November: Day 5: Teaching 1: Saint Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod

November: Day 5: Teaching 1:
Saint Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod
 
(On the Path to Salvation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Jonah, Archbishop of Novgorod, whose memory is celebrated today, known in the world as John, was born in Novgorod in the fourteenth century, and, left an orphan from childhood, was given over to a deacon to be educated. He loved to read the Holy Scriptures more than to play with his childhood friends. One day, a holy fool, Michael of Klopsk, passed by a crowd of boys, among whom was John. The boys pulled his clothes and threw dirt at him; but John took no part in this. Then the holy fool took him in his arms and said: "Study diligently, John. You will be Archbishop of Novgorod." The prediction came true. Having reached the age of maturity, John decided to enter upon the path of salvation, along which he steadfastly followed all his life. Soon he took monastic vows, under the name of Jonah, in the Otensky Monastery, 40 versts from Novgorod, and after the death of Abbot Chariton, he was elected abbot. And when the Novgorod Archbishop Euthymios died, Jonah, renowned for his piety, was elected his successor. Having become the shepherd of Novgorod, Jonah zealously served for the good of the Church, gave everyone equal and fair justice, defended the weak and helped the poor. Saint Jonah ruled the Novgorod flock for 30 years and left behind a good memory. Jonah died in old age, in 1470, and was buried in the Otensky Monastery, in the Church of Saint John the Baptist. His body was subsequently glorified by incorruptibility.

II. We have said that Saint Jonah, having reached adulthood, entered upon the path of salvation, which he followed steadfastly throughout his life. How and by what means can we be saved?

a) He who wants to be saved must belong to the one holy Orthodox Church, be its faithful son, submit to its regulations in everything, such as: fasting, going to the temple of God, honoring spiritual shepherds, etc. If someone does not obey the Church, if someone has separated from the Church out of a spirit of resistance or pride, if someone is a schismatic, then no matter how many prostrations he makes, no matter how much he fasts, no matter how much he prays, he will not be saved. The Lord compared one who does not obey the Church with an idolater: “If anyone disobeys the Church,” He said, “let him be to you as a heathen and a publican” (Matt. 18:17). A schismatic and a heretic are alien to humility, just as the devil is alien to humility, and therefore they are alien to salvation, just as the devil is alien to it. Once the devil appeared to the Venerable Makarios and said: “Makarios! You fast much, but I eat nothing; you sleep little, but I do not sleep at all; you conquer me only by one thing: by your humility.” He who has not humbled himself is not a disciple of Christ, he has not submitted to Jesus Christ. True humility comes from obedience, said Saint John Climacus, just as the Lord showed His humility by the fact that He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Without obedience to the Church there is no humility; without humility there is no salvation, “I humbled myself, and He saved me,” said the prophet (Psalm 14:5).

b) He who wants to be saved must, furthermore, pray to God, though little, but often. On weekdays, pray to God at home, if everyday affairs and service do not allow you to go to the temple of God; in the morning - after rising from sleep; at night - before going to bed, and before lunch and before dinner. On feasts and Sundays, one must take part in public church prayers. It is a great happiness for a sinful person that he is given the opportunity to attend the church of God: he can pray to God that God will forgive him his sins and grant salvation. David was a glorious and rich king, he was also a prophet, but he asked one thing from the Lord: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord, and seek Him in His holy temple” (Psalm 27:4). The Holy Fathers call prayer the matter of all virtues, because with it one can ask the merciful Lord for all other virtues, all temporal and eternal blessings, as the Lord Himself testified. “Ask,” He said, “and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.”

c) He who wants to be saved must, according to his strength, perform spiritual and physical alms and, in general, love his neighbors as himself. Spiritual alms consists in forgiving our neighbors their sins, i.e. insults and offenses inflicted on us by our neighbors, as well as in our concern for the salvation of the souls of our neighbors, for example, teaching them truth and goodness. Physical alms consists in helping our neighbors as much as we can with bread, clothing, money and hospitality. The Lord said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7), that is, they will be saved. On the contrary, judgment without mercy awaits the merciless (John 2:13), that is, the merciless will not be saved.

d) He who wants to be saved must bring to God, Whom he must love above all else, a thorough repentance for his sins, both in his daily prayers and, especially, before his spiritual father during the Mystery of Confession. The God-inspired prophet proclaims: “I have acknowledged my iniquity, and have not covered my sin; I said, I will confess my iniquity to the Lord, and You have forgiven the wickedness of my heart” (Ps. 32:5). Consider the order of the words spoken by the Holy Spirit: first, a person acknowledges his sins, which is achieved by a pious examination of himself; then he rejects those excuses by which a wicked conscience usually tries to excuse its sin; finally, a repentant person becomes his own accuser and tells the Lord, in the presence of a spiritual father as a witness, all his sins, by no means sparing his own self-love. Then he receives from God forgiveness of his iniquities. The Apostle said: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (John 1:9). After cleansing yourself by confessing before your spiritual father, having made a strong intention not to sin in the future and in any case to fight hard against temptations to sin, you must, with the fear of God, faith and love, partake of the all-holy Body of Christ and the all-holy Blood of Christ, which is completely necessary for salvation. The Lord said: "Amen, amen, I say to you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you," that is, you do not have salvation. "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life," i.e., has salvation (John 6:53, 54). One must confess and receive communion at least during all four fasts, four times a year. But if, unfortunately and misfortunely, worldly concerns do not allow this, then one must certainly receive communion once a year.

e) He who wants to be saved must magnanimously endure all the sorrows that will be allowed to him during this short earthly pilgrimage. Should there be a crop failure, or even the ripened grain will be destroyed by locusts, or will be beaten by hail; should there be a death of cattle, a fire, illness of oneself and members of the family, the death of one of the closest relatives, should one have to endure persecution and insults from a powerful man: all this must be endured magnanimously, without murmuring, and especially without blasphemy. The Lord commanded us: "By your patience possess your souls" (Luke 21:19). "He who endures to the end ," He said, "the same will be saved" (Matt. 24:13). The sorrows sent by God are a sure sign for a person that he is chosen by God, beloved by God. The Lord testified: “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19). For this reason the Apostle thus comforts the grieving and suffering one: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when we are rebuked by Him. For he whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastisement, God is found among you as sons” (Heb. 12:5, 6, 7). Such is the dignity of earthly sorrows, when they are borne with complaisance! They are a gift of God (Phil. 1:29)! They are a sign of the Christian’s adoption as sons by God! In order to learn to endure sorrows patiently and with complaisance, one must meet each coming sorrow with the words of the prudent thief: “I receive the due reward of my deeds. Remember me, Lord, in Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). It is also useful to remember and repeat the words of the much-suffering Job: "We have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil" (Job 2:10)? "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21).

f) Those who wish to be saved must read divine books. "Blessed is the man," said the Holy Prophet David, "who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful, but all his pleasure is in the law of the Lord, and in his law shall he meditate day and night" (Psalm 1:1, 2). Our mind, being darkened by sin, cannot be satisfied with its own thoughts in relation to salvation, which are weak, wavering, deceptive: it is necessary for it, through attentive reading, or careful hearing of the word of God, to borrow from it Divine thoughts, and to be instructed by them. The Holy Fathers called reading and hearing the word of God the king of all virtues. The word of God reveals to us all the sinful passions that live and act in our corrupted nature, reveals all their tricks, exposes malice when, for our deception, it hides behind the guise of virtue, and teaches us to fight the sin that lives in us.

III. Save yourselves, brethren, save yourselves! The earthly life of each of us is very short – you can’t see how it will pass. You can’t see how death will creep up on each of us.

Brethren! Whoever of you has hitherto lived piously, let him continue to live such a life. Whoever has hitherto allowed himself to lead a sinful life, let him repent and from now on begin to lead a virtuous life, avoiding sins in every possible way, without which salvation is impossible. “As I live,” says the Lord, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he should turn and live” (Ezek. 33:11). Amen.

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