November: Day 23: Teaching 1:
Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky
(Lessons From His Life:
a. Remember the Hour of Death, and
b. Receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ Before Death)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky
(Lessons From His Life:
a. Remember the Hour of Death, and
b. Receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ Before Death)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. The Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky, whose memory is celebrated today, lived in troubled times in Russia. It was torn apart by civil strife among princes, its regions and cities were ravaged by the Tatars, the land of Novgorod suffered from the raids of the Swedes, Lithuanians and the Livonian knights. The Livonian knights, being zealous Catholics, wanted to convert the Russians to Catholicism. Among the defenders of the Russian land, the most famous was Alexander, the second son of Grand Duke Yaroslav II. He was born in 1220 and, from his youth distinguished by wisdom, literacy and piety, he earned the love of the people and the mercy of God. Alexander tried to alleviate the misfortunes of the people, cared for truth and mercy in courts, exhorted citizens to peace and mercy, built fortresses out of fear of enemy raids and victoriously repelled them. During the eleven years of his great reign, he brought much good to the faith, the Church and the people. Several times he undertook difficult and dangerous journeys to the Horde for the good of Russia. On one of these journeys, on the way back, in Gorodets Volzhsky, a village in the Nizhny Novgorod province, Alexander fell seriously ill and, sensing his imminent death, "which he never forgot throughout his life," he took the schema, with the name of Alexy, made the necessary arrangements, blessed all those around him and said goodbye to everyone. Then "he confessed, received the Holy Mysteries" and died in November 1263, at the age of 44.
II. Of the many lessons that the life of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky presents to us, we will take only two: the first is that we must, following the example of the Holy Royal Saint of God, always “remember death,” the second is that when death approaches, we must try in every way, having cleansed our souls through repentance, “to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ,” as a pledge of eternal life.
a) It is a great and soul-saving thing to remember your hour of death.
They say that one prisoner, having heard in the evening that he would be put to death the following morning, became completely gray from extreme fear during the night. What must happen at death to a bad Christian who has heard about the wrath of God, about inexorable justice, about the terrible judgment of God, about the most cruel and eternal torments, when conscience, as if on a list, begins to count all his previous actions, when his whole life appears before his eyes, and like ghosts appear before him debauchery, intemperance, self-will, pride, insolence, shameless lust, wild gaiety, drunkenness, depraved companies, foul language, vile plans? And now, for all this, he is already being summoned to judgment, less than a minute remains for preparation, death is at the threshold, and with it the justice of God! The thought that in an hour, in two, it will be revealed by actual experience whether it was rightly said that there is hell and that one must appear before the judgment of God - this thought strikes the heart like a hammer. Then the unfortunate man will see himself standing between time and eternity, he will see time quickly flying away and endless eternity approaching with the same speed. Then he will know that in a few hours that decision will follow, which will forever decide his fate. Then various thoughts and ideas will crowd in his restless mind. How will the terrible Judge appear to him? On what throne? What creatures surround Him? With what wrath and in what words will He pronounce His decision? What fear will there be? What trembling will penetrate the heart? What anxiety will disturb the mind! What darkness will cover the eyes! But who will have enough words to describe this horror? Truly, it is impossible to even imagine it. The righteous, who often expect death as a peaceful haven, are sometimes so struck by the thought of the Last Judgment and God's justice that death, generally desired by them, seems to them even bitter and terrible.
King Hezekiah was righteous, but when the Prophet Isaiah predicted his death, he began to ask the Almighty God for continued life with great weeping: "And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping" (2 Kings 20:3).
Righteous was Symeon, “who chose foolishness for the sake of Christ” – a most difficult feat; however, even he, at his death, began to cry out to John the Deacon, his friend: “John, take care of your soul with all your might, so that later you can calmly endure the hour of death and cross the realm of these darknesses without fear; only God knows in what fear and anxiety I now find myself.”
Arsenios the Great was of wondrous holiness, having despised the rank of senator, but at his death he too was trembling all over and extremely disturbed. The brethren asked him with surprise: "And you, father, are you afraid of death?" "Yes," he answered, "this fear has troubled me throughout my entire life in monasticism."
Who was Hilarion the Great, who began to serve God from infancy? But he also consoled his terrified soul at his death, and he says: “Depart, my soul, depart, why are you afraid, why do you waver? You have served Christ for almost seventy years, and you are afraid of death!” The end of human life is grievous! The hour of death is terrible! “If the righteous will scarcely be saved, then where will the wicked and the sinner be?” (Prov. 11:31). If death is so terrible for prophets, hermits and righteous people, then how terrible it must be for sinners! The most righteous tremble, fearing the justice of God, which they have not offended in any way: how can sinners not become numb, who in cold blood, without any reasoning, offended the greatness of God with thousands of unheard-of lawlessness, of which their whole life was one continuous sin!
Blind men! How long shall we neglect ourselves? How long shall we deceive ourselves with the empty hope of a long life? Know then that he who puts off repentance until the end of his life will never attain his goal; but he who, while still healthy, cleanses his conscience, defiled by sins, with holy confession, heavy sighing, bitter tears, will undoubtedly be deemed worthy of a good end to his life, a peaceful death, and an endless kingdom of heaven, which all truly believing Christians cannot but hope with all their souls. (see Feofan Prokopovich, sn. No. 342 of the "Troitsk leaflet").
b) Having cleansed his soul with Christian confession, every dying person must desire with all the strength of his soul to partake of the Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ.
But remember that your repentance must be true, heartfelt, from the depths of your soul.
Christian brethren, desiring to partake of the Holy Mysteries! Do you see this Holy Bread? Do you see the Chalice standing on the Holy Throne? There is the Body of Christ, there is the Blood of Christ. This is the Divine Fire, illuminating and purifying the worthy, and scorching and burning the unworthy. Do not come near here, do not come near. First, untie the sinful bonds that bind your soul with a sincere confession. If you are “at enmity” with someone: untie the knot of enmity and be reconciled with your neighbor. If you “offended someone,” if you stole, took away, if you hold someone else’s things, untie the knot of offense, return to the offended what you took away.
If you live in a wicked relationship with someone, to the temptation of many, cut off this sinful bond, free your soul from the captivity of the devil. "For the place where you stand is holy ground!" This holy throne, to which you approach, this place where you stand and receive communion, is the Holy of Holies - "the ground is holy!" Here the holy angels stand invisibly and cover their faces from fear, trembling and reverence.
Moses approached the burning bush with fear, in which was God Himself. With the same fear and trembling, open your mouth to receive Holy Communion. And you say: I believe, Lord, that You are God; I confess that I am withered grass... I am not worthy, because of my sins, to approach God, lest I suffer torment, to touch the fire with hay, lest I be burned. But You Yourself call me, You Yourself summon me: so, I come, unclean, to receive cleansing from You - the source of holiness; I come, weak, to receive healing from You - the physician of the soul and body; I come, dead, to receive resurrection from You - the bread of life. I am going to be sanctified and illuminated, and I am going all the more because I am sinful and unworthy... I am coming to You so as not to move away from You, so that the enemy does not take possession of my soul completely. And again I confess that I am unworthy, because I am sinful. But You came to earth to save sinners! Oh, Lord, save! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
With such feelings and thoughts approach Holy Communion, and then this great mystery will not be to your condemnation. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face shone so that the Jewish people could not look at him. Therefore, Moses put a veil on his face. Thus, the face of Moses shone with heavenly glory just because he conversed with God on Sinai. But think, brethren, what a great difference it is to converse with God and to receive God Himself on your lips, in your heart! If the face of Moses shone so from one conversation, then how will the soul of him who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ in the most pure mysteries not shine? The Jews were afraid to look at the shining face of Moses; but Saint Chrysostom says that the devils fear, tremble, and flee from the face of one who partakes of the Holy Mysteries, because at that hour the communicant breathes divine fire. A vision marvelous for angels and terrible for demons! No star shines in heaven as brightly as the soul of a Christian shines from the light of God's grace at that hour when he receives communion. And this is because when we receive communion, then we ourselves become members of the Body of Christ, we are united with Christ. And if our soul were to be separated from the body at that hour, then it would receive a place for itself with the Martyrs, Virgins and Saints. My God! My Savior! Let me die, if it be Your holy will, in a dense forest or in some other deserted place: it makes no difference to me, as long as before death I am granted true Christian repentance and communion of Your most pure Body and Blood! For if at that hour You are with me, then I do not fear destruction: with such a parting gift as Your Body and Blood, I firmly hope to attain Your heavenly kingdom.
Christian brethren! When you partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, beware lest you lose what you have received. Be careful, lest this precious stone fall from you. Guard yourself on all sides, lest the evil one snatch it from your soul. You have been sanctified by this holiness: live now as befits a saint. (see the sermon of Saint Elijah Minyatius, "Troitsk. leaflet" No. 210).
III. Christian brethren! Sons of the Orthodox Church! Let us not let these words pass by our hearts, but let us imprint them in the depths of our souls for our whole lives.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
a) It is a great and soul-saving thing to remember your hour of death.
They say that one prisoner, having heard in the evening that he would be put to death the following morning, became completely gray from extreme fear during the night. What must happen at death to a bad Christian who has heard about the wrath of God, about inexorable justice, about the terrible judgment of God, about the most cruel and eternal torments, when conscience, as if on a list, begins to count all his previous actions, when his whole life appears before his eyes, and like ghosts appear before him debauchery, intemperance, self-will, pride, insolence, shameless lust, wild gaiety, drunkenness, depraved companies, foul language, vile plans? And now, for all this, he is already being summoned to judgment, less than a minute remains for preparation, death is at the threshold, and with it the justice of God! The thought that in an hour, in two, it will be revealed by actual experience whether it was rightly said that there is hell and that one must appear before the judgment of God - this thought strikes the heart like a hammer. Then the unfortunate man will see himself standing between time and eternity, he will see time quickly flying away and endless eternity approaching with the same speed. Then he will know that in a few hours that decision will follow, which will forever decide his fate. Then various thoughts and ideas will crowd in his restless mind. How will the terrible Judge appear to him? On what throne? What creatures surround Him? With what wrath and in what words will He pronounce His decision? What fear will there be? What trembling will penetrate the heart? What anxiety will disturb the mind! What darkness will cover the eyes! But who will have enough words to describe this horror? Truly, it is impossible to even imagine it. The righteous, who often expect death as a peaceful haven, are sometimes so struck by the thought of the Last Judgment and God's justice that death, generally desired by them, seems to them even bitter and terrible.
King Hezekiah was righteous, but when the Prophet Isaiah predicted his death, he began to ask the Almighty God for continued life with great weeping: "And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping" (2 Kings 20:3).
Righteous was Symeon, “who chose foolishness for the sake of Christ” – a most difficult feat; however, even he, at his death, began to cry out to John the Deacon, his friend: “John, take care of your soul with all your might, so that later you can calmly endure the hour of death and cross the realm of these darknesses without fear; only God knows in what fear and anxiety I now find myself.”
Arsenios the Great was of wondrous holiness, having despised the rank of senator, but at his death he too was trembling all over and extremely disturbed. The brethren asked him with surprise: "And you, father, are you afraid of death?" "Yes," he answered, "this fear has troubled me throughout my entire life in monasticism."
Who was Hilarion the Great, who began to serve God from infancy? But he also consoled his terrified soul at his death, and he says: “Depart, my soul, depart, why are you afraid, why do you waver? You have served Christ for almost seventy years, and you are afraid of death!” The end of human life is grievous! The hour of death is terrible! “If the righteous will scarcely be saved, then where will the wicked and the sinner be?” (Prov. 11:31). If death is so terrible for prophets, hermits and righteous people, then how terrible it must be for sinners! The most righteous tremble, fearing the justice of God, which they have not offended in any way: how can sinners not become numb, who in cold blood, without any reasoning, offended the greatness of God with thousands of unheard-of lawlessness, of which their whole life was one continuous sin!
Blind men! How long shall we neglect ourselves? How long shall we deceive ourselves with the empty hope of a long life? Know then that he who puts off repentance until the end of his life will never attain his goal; but he who, while still healthy, cleanses his conscience, defiled by sins, with holy confession, heavy sighing, bitter tears, will undoubtedly be deemed worthy of a good end to his life, a peaceful death, and an endless kingdom of heaven, which all truly believing Christians cannot but hope with all their souls. (see Feofan Prokopovich, sn. No. 342 of the "Troitsk leaflet").
b) Having cleansed his soul with Christian confession, every dying person must desire with all the strength of his soul to partake of the Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ.
But remember that your repentance must be true, heartfelt, from the depths of your soul.
Christian brethren, desiring to partake of the Holy Mysteries! Do you see this Holy Bread? Do you see the Chalice standing on the Holy Throne? There is the Body of Christ, there is the Blood of Christ. This is the Divine Fire, illuminating and purifying the worthy, and scorching and burning the unworthy. Do not come near here, do not come near. First, untie the sinful bonds that bind your soul with a sincere confession. If you are “at enmity” with someone: untie the knot of enmity and be reconciled with your neighbor. If you “offended someone,” if you stole, took away, if you hold someone else’s things, untie the knot of offense, return to the offended what you took away.
If you live in a wicked relationship with someone, to the temptation of many, cut off this sinful bond, free your soul from the captivity of the devil. "For the place where you stand is holy ground!" This holy throne, to which you approach, this place where you stand and receive communion, is the Holy of Holies - "the ground is holy!" Here the holy angels stand invisibly and cover their faces from fear, trembling and reverence.
Moses approached the burning bush with fear, in which was God Himself. With the same fear and trembling, open your mouth to receive Holy Communion. And you say: I believe, Lord, that You are God; I confess that I am withered grass... I am not worthy, because of my sins, to approach God, lest I suffer torment, to touch the fire with hay, lest I be burned. But You Yourself call me, You Yourself summon me: so, I come, unclean, to receive cleansing from You - the source of holiness; I come, weak, to receive healing from You - the physician of the soul and body; I come, dead, to receive resurrection from You - the bread of life. I am going to be sanctified and illuminated, and I am going all the more because I am sinful and unworthy... I am coming to You so as not to move away from You, so that the enemy does not take possession of my soul completely. And again I confess that I am unworthy, because I am sinful. But You came to earth to save sinners! Oh, Lord, save! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
With such feelings and thoughts approach Holy Communion, and then this great mystery will not be to your condemnation. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face shone so that the Jewish people could not look at him. Therefore, Moses put a veil on his face. Thus, the face of Moses shone with heavenly glory just because he conversed with God on Sinai. But think, brethren, what a great difference it is to converse with God and to receive God Himself on your lips, in your heart! If the face of Moses shone so from one conversation, then how will the soul of him who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ in the most pure mysteries not shine? The Jews were afraid to look at the shining face of Moses; but Saint Chrysostom says that the devils fear, tremble, and flee from the face of one who partakes of the Holy Mysteries, because at that hour the communicant breathes divine fire. A vision marvelous for angels and terrible for demons! No star shines in heaven as brightly as the soul of a Christian shines from the light of God's grace at that hour when he receives communion. And this is because when we receive communion, then we ourselves become members of the Body of Christ, we are united with Christ. And if our soul were to be separated from the body at that hour, then it would receive a place for itself with the Martyrs, Virgins and Saints. My God! My Savior! Let me die, if it be Your holy will, in a dense forest or in some other deserted place: it makes no difference to me, as long as before death I am granted true Christian repentance and communion of Your most pure Body and Blood! For if at that hour You are with me, then I do not fear destruction: with such a parting gift as Your Body and Blood, I firmly hope to attain Your heavenly kingdom.
Christian brethren! When you partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, beware lest you lose what you have received. Be careful, lest this precious stone fall from you. Guard yourself on all sides, lest the evil one snatch it from your soul. You have been sanctified by this holiness: live now as befits a saint. (see the sermon of Saint Elijah Minyatius, "Troitsk. leaflet" No. 210).
III. Christian brethren! Sons of the Orthodox Church! Let us not let these words pass by our hearts, but let us imprint them in the depths of our souls for our whole lives.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
