November: Day 14: Teaching 2: Birthday of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna

November: Day 14: Teaching 2:
Birthday of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna*
 
(The Purpose of Man)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Brightly celebrating today, brethren, the birth of the Most Pious Empress Maria Feodorovna, now widowed, we have an excellent opportunity to reflect on the purpose for which we were all born into the world.

II. a) Our first purpose lies in ourselves. "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev. 19:2): that is what it consists of. Every creature in the world is obliged first of all to be what it was created to be; and therefore every man is obliged first of all to be a man. God has given you certain powers, certain abilities, certain laws: our first duty is to preserve these powers, abilities, and laws in the very form in which we received them from the hands of the Creator, in all their purity, integrity, and undamaged, and then to use these powers and abilities, to develop them, to perfect them, in a word, to live and act in no other way than according to those laws that are inscribed in our conscience and heart. Then we will truly be men, we will be what we should be, according to the intention of our Creator. And this observance of purity and innocence by us, this life and activity according to moral laws, will be our holiness (1 Thess. 4:3).

But, alas, you will say, how can we preserve innocence when we have lost it in our ancestors? How can we live and act according to moral laws when we feel within ourselves an almost irresistible attraction to violate them? How can we be holy when, conceived and born in sin, we are unclean from head to toe? “Wash yourselves and be clean” (Is. 1:16) – the Almighty Himself answers us to this through the lips of His prophet. Where and how can we wash ourselves? He, the All-Good One, has given us the necessary means for this in Christianity. Here are two spiritual fonts capable of washing away all the sins of mankind: 1) the font of baptism: this is for those who have not yet entered the Church of Christ, 2) and the font of repentance: this is for those who, having already become Christians, have again managed to defile themselves with various vices. Approach this last font only with sincere faith in Christ the Savior, with sincere repentance for your sins, with a sincere desire to live piously from now on, and you will undoubtedly emerge from it completely pure, new and blameless before God.

b) Our second purpose is in our neighbors, and therefore the Lord commands us: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). Look more closely at nature around us, will you find in it at least one creature that would live completely separately from the others and only for itself? Quite the contrary, you will see that all of God's creations exist not so much for themselves as to serve one another. What, for example, do not fire, water, air and other elements serve? What do not stones, plants and animals serve? In nature, everything is connected by the closest, inseparable ties, everything cooperates with one another, everything is supported, develops and prospers only through the mutual self-sacrifice of creatures, often extending to the sacrifice of life. So it should be among us, and it should be even in its most perfect form, because we are the best of God's creations on earth, who should not so much imitate irrational creatures as be a model for them. “We are rational beings” – we must understand that it was precisely for this reason that the Creator endowed each of us with various abilities and gifts, so that we, in need of each other, would unite more closely among ourselves in well-ordered societies and enjoy mutual assistance. We must remember that “we are brothers” among ourselves, as children of one heavenly Father, who gave us existence; that we are brothers among ourselves, as children of one earthly father, one forefather of the human race – Adam. In particular, “we” – “Christians” – must remember another of our kinship – the most important and sacred kinship in Christ Jesus, Who, among other things, ascended the Cross in order to destroy all the barriers that had hitherto divided people among themselves (Eph. 2:14–20); in order to form one flock, one Kingdom of God, from all people, and therefore commanded His followers: “By this will all know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35). Who has so many motives, such lofty and sacred motives, to live for our neighbors, if not we, the followers of Christ the Savior?

c) Finally, our most important and highest purpose, to which both of the above mentioned must be subordinated, lies in God Himself, and is expressed for us in His holy commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). He is our Creator, who has given us existence and all the perfections of soul and body, by His goodness alone. He is our Father-Provider, who cares for each of us to such an extent that not a single hair from our head falls without His will. And how can we not love Him more than everyone and everything, not love Him with all our strength? How can we not respond to the voice of the Holy Apostle: “Glorify God therefore in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:10), and “whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)? The Lord, on the other hand, is also the ultimate goal of all our aspirations: created in His image and likeness, we are naturally drawn to Him with our whole being; in Him is the final rest for our mind, thirsting for truth and justice; in Him is the final rest for our will, seeking goodness and perfection; in Him is the final rest for our feeling or heart, hungering for blessedness. How can we not love Him more than anyone and everything, how can we not glorify Him, how can we not live for Him primarily and even exclusively? But that is not all: He, the infinite mercy and love, for the salvation of us sinners did not spare His only-begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He sent down to earth for us His Most Holy Spirit, pouring out into our hearts with His gracious gifts, and reviving, sanctifying and perfecting us for eternal life. And finally, He, our Heavenly Father, even from the foundation of the world prepared a kingdom for us with Himself, and with open arms awaits us to Himself for endless blessedness... Should we not repay the Lord for such ineffable deeds of love with mutual, most perfect love, should we not live for Him alone, should we not sacrifice everything for the glory of His name?

III. Let us learn to have always before our eyes the threefold goal for which we are born into this world. Let us learn to strive for it with all our zeal throughout our earthly life, so that finally, with God’s help, we too may attain our final destination and eternal rest in the bosom of the Heavenly Father. Amen.

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

 

* Maria Feodorovna (14/26 November 1847 – 1/13 October 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was Empress of Russia from 1881 to 1894 as the wife of Emperor Alexander III. She was the fourth child and second daughter of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Maria’s eldest son, Nicholas, was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. Maria lived for 10 years after Bolshevik functionaries killed Nicholas and his immediate family in 1918.