On the Epistle of the Apostle Jude
By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea
(Delivered on March 9, 1948)
By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea
(Delivered on March 9, 1948)
Today the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Jude was read. It is catholic and, therefore, addressed to all Christians. It was written because in ancient, apostolic times, various heretics had already appeared, and the Holy Apostle warns all believers against following heretics.
He begins his message like this: “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1:1-2). That is, "sanctified by God the Father" in Holy Baptism. How does the Lord Jesus Christ preserve us? Oh, in many, many ways. First of all, He preserves us with the great Mystery of Communion of His Body and Blood, in which we become partakers of His Divine nature, receive Him into ourselves, and live with Him. He also preserves with His Divine teaching, for it contains the whole truth, it shows the path to our salvation.
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3). He exhorts us to hold firmly, steadfastly, to the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And here he calls all true Christians saints, as the Holy Apostle Paul called them in his epistles. He calls upon all Christian saints, sanctified by God the Father, to fight for the faith: so that they stand up for their faith, so that no one is allowed to damage this faith, to attack it. Why does he warn Christians?
He addressed the believers with this message, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into debauchery and deny the one Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 4). This is why: because even then, in his time, some people destined for eternal condemnation crept in.
Of whom is the Apostle speaking here? About the first, ancient heretics: about Simon the Magus, who pretended to be the great power of God, about the accursed Gnostics Basilides, Nicholas, Marcion. Why does he say that these wicked people turned the grace of God into a pretext for debauchery? Because these heretics invented and introduced new rites – the rites of nocturnal rejoicing, similar to our Khlystov radenie, at which, instead of preaching the grace of God, they taught to indulge in debauchery – in sin!
Even then there was this horror, so long ago. Why does the Holy Apostle say that they rejected the one Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ? Because these heretics did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; because they considered His Body to be illusory, not a true human body. And if His Body was illusory, then it follows that He did not suffer for the sins of the world, which means that there was no redemption. Is this not a complete rejection of our Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ?!
Further, the Holy Apostle reminds us of how God punished the ancient Jews, who came out of slavery in Egypt and murmured in the wilderness, on the way to the land of Canaan; and not only those who murmured, but demanded that Aaron make them an idol – a golden calf. He reminds us of the calamities with which the Lord punished the ancient Jews for this apostasy, for this depravity. He reminds us of how "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (v. 7). "Gone after strange flesh" means that Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves over to sodomy and bestiality, and for this "are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." So it will be with these heretics, "these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries" (v. 8). Which authorities are rejected, which dignitaries are slandered? Those whom God placed at the head of the Church, those whom God appointed as bishops, they are slandered and disobeyed.
"Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'” (v. 9). We do not know exactly what kind of dispute this was between the Archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. An ancient apocryphal legend says that the Archangel Michael presided over the burial of the body of Moses. Who buried him, where, when is unknown. Probably the Angels themselves buried him. And then Satan entered into an argument, disputing his right to Moses: he pointed out to Michael the Archangel that the Prophet Moses had killed an Egyptian; he blasphemed the greatest prophet Moses. But the Archangel Michael, having listened to these impudent blasphemies, did not answer as people usually do, did not respond with words of irritation, words of condemnation, rather he humbly said to him: "The Lord rebuke you."
And these heretics slandered what they did not know; they did not act at all like the Archangel Michael: they "speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves" (v. 10). Thus it was in remote antiquity, so these first heretics slandered what they did not know, because they did not know all the main things in the Gospel, did not understand the teaching of Christ; they created their own teaching, full of lies, and what was holy, what was from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, they slandered. The Holy Apostle Peter also speaks of them, addressing all Christians: "There were also false prophets among the people, even as false teachers shall be among you" (2 Pet. 2:1).
And these heretics slandered what they did not know; They did not act at all like Archangel Michael: they “slander what they do not know; What they know by nature, like dumb animals, they corrupt themselves” (v. 10). This is how it was in ancient times, so these first heretics slandered what they did not know, because they did not know all the main things in the Gospel, they did not understand the teachings of Christ; they created their own teaching, full of lies, and slandered what was holy, what was from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The holy Apostle Peter speaks about them, addressing all Christians: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you” (2 Pet. 2:1).
And do you not know how many scoffers there are even now among us, similar to these evil heretics, who blaspheme the name of Christ, how many there are who slander Him without knowing or understanding; they slander the Holy Gospel, having never read it, only following those from whom they heard blasphemy and slander. So it was, so it is and so it will be. "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 1:20-21). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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