January: Day 9: Teaching 1: Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow

 

January: Day 9: Teaching 1:
Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow
 
(On the Mutual Relations of Shepherds and Flock)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, a Wonderworker, glorified by the Holy Church today, came from the Kolychev family of boyars. In his youth he served at the court of Grand Prince Vasily, the father of Ivan the Terrible. At the age of 30 he took monastic vows at the Solovetsky Monastery, where he later became abbot. Being a strict ascetic, he worked diligently on the improvement of the Monastery, to which he gave all his wealth: he built two churches, arranged a skete and a hospital for monks, built roads, and drained swamps. In 1566, at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, he was appointed Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, at that terrible time when Ivan the Terrible brought his disgrace upon the boyars. Surrounding himself with oprichniks, the Tsar, on their slander, executed all those suspected of sedition. The Saint interceded before the Tsar for people condemned to death, countered the false slanders of the oprichniks, denounced the Tsar himself for cruelty and injustice, and thus incurred the Tsar's wrath. Slanderers were found with accusations of sedition against the Saint, and in 1568 he was defrocked, imprisoned, and finally exiled to the Otroch Monastery in Tver, where a year later he was strangled by the oprichnik Malyuta Skuratov.

All the best people of that time greatly loved the true shepherd of their soul and deeply grieved over his loss. After 20 years, the incorruptible relics of the Saint were transferred from the Otroch Monastery to Solovki, and under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to the Moscow Dormition Cathedral, where they now rest.

II. Saint Philip, who laid down his life for his flock, serves as a model of a true shepherd of the Church of Christ and by his example shows what kind of relationship a shepherd should have with his flock and the flock with their shepherd.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life” (John 10:27, 28).

In these words Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd and Enlightener of souls, and the Image of all spiritual shepherds, depicting Himself and His sheep, gives instruction to all of us, what kind of a shepherd should be for his sheep and in what union the sheep should be with their shepherds. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life.”

A. What are the duties of shepherds towards their flock?

a) "I know them," says Jesus Christ about His sheep. Thus, the quality of a true shepherd is to know his sheep. Indeed, this is necessary. If a shepherd does not know his sheep, he, perhaps, will think of persecuting strangers a vain labor, and will leave his own to perish! If he does not know the special condition of some of them, it may happen that to newborns, instead of "the pure milk of the word, that you may grow" (1 Pet. 2:2), he will offer "solid food" (Heb. 5:14), and the strong will want to feed with milk; he will turn away those who thirst from water; he will stretch out his rod on the weak; he will not give rest to those who are with child.

b) “I give them eternal life,” says the Chief Shepherd about His sheep. It is obvious that no one can say this except Him, for He alone “holds the keys of hades and death” (Rev. 1:18). But as in every deed He did and in every word He spoke on earth, “He gives us an example, that as He did, we also do” (John 13:15), according to the measure of the grace He bestows and the service entrusted to us, then in this case He teaches us and commands us to have no other intention for the rational sheep entrusted to Him than to acquire eternal life for them. This thought should inflame our prayers, animate our words, and guide our actions. We must keep this goal in mind in all our relationships with the rational sheep, whether we teach in the temple, whether we converse in the home, whether we console in sorrow, whether we absolve from sins, even whether we bind - and in this last case, threatening with eternal death, we must have in mind eternal life, so that even those standing on the brink of destruction we will “save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 1:23).

B. Let us now look at the duties of the flock.

a) "My sheep hear My voice," says Jesus Christ. Therefore the characteristic of true sheep is to hear their shepherd. Truly, a sheep that does not hear its shepherd is a sure prey to a beast of prey. Christians are sheep of Christ's pasture; the Shepherd to whom they must hear is primarily and essentially Jesus Christ Himself, and after Him also those, whoever they may be, who visibly represent His invisible shepherdship and act by the authority entrusted to them by Him; for "He," as the Apostle says, "has given" to the church "shepherds and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry" (Eph. 4:11, 12); and that those given by Him might be recognized, He has set a sign: "He who enters in by the doors is the shepherd of the sheep" (John 10:2), that is, one who enters into this ministry through the election of grace; and that these ministering shepherds should be listened to as if He were the Supreme One Himself, He proclaimed that to listen to them and to Him is the same thing: "He who listens to you listens to Me" (Luke 10:16). The sheepfold and spiritual pasture, where we hear the voice of the shepherd, where the food and salvation of the sheep are, is the Church. The voice of the shepherd is prayer, teaching, mystery, management, soul-profiting advice. If people who call themselves Christians do not cling to the Church with a sincere, obedient heart, neglect to listen to the shepherd praying, teaching, working mystery, do not seek spiritual advice, dream, through ignorance and pride, that they themselves can shepherd and save themselves: such and those like them, since they do not listen to the true shepherd, then they are not true sheep; avoiding obedience to the saving voice of the Chief Shepherd, they quietly go to meet the lion, who “goes about roaring, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

b) The Divine Chief Shepherd says: My sheep not only hear My voice, but also follow Me. Why else should the sheep hear the shepherd, if not to follow his guidance unswervingly? The saving voice indicates salvation; having heard it, we are not yet saved: only when we follow this voice with firm steps do we attain salvation. And therefore, if you hear the shepherd praying, do not only listen, but also pray; bring the spirit of prayer from the house of prayer into your home and sanctify your secret temple with it. If you hear the shepherd teaching: do not only listen, but also consider his words in your heart. The free law of the Gospel also calls for this: “He who has looked into the perfect law of liberty and abided, this one, not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in his work” (James 1:25).

III. May the Supreme Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant to us, to the shepherds and the flock, a grace-filled incentive to fulfill our duties! Amen. 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.