November: Day 7: Venerable Lazarus of Galesion

November: Day 7:
Venerable Lazarus of Galesion

(Sin is the Most Terrible Evil in the World)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Lazarus, whose memory is celebrated today, was distinguished from childhood by his meekness, gentleness, compassion and love for the poor. Throughout his life he distinguished himself by great asceticism. Having made a journey to venerate the shrines in Jerusalem, he spent ten years in the Monastery of Saint Savvas in Palestine; for his virtuous life he was elevated to the rank of priesthood by the Jerusalem Patriarch. According to a special revelation, during his further asceticism already in a completely deserted desert, Lazarus returned to his homeland, to a village in Magnesia. He was recognized by his mother, but did not remain with her, but again secluded himself on an uninhabited mountain in Galesion, near the city of Ephesus, three days' journey from Smyrna to the south. Here one night during prayer Lazarus was struck by a vision of a fiery pillar rising to heaven and surrounded by a multitude of angels singing: "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered!" and, taking this as an order from above, he built a church on this site in the name of the Resurrection of Christ with the assistance of Emperor Constantine Monomachos, who had great respect for him. At the church, Saint Lazarus built a pillar on which he gave himself up to endure the heat and cold, since the pillar had no cover.

Having disciplined his flesh, growing more and more in spiritual strength and gaining a greater and greater victory over sin, Lazarus attained the gift of foresight and the gift of miracles. Pious people began to gather to him, wishing to be strengthened in the contemplation of such a model.

Thus did Venerable Lazarus labor until the end of his life in unceasing vigilance. He died at the age of 72 and was buried near his pillar and glorified after death by many miraculous healings that took place from his relics.

II. We have seen, brethren, how the Venerable Lazarus struggled with sin all his life and how he continually, with the help of God's grace, conquered it. He made a journey to venerate the shrines in Jerusalem, spent ten years in a strict ascetic life in the Monastery of Saint Savvas, then spent the rest of his ascetic life in a completely deserted desert. Then, by order from above, he built a temple near the place of his exploits and near it a pillar on which he placed himself, enduring heat and cold and crucifying his flesh with its passions and lusts.

Only by such feats did the Venerable Lazarus overcome sin and was granted by God the gift of foresight and miracles. We will not be wrong if we say that the Venerable Lazarus clearly realized that the sin with which he struggled all his life is the most terrible evil in the world, and in the struggle with it one must not spare strength, health, and even life itself.

a) Indeed, where do all the troubles in the world come from? Where do illnesses come from? Where do poverty and shortages come from? From sin. Before sin there was plenty of everything. Where does the shame of dishonor come from? From sin. They sinned and began to feel ashamed, ashamed of sin itself, of which there is nothing more dishonorable. What was man like before he sinned? He was calm, healthy, cheerful, happy, without any needs, without any grief. He sinned, and the earth began to bring him thorny plants, the creature began to sigh with fears of earthquakes, thunder and storms, they began to give birth to children in agony, they encountered illnesses, decrepitude, death. Troubles surrounded and pressed man from all sides - troubles at sea and on land, in the desert and in the city, troubles from his own and from strangers.

b) What does sin bring us every day? Where do the disorders of family life come from? Where do the disorders of civil life come from? Is it not from the passions that war in our hearts? We do not point out those passions that so obviously deprive people of health, property, and a good name, such as, for example, drunkenness, gluttony, covetousness, theft, slander, etc.

c) Therefore, if there were no sin, there would be no troubles in the world. Let there be no unrighteousness in the acquisition of wealth: how many complaints and groans will be silenced! Thousands will be clothed and fed, because the greed of a few will not take away bread and peace from the many. Let discord cease: instead of worries and anxieties, contentment will reign in the house. How many evils will you prevent by restraining one uncontrollable evil - your tongue?! O, sin is the most terrible evil in the world. Flee from sin at least so that earthly disasters will weigh upon us as little as possible. Pray most of all not that you be rich, healthy, honored and respected, but pray that the Lord will help you get rid of passions, bad habits, sin.

d) True, in this temporary life we do not always notice how sin collects misfortunes for us, like its own tribute. It even happens to see that the righteous suffer on earth, while the unrighteous succeed in their undertakings. But do not worry - do not envy those who commit iniquity. If not here, then there will come their share. Do not be ashamed by the suffering of the righteous: temporary deprivations, loss of health, loss of wealth, uncertainty for people serve for those who know how to use them only as a means to acquire better goods, to succeed in spiritual perfection, without which everything else is nothing. What will be revealed beyond the grave? What will sin be there? There hades and Gehenna will show that the payment for sin is not so small and light as it seemed to frivolity before the grave. Oh! then people will say: it would be better to endure thousands of deaths than to burn in the fiery Gehenna, it would be better to swarm in worms all my life on earth than to endure the sleepless worm, it would be better to rot in stinking wounds from the cradle to the grave than to be tormented in joyless darkness for an eternity.

e) They will say: “Not every sin is so terrible: there are small sins; they, of course, can be inferior in gravity to grave sins.” But every sin, if we repeat it more than once or twice, and do not cleanse it even once with repentance, can in no way be considered small. No, in this form it is so difficult that it can drag us down to Gehenna as unrepentant sinners. Considering both to be small, do they not come to the point where they do not consider any sin great? Throw a pebble from the top of the mountain, and it will drag away the other two with its blows, then three, and thus uniting, will push together a considerable stone. The farther the pebble rolls, the greater will be the number of companions, including very great ones: exactly the same thing happens in our soul from the so-called small sins. Look around, my poor soul, how many sins you have that you include among the minor sins, and how many sins are caused by those small sins! Count then how many great good deeds you have, the weight of which could keep you from falling into Gehenna!

f) Why do we feel so little the weight of sin, while temporary disasters are unbearable? When we become accustomed to strong drinks, do we notice their destructive effect on the physical organism? And yet, the further we go, the closer they bring it to destruction, to death. Habituation to sin produces exactly the same thing in our soul. When we become accustomed to sin, we begin to neglect its effects on us, and at the same time we begin to love what we should not love. Thus, thoughts become dull, feelings are corrupted; the great becomes small and the small great; temporary blessings, temporary peace, temporary honor, temporary wealth become so important that nothing important is seen behind them. That is why people are afraid of losing temporary things and do not think about sin, are astonished, worried, lose their temper if they are deprived of childish fun, and are not at all concerned about the fact that they have nothing to bring into eternity, to the judgment of God.

III. Brethren! While there is time, while we have the means to save ourselves from sin, let us save ourselves, with the help of the grace of God, from the most terrible calamity for us – from sin. First of all and most of all, let us pray to the Lord to give you the strength to save yourself from sin, to the glory of His holy name – the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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