfectly reveals in the Gospel, for, being one with the Father, the Lord Jesus speaks only of that which is from the Father.   There are many such false teachers, of course – the shelves of our libraries groan with the weight of their books, and the airwaves are polluted by their foolish pratings day and night on radio, television, and the Internet.  Moreover, here the Lord is not only painting a picture of all such false teachers, but He is also warning us about one such person, the worst of all, who will be the Antichrist.    The Blessed Augustine elaborates on this in his commentary:  

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory (v. 18a).” This will be he who is called Antichrist, “exalting himself,” as the apostle says, “above all that is called God, and that is worshipped (II Thessalonians 2:4).” The Lord, declaring that this same it is that will seek his own glory, not the glory of the Father, says to the Jews: “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye have not received me; another will come in his own name, him ye will receive (John 5:45).”   He intimated that they would receive the Antichrist, who will seek the glory of his own name, puffed up, not solid; and therefore not stable, but assuredly ruinous.  But our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us a great example of humility: for doubtless He is equal with the Father, for “…in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;” yea, doubtless, He Himself said, and most truly said, “Am I so long time with you, and ye have not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14: 9).”  Yea, doubtless, Himself said, and most truly said, “I and the Father are one (John 10: 30.).”  If, therefore, He is one with the Father, equal to the Father, God from God, God with God, co-eternal, immortal, alike unchangeable, alike without time, alike Creator and disposer of times; and yet because he came in time, and took the form of a servant, and in condition was found as a man (Philippians 2:7), He seeks the glory of the Father, not His own; what oughtest thou to do, O man, who, when thou doest anything good, seekest thine own glory; but when thou doest anything ill, dost meditate calumny against God?   Consider thyself: thou art a creature, acknowledge thy Creator.  Thou art a servant: despise not thy Lord.  Thou art adopted, not for thy own merits: seek His glory from whom thou hast this grace, that thou art a man adopted; His, whose glory He sought who is from Him, the Only-Begotten. 

“But He who seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him (vs. 18b).”   In Antichrist, however, there is unrighteousness, and he is not true; because he will seek his own glory, not His by whom he was sent (though, indeed, he was not sent, but only permitted to come).   Let us all, therefore, that belong to the body of Christ, seek not our own glory, that we be not led into the snares of Antichrist.   But if Christ sought His glory that sent Him, how much more ought we to seek the glory of Him Who made us?”  

“Consider thyself: thou art a creature, acknowledge thy Creator.”  Here St. Augustine gets to the root of our problem:   Our minds have inherited the delusion that entered the hearts of our first parents when they believed the lie of the serpent, that they were the source of their own existence, whereas in truth only God is self-existent, and our existence is completely contingent upon His will.    

“Thou art a servant: despise not thy Lord.”  Self-will, arising from the delusion of self-existence, causes us to despise the Lord’s commands, obedience to which alone can free a man from that slavery to the passions which fallen man calls freedom.  

“Thou art adopted, not for thy own merits:  seek His glory, from whom thou hast this grace…”    The delusions of self-existence and self-will are always accompanied by self-righteousness, for the more a man is enslaved to his delusions and passions, the more righteous he deems himself. 

The saint couples this moral exhortation to eschew pride, self-will, and self-justification with his teaching on the Antichrist precisely in order to arm us against the spirit of Antichrist.   If by God’s grace we abide in the profound and constant appreciation of our status as creatures – that God is God and we are not God;  if by God’s grace we constrain our wills continually to obey God’s commands, understanding that we find our true freedom only as absolute slaves to His will; if by God’s grace we continually grow in the appreciation of our absolute dependence on the Blood of Christ for our salvation, understanding that we have zero righteousness of our own, seeing sinfulness in ourselves ever more clearly and losing all interest in the sins of others – then we have a firm hope of attaining the discernment needed to descry the spirit of Antichrist when it makes its appearance in all areas of life, whether ecclesiastical, social, or domestic.  Then, if the actual Antichrist would come in our lifetimes, we would be in practice – discerning what he is will not be an insurmountable challenge. 

In order to create an atmosphere in which we can grow in this salutary self-distrust, however, we must abjure the media culture that we are drowning in.  It constitutes a nightmare universe of endless self-promotion and self-opinion, endless self-justification and the condemnation of others, endless pre-occupation with endlessly multifarious ideas about a billion unrelated fragments of information that may or may not be real.   One does not have to be a notorious talking head on a political podcast to be part of the problem. The most plebeian of Internet junkies, constantly posting pictures of himself on Facebook, for example, and informing the universe about himself – his opinions, his activities, his likes and dislikes – someone engaged in this endless self-promotion, is engaged in an endless hunt for celebrity, which is inherently opposed to leading a genuinely human life, much less spiritual life.   He acquires the mind of one who “speaketh of himself,” who “seeketh his own glory,” and not the glory of God.     

We have to understand this monstrous way of life – or, rather, non-life – for what it is, and flee this labyrinth before the Minotaur of the soul that lives in there finally captures us completely and devours us forever.  

Through the prayers of the Blessed Augustine and all the saints who sought the glory of God and not their own, in blessed imitation of their Master, may we just forget ourselves and live for the Lord.  Amen. 

IV Pascha Tuesday – John 7: 1-13

Listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/pascha-iv-tuesday-the-world-hates-the-truth–60200621

At that time: Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.   Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

These men, our Lord’s own relatives, who did not believe in Him, spoke mockingly because they were dominated by the spirit of this world.  So too, to this day, those who are worldly minded will mock the true followers of Christ, and the world – that is, the society of fallen man, under the domination of Satan – will persecute them.   Here is what St. Theophan the Recluse says about this:  

“The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil (John 7:7).” The Lord did not say this to His disciples; to His disciples He foretold later that the world would hate and persecute them also, because He has taken them out of the world. So, note what the world hates, and you will learn of Christ’s lot. The world rebels most strongly against what is of Christ, what is closest to Him, and more like unto His spirit. This is an external indicator, but for those who live externally this is enough. The world does not act on its own, but is kindled in its works by its prince—satan, the works of whom the Lord destroyed, and continues to destroy in believers and with believers. He cannot do anything to the Lord directly; this is why he directs his anger upon those who believe in Him, so that in frustrating them he will frustrate the Lord. He does not act directly in this, but through his agencies, which make up the world. This does not mean that he is strong; do not fear him, but rather be bold, for the Lord overcame the world and the prince thereof. Satan is not in a condition to do anything to one who does not yield on his own. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, pp. 100-101  

We must remember, then, that when worldly people mock our belief and piety – which is especially difficult to bear when they are nominally people who call themselves Orthodox, a situation that is, alas, all too common – we must not direct our anger against them, for they are under the domination of the prince of this world, the devil.   They are in big trouble, though they do not know it, or least will not admit it.   We must direct our anger against sin, the devil, and the spirit of this world.  

St. John Chrysostom interprets the Lord’s rebuke to his unbelieving relatives as a model of meekness and gentleness.  The Lord is saying simply, “You cannot understand me, because you belong to this world, not to the world above to which I and my true followers belong.”  It is not a railing accusation, just a statement of the truth of the situation.   We shall find, also, that if we state the truth firmly but without irritation, this will leave our opponents without an answer, without a pretext for accusing us, and without excuse, while simultaneously preserving the peace of our souls. 

Following his usual method, St. Chrysostom follows his doctrinal exegesis of this passage with a moral exhortation in the form a thundering peroration that engraves itself easily on the hearts of his listeners.    I shall not quote this passage at length, but here is the conclusion:  

Let us then become spiritual, and bridle this dreadful wild beast.  Anger differs nothing from madness, it is a temporary devil, or rather it is a thing worse than having a devil; for one that hath a devil may be excused, but the angry man deserves ten thousand punishments, voluntarily casting himself into the pit of destruction, and before the hell which is to come suffering punishment from this already, by bringing a certain restless turmoil and never silent storm of fury, through all the night and through all the day, upon the reasonings of his soul.  Let us, therefore, that we may deliver ourselves from the punishment here and the vengeance hereafter, cast out this passion, and show forth all meekness and gentleness, that we may find rest for our souls both here and in the Kingdom of Heaven.  To which may we all attain, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, now and ever and world without end. Amen. 

IV Pascha Monday – John 6: 56-69

Listen to an audio podcast of this post at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/pascha-iv-monday-how-not-to-lose-your-faith–60187827

 The Lord said to the Jews who believed on him: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

St. Peter, along with the other faithful disciples who remained loyal to Christ, heard the same words spoken by Him which supposedly scandalized and drove away the majority of the hearers.   Why, then, did the faithful disciples remain while the others “went back,” that is, cut themselves off from eternal life by rejecting the Lord?  It was not that the loyal disciples were clever academicians whose professional training had taught  them how to decode the veiled language of mystical theology by means of the fallen intellect; they were rough Galilean peasants just like those who decided to depart from the Lord.    St. John Chrysostom explains it thus:  

Seest thou that it was not the words that caused offense, but the heedlessness, and sloth, and wrong-mindedness of the hearers?   For even had He not spoken, they would have been offended, and would not have ceased to be ever anxious about bodily food, ever nailed to earth.   Besides, the disciples heard at the same time with the others, yet they declared an opinion contrary to theirs, saying, “To whom shall we go?” An expression indicating much affection, for it shows that their Teacher was more precious to them than anything, than father or mother, or any possessions, and that if they withdrew from Him, they had not then whither to flee. Then lest it should seem that [Peter] had said “To whom shall we go?” because there were none that would receive them, he straightway added, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.”   – Homily 47 on John 

There are three main lessons here:  1. Those who refused to understand and accept the Lord’s teaching did so out of their worldliness and carnality.   2. The faithful disciples’ minds were enlightened to understand because of their great love for the Lord.  3. They did not stay with Christ because they had no other options, but because following Him was the only option for someone who wants eternal life. 

In the invisible warfare of the soul, we are torn between the competing voices of both parties.   On our bad days we are tempted to reject the radical message of the Gospel and join those who “went back.”  “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?”  On good days,  we recognize that here, indeed, are the words of eternal life.   The good days are not the problem.  What can we do on the bad days to chase the dark thoughts away? 

Most often, the dark thoughts that come to inspire doubt come at times when we have been immersed, even more than usual, in either the pleasures or the pains of temporal existence.   Like the majority crowd in John 6, we just want to know where our next meal is coming from.    A carnal way of life, consumed by worldly cares, will usually bring down even the baptized soul from the refinement of a heavenly understanding to the coarseness of  the materialist, who cannot imagine anything beyond the evidence of the senses.   We must take steps to simplify our lives, detach from the earthly concerns that detract from a God-centered life,  and reserve both time and mental energy for the care of the soul.   

Most often, doubts and unbelief arise when we have grown cold towards the person of Our Savior.   We forget that, when we came to believe in the Gospel, this belief was inseparable from, demanded by, and made firm in love for Jesus, our greatest friend and benefactor, the most delightful intimate of the inner thoughts and feelings of the soul. In times like these, let us force ourselves to kneel before the icon of Christ crucified for us and read the Akathist to Our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ.   Read aloud, slowly, and fight for attention.   The grace with which the words themselves are imbued will enliven our hearts and cleanse our minds.  

Most often, when Orthodox Christians stray far from the Lord, one notices that they have been caught up in, even fanatically devoted to, the externals of the Faith and have forgotten the essence. That is, they have forgotten the Gospel.  To avoid the fate of those who “went back,” let us open the Holy Gospels daily and read with great attention, humbling our minds and wills, and asking the All Holy Spirit to warm our hearts.   The grace of our baptism will be energized, and it will once again be obvious to our minds, not from argument but from divine power, that these indeed, are “the words of eternal life.” 

Through the prayers of St. Peter and all those who have followed Christ to the end, may our minds and hearts be ever with the Lord.  Amen.