October: Day 27: Teaching 2: Venerable Nestor the Chronicler

October: Day 27: Teaching 2:
Venerable Nestor the Chronicler

(Faith is the Foundation of Love for the Fatherland)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today the Holy Church commemorates Saint Nestor, our first chronicler. A native of Kiev, he entered the Kiev Caves Monastery at the age of 17, when the great ascetic, Saint Theodosius, was still alive. Under his successor, Nestor was already famous for his holy life. Few details have been preserved about this life, devoted entirely to prayer and work, but the chronicle that has come down to us gives us a clear idea of Nestor himself. “It breathes with deep faith, ardent love for the fatherland and humility.” In a simple, entertaining story, Saint Nestor tells of the beginning of Rus, of the tribes that inhabited Russia, of the calling of the Varangian princes, of the prophetic Oleg, the hero Svyatoslav, of the wise Olga, of Saint Vladimir the enlightener of the Russian land, of his successors up to Vladimir Monomakh. He vividly depicts the disasters that Russia suffered from the internecine strife of the princes and the raids of the harsh Polovtsians; but his narrative of the baptism of the Russian land and the spread of the Christian faith and Christian enlightenment, of the exploits of the holy saints of God, breathes with special love and ardent inspiration.

Saint Nestor participated in the opening of the relics of Saint Theodosius, and, in addition to the chronicle, he also wrote the lives of the Holy Princes Boris and Gleb and the life of Saint Theodosius. He died around 1115. His relics rest in the Cave of Saint Anthony.

II. On the day of remembrance of Saint Nestor, who ardently loved his fatherland – Russia, let us talk about where this love comes from, where its foundation and beginning are.

Great, brethren, is the love of the fatherland. It is the source of love, harmony and all order among the people, on it the inner peace and prosperity of the people are built, it is both a shield and a bulwark for the people from external enemies. But do you know where the beginning of this life-giving fatherland force begins? Where does our love for the fatherland come from, what does it feed on, and how does it grow? Let the learned discuss this as they wish; we Christians will say directly and decisively that the beginning and life of love for the fatherland is the Christian faith. Our Orthodox Christian faith, brethren, is the holy divine source of our love for our Orthodox fatherland and for our Orthodox Tsar.

a) Take the past. What internal and especially external disasters our fatherland was subjected to! What powerful and numerous enemies it had! However, all enemies were overthrown from time to time, despite the fact that our ancestors did not possess great skill in military affairs, and the fatherland always triumphed and returned prosperity and peace to its borders. Who inspired the people, who armed people to defend the fatherland from enemies? The Orthodox faith. Faith prompted our fathers to love the fatherland and to stand for the fatherland, to death. "Let us stand," said some, "for Holy Wisdom." "Let us stand," said others, "for the house of the Most Pure One." "Let us stand," said everyone, "for the Orthodox faith, for Holy Russia." Do you see, brethren, what was dear to our fathers, what they defended from enemies with such zeal? The holy faith and the Church of God were dear to them. According to their faith and numerous holy places, their fatherland was also dear to them. They called it nothing other than "Holy Russia." And truly "holy" according to the holy Orthodox faith, "holy" according to the multitude of holy monasteries and churches, "holy" according to the multitude of holy miraculous icons, "holy" according to the multitude of holy multi-healing relics of the saints of God.

b) What, if not faith, always inspires our people and makes them devoted to the fatherland? What is especially sacred and venerable for them in the fatherland, if not the fatherland's shrine? According to holy faith, every place in the fatherland, marked by the grace of God, is sacred for our Orthodox people, and the people strive to go there at all times, in thousands, in hundreds of thousands. No space, no difficulty on the way holds them back. You yourselves know, brethren, how many Orthodox worshipers of ours there are in the Monastery of Saint Sergius, in Kiev, with the Solovetsky miracle workers, and in other famous monasteries and places. So great is the faith of Orthodox Russian Christians and so ardent is the love for the fatherland's shrine! Isn't this why the fatherland itself is dear to us? Without a doubt, this is so. According to the Orthodox faith, our Orthodox fatherland is dear to us, and our Orthodox Tsar is dear to us. Without faith, brethren, there can be no true love either for the fatherland or for the Tsar. Faith alone educates true patriots and passes on this holy heritage from generation to generation. Throughout the world this is revealed in our Orthodox people, who, being sincerely disposed to the Christian faith and sanctity, at the same time burn with constant love for their fatherland and their Monarch, always calling him "the Orthodox Tsar."

III. Orthodox children of Russia! If our Orthodox fatherland is dear to us (and can it be otherwise?), if we must and wish to love it sincerely, constantly, unchangingly, then let us preserve the holy faith in our hearts, let us, following the example of our fathers, be devoted to our Orthodox Church and to the sanctity of our fatherland. Faith is the cornerstone both for our spiritual salvation and for the well-being of our fatherland and for its deliverance from all enemies. “This is the victory,” let us say in the words of the beloved disciple of Christ, “that has conquered” and is conquering the rebellious “world, our faith” (1 John 5:4). Amen.

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