November: Day 14: Teaching 1: Holy Apostle Philip

 

 

November: Day 14: Teaching 1:
Holy Apostle Philip
 
(Lessons From the Life of the Holy Apostle Philip:
a. We Must Obey the Voice of God Calling Us to Salvation;
b. We Must Firmly and Decisively Leave Everything and Follow Jesus Christ; and
c. We Must Try to Bring our Neighbors to Christ)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Apostle Philip, whose memory is celebrated today, was one of the Twelve Apostles, born in Bethsaida. He was one of those people who ardently desired the speedy appearance of the Savior in the world. Having heard about John the Baptist, the Holy Apostle Philip left his parents' home and became one of the closest disciples of the Forerunner. With delight he learned from Saint John that the expected Messiah had already come. When the Savior, after baptism and forty days of fasting in the desert, went out to preach, He met the Holy Apostle Philip and said to him: "Come, follow Me" (John 1:43). The Holy Apostle Philip unquestioningly followed the Lord, brought his friend Nathanael to Him and from that moment became His constant follower and zealous disciple. The Holy Apostle Philip was crucified head down for his zealous preaching of the gospel. The fast before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, beginning on November 15, is named after Saint Philip.

II. a) We have seen, brethren, that as soon as the Divine word, "Follow Me", touched the ear of Philip, Philip left everything and followed Christ and never again left Him until his death. Such is the power of the Divine voice.

But the Lord does not call only the Holy Apostles to Himself: He calls each of us and calls us continually. Since the first voice of God to the first sinner: "Adam! where are you?" this voice has been heard incessantly and will be heard until the end of time in the ears of every human sinner. "Behold, I stand" (Rev. 3:20), says the Lord Himself, "at the door and knock." Will anyone open his heart to Me, will anyone hear My voice? God says to each of us in many ways: "Follow Me." "Follow Me," and not the flesh, He says in our conscience. "Follow Me," and not the world, He says in His word. “Follow Me,” and not your passions, your stinginess, your ambition, He says in the teachings of the shepherds of the Church. “Follow Me,” and not a thousand objects that only deceive you in vanity, but will never make you happy. Look at heaven, where I call you, how beautiful it is; can it be compared with the earth? But why are you so attached to the earth? Look how much lies and deceit there are in the world; but in My mansions there is truth, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), silence, harmony and love.

The Lord calls us to Himself, but we do not go. He stretches out His hands to us, but we turn away from Him. On the eve of Sundays and feasts, the bells announce great joy to man: “Go to God! Go to God! Remember the day of Resurrection!” but we do not hear this truly thunderous voice, and instead calmly go, some to their fields, some to their villages, some to public gatherings, some to vain spectacles, some to visits, some to guests.

Why, Lord, does Your word, which so vividly and salvifically acted on the minds and hearts of the Holy Apostles, not act on our hearts, on our minds? Amidst the noise of passions warring in our flesh, amidst the noise of worldly pleasures, we do not hear the voice of God calling us to Himself; the voice of God does not find an echo in our soul, like the voice of one crying in the wilderness; our soul is not so attuned to hear it; it does not think about that, its thoughts and desires do not strive for that.

The Holy Apostle Philip responded so quickly and joyfully to the voice of Christ because he had a soul already purified, well-disposed to hear the Lord. Let us listen to what he says: “We have found the Messiah.” “We have found” means he was looking for Christ, thinking about Him, wishing that He would come sooner. “We have found,” he says, “He of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets”... This means he read the Holy Scriptures, studied the Law, tested the Scriptures... This, brethren, is how our soul is purified from evil thoughts; this is how it is prepared to hear the voice of God.

b) The Holy Apostle Philip, when he heard the voice of God, immediately left everything and followed Christ; he did not hesitate, he did not say: Lord! Let me finish my earthly affairs first; let me first go and bury my father, or say goodbye to my family, as those who later wanted to follow Him and did not follow Him said to the Savior (Luke 9:59, 61), or as Blessed Augustine once said before his conversion: Save me, Lord, but not yet; I will get up right away, just one more minute. In the matter of our salvation, everything, brethren, depends on the “decision” to obey the voice of God, an unconditional, quick, urgent determination. “Whoever wants to sail,” says the ever-memorable Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, “must first untie, or, for haste, cut off, the rope with which his boat is fastened to the shore. Whoever really wants to be on the path to heaven must either gradually, with attention and effort, resolve, or, if he is afraid of becoming sluggish, and if he feels sufficient strength in himself, cut off with a decisive blow all impassioned, earthly attachments.” It is precisely this firm determination that most of us lack. The Lord is most merciful; He sometimes makes us hear His voice even against our will. Indeed, which of the most absent-minded people has not heard the voice of God in his soul and said to himself: Enough! It is time to settle down, it is time to take care of the salvation of your soul? Who of us has not realized more than once, or even several times, that it would be good to pray more diligently to God every day, and to read the word of God every day, and to give part of our property to the poor, and to go to church without fail on feast days? Yes, brethren, holy thoughts appear in our souls and dispel the sinful darkness that surrounds us, and not without a shudder you then see yourself in the abyss of sin, not without horror you realize that you are unhappy, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17); tenderness creeps into the soul, and sometimes you are ready to do everything to get out of this terrible state, ready to cry out incessantly, like the Apostle Peter, and sometimes you really cry out: "Lord! save me, I am perishing!" (Matt. 14:30). But you put off correction until the next day ... and alas! in most cases you will put it off forever. The holy thought appeared like lightning, and like lightning it disappeared, and you are still in the darkness of sin. That is why we are commanded “not to put off one day from the day of salvation” (Rom. 13:12, 13). Alas! Each of us knows from experience what it means to put off our salvation until another day. Saint Philip did not do so, for he heard the word of God, "Follow Me," and immediately he went.

c) But the Holy Apostle Philip not only went himself, but also brought his friend Nathanael to Christ. Oh! brethren, caring for our salvation, let us not forget to care for the salvation of our friends. We often swear eternal friendship to our friends. But we will live forever not on earth, but in heaven. Let us take care that our friends remain our friends not only here on earth, but also there, in heaven; so that we meet them in heaven with greater joy and love than with which we meet them here on earth. This is what Saint Chrysostom says: “Even if everything in our life was arranged well, this one sin - neglect of the salvation of our neighbors - is enough to cast us into Gehenna.” What a frightening word! Let us be afraid, brethren, let us emulate Saint Philip, who, having saved himself, cares for the salvation of his friend and draws him to Christ.

III. Imitating the Holy Apostle Philip in following Christ, let us, my brethren, imitate him also in the determination to leave everything that hinders us from following Christ, and in the conversion of our friends, acquaintances, and neighbors to Christ, the Savior of the world.

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