November: Day 26: Teaching 2: Saint Innocent of Irkutsk

November: Day 26: Teaching 2:
Saint Innocent of Irkutsk
 
(Incentives for a Christian to Endure Sorrows)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Unfortunately, very few details have been preserved about the life of the now being glorified Saint Innocent of Irkutsk. He was a contemporary of Saints Dimitri of Rostov and Metrophanes of Voronezh, was born in Little Russia and was educated at the Kiev Brotherhood School. There he took monastic vows at the Caves Monastery, after which he was called to Moscow, where his learning and virtues attracted the attention of Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky, who entrusted him with teaching philosophy at the theological academy. Then he was consecrated Bishop of Pereyaslavl; but soon a new activity opened up to him.

Under Peter the Great, the Christian faith quickly spread in Siberia, and Emperor Peter, wishing to strengthen the activities of the Chinese mission, wanted there to be a Russian bishop in Peking. For this purpose, Bishop Innocent was appointed and set out; but negotiations with the Chinese Bogda Khan, i.e. the Emperor, did not lead to an agreement; he refused to receive a bishop in Peking. While these negotiations were being conducted, for several years, Innocent stayed sometimes in Irkutsk, sometimes in Selenginsk, and was actively engaged in the education of the pagans: the Buryats and the Tungus. A few years later, under Empress Catherine, he was named Bishop of Irkutsk. Living in the Resurrection Monastery, he labored with ardent zeal for the common good, preached the word, founded a school in which newly converted people studied the Law of God and the Russian language.

The Saint undertook many labors, he had many sorrows, he endured many griefs, and in them he showed great and imitable patience; in the Akathist composed in Irkutsk, his praiseworthy patience is glorified in the midst of the bitter trials to which he was subjected, partly by the head of the mission, partly by unbelievers: “Human rhetoric is unable to express all the sorrows, deprivations, humiliations, illnesses and sufferings, undertaken for the sake of the salvation of your flock; but we, marveling at your patience and conquered by love, with a feeling of gratitude cry out: Rejoice, invincible warrior of Christ; rejoice, for you have endured the wrath of the ill-minded, the unjustly angry; rejoice, speedy intercessor for oppressed and suffering servants; rejoice, for you diligently cut down the roots and thorns of unbelief.”

After four years of apostolic labors, the Saint died peacefully in 1731.

Thirty years after his death, on the occasion of work being carried out in the church where the Saint rested, his coffin was opened; it was whole, and his holy relics were found incorrupt. The inhabitants of Irkutsk preserved a grateful memory of the holy man who had labored so much for their good. Many came to pray at his tomb. Miraculous healings and apparitions testified to the new Saint of God. In 1805, the relics of the Irkutsk Saint were solemnly opened, and it was decided to celebrate his memory on November 26, the day of his death.

"Let us praise the new apostle of Christ," exclaims the Holy Church, "and the one who comes with the gospel to the land of foreign tongues, who has made the far ends of Russia fragrant with faith, who has blossomed like a lily in the east the kingdom of Siberia, who has rained down the words of heavenly wisdom on tongues not watered by the streams of grace."

II. On the day of Saint Innocent of Irkutsk, glorified for his special patience, which he showed in his evangelistic labors, at the place of his service, let us talk, brethren, about patience, which is necessary for every true Christian, no matter what his rank or condition.

The word of God, pointing to the example of Jesus Christ, teaches us that a Christian must certainly endure many sorrows in life.

The Gospel reads: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be betrayed by the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him up to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him, and wound Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him” (Mark 10:33). What do these words of the Lord teach us, brethren? That just as the Son of God entered into the glory of His Father by the way of the cross and suffering, so we must certainly go by the same way to the Kingdom of Heaven. “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33), the Lord teaches. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12), says the Holy Apostle Paul. But, of course, you will agree that in order for the sorrowful path to have value in the eyes of God, it is necessary that it be passed with patience. And where will we get patience?

a) Firstly, in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was born in a wretched cave and was laid in a wretched manger. Immediately after His birth they sought to kill Him, and He had to flee to a foreign, distant land. All His life He had nowhere to lay His head. For countless good deeds they repaid Him with only evil. They mocked Him, reviled, slandered, beat Him, spat in His face and finally crucified Him on Golgotha among the villains. Let us more often imagine Him, who became impoverished for our sake, who took on the form of a slave, burdened with slander, filled with sorrow for our sins to the depths of His soul, covered with wounds, oppressed by insults, crucified, abandoned by all, and who accepted all this for our sins, and then, seeing the insignificance of our sorrows in comparison with the sorrows of the Savior, we will be less despondent and weakened in them, the impending feat of salvation will seem easy to us.

b) We can take the second lesson of patience from the holy saints. Some of them, says the Apostle Paul, “were slain, but received no deliverance. Others received mockings and stripes, and also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were struck down, they were tried, they died with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, bitterly distressed: of whom the world was not worthy. Wandering in deserts, and in mountains, and in caves, and in the depths of the earth” (Heb. 2:35-38). And they endured all this with joy. “I rejoice in my sufferings,” wrote the same Apostle (Col. 1:24). "They," it is said of the apostles, after they were beaten in the Sanhedrin, "went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because for the name of the Lord Jesus they were counted worthy to suffer shame" (Acts 5:41). Again, comparing our sorrows with the sorrows of the saints, we cannot help but see that our thorns are roses in comparison with their sufferings. And through this our faintheartedness will disappear, murmuring will be silenced, and a spirit of courage and patience will be born in us.

c) The third motivation for patience can be obtained from thinking about the benefit of patience for our soul. The scope of patience is great – it encompasses a person’s entire life. Especially in illnesses that often befall everyone, a person can notice the benefit of patience. Illnesses endured with patience accustom us to devotion to God’s Providence, wean us from excessive and harmful attachment to the earth and the flesh, tame passions, serve as a means of quenching God’s righteous wrath against us for our iniquities, etc. The saints looked at illnesses in this way.

There was a man who often suffered from various ailments. It happened that one year no illness befell him. The pious man began to cry and grieve, saying: "The Lord has abandoned me and did not want to visit me this year!"

Another, equal to him in patience, during a serious illness, refused a meal offered to him by his brother as a consolation, saying: “Believe me, brother, I would like to spend thirty years in this illness.”

We think that these people would not have endured suffering so mercifully if they had not hoped to receive more reward from the Lord for their patience than for other good deeds.

Here we cannot but cite the following wise instruction of one of our shepherds, showing all the benefit of patiently enduring illnesses. “When your flesh suffers from illnesses, remember that the first enemy of your salvation suffers, who is weakened by illness, and endure your illness magnanimously in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sake endured the cross and death; also remember that all our illnesses are God’s punishment for sins; they cleanse, reconcile us with God and lead us again into His love. Remember that in illness the Lord is with you: 'I am with him in tribulation' (Ps. 90:15), that it came from the beckoning of the Master, who chastises us in a fatherly manner. Believing in a time of prosperity, be careful not to fall away in time of adversity, but, like a martyr, be constant in faith, hope and love.” (see “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt).

d) Finally, the fourth encouragement to patience can be found in the thought that all the sorrows of this age are temporary, that they will be replaced by endless joys, and that there will be a time when the Lord will wipe away the tears of our eyes forever (Rev. 7:17 . Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ's Sake saw himself in the royal chambers before the Tsar. The Tsar first gave him something very bitter to taste, and said: "Such is the sorrowful path of those who serve Me in this life!" Then he gave him other food, sweeter than manna, saying: "Such is the food of My servants, who have endured everything to the end."

III. Let us remember, brethren, that if we endure everything here with patience for God’s sake, then “though we have been chastened a little, we shall receive great blessings”; and that if “we suffer with Christ in this present life, we shall also be glorified with Him in the life to come." "Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy” (John 16:20). “He who endures to the end will be saved. In your patience possess your souls,” Christian brethren! (John 16:22). Amen.

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