February: Day 24: Teaching 1: Venerable Erasmus of the Kiev Caves

February: Day 24: Teaching 1:
Venerable Erasmus of the Kiev Caves
 
(Will Those Who Donate Anything for the Construction of Holy Temples Be Rewarded by God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Some Christians give much for the building or adornment of God's temples, but doubt whether they will receive a reward from God for this or not, and think: would it not be better to give the money spent on the temple to the poor, and will God accept their sacrifice? What shall we say to such? We will say that this must be done and not to cease from it; that is, it is good to help the poor, but it is also good to give for the adornment of God's temples. And as it is certain that the former will not be forgotten by God, so it is equally certain that He will reward for the latter. They will say: how can this latter be proved? We answer: first, by the fact that the Church of God prays every day for those who bear fruit and do good in the holy temple of God, and every day cries out: "Sanctify those who love the beauty of Your house;" and the prayer of the Church is always powerful before God; and secondly, it can be proved by the fact that in the lives of the saints we find indications that the Lord and the Queen of Heaven showed special love and mercy to the builders and decorators of God's temples. We intend to present one of these indications for your edification, brethren, at this time.

II. The Venerable Erasmus, a monk of the Kiev Caves, whose memory the Holy Church celebrates today, was a rich man before his monasticism. When he became a monk, he came to the conclusion that a monk should not have wealth and, out of love for the splendor of the house of God, he decided to use it for the decoration of the church and renewed many icons in the Caves church with gold and silver. At first he led a pious life, but then fell after the following temptation: when he spent all his wealth on decorating the church, his acquaintances began to despise him as a poor man, and the devil appeared with wiles. He began to instill in Erasmus the idea that he had wasted his wealth on the church in vain, that he would receive no reward from God for this, and that he would have done better if he had distributed his wealth to the poor. Erasmus took the devil's suggestion to heart and, having accepted it, fell into despair and began to spend his life in all sorts of negligence and laziness. But soon God brought him to his senses. Erasmus fell into a severe illness and lost his tongue and sight, and for seven days he remained in an apparently hopeless condition. On the eighth day the monks gathered to him and, seeing his suffering state, said: "Woe, woe to his soul! Since he lived in laziness and sin, this is why he suffers." When they spoke thus, suddenly Erasmus, to everyone's amazement, got up from his bed completely healthy and then, sitting up, said: "Truly, fathers and brothers, I am such as you consider me, and I lived without repentance, but this is what happened to me. Today the venerables Anthony and Theodosius appeared to me and said: 'We prayed to the Lord for you and through our prayers He will give you time for repentance.' Then I saw the Most Holy Mother of God with the Infant God in her arms and a multitude of saints with her. And the Lady said to me: 'Erasmus, since you have adorned my church with icons, I will adorn you and exalt you with glory in the kingdom of my Son. You always have the poor with you, but you did not have my church. So, arise, repent and receive the great angelic schema; on the third day I will take you pure to myself.'" Having said this, Erasmus began to openly confess his sins before the brethren, and then went to church and was tonsured into the schema there. On the third day after this he died.

III. Therefore, you who love the beauty of the house of God, do not worry: your sacrifices, which you make for the holy temples, will not be lost. The Lord sees them, and they, as you could see from the example just given, are pleasing to Him, and undoubtedly He will show His mercy to you for them, as He showed it through His Most Pure Mother and to Venerable Erasmus. And can it be otherwise? You adorned the temple of God for God, but can anything be lost for God? And can He remain in debt to anyone? Obviously not; for He, who has the wealth and glory of the whole world in His hands, cannot remain in debt to any of us, and will undoubtedly therefore sanctify and glorify, that is, reward those who, out of love for Him, love the beauty of His house and, out of the same love, bear fruit and do good in it. And also note how He will reward. This is what is said at the end of the Life of Erasmus: “God is pleased with the adornment of the church and He counts him among the saints.” Do you hear? God is pleased with the adornment of the holy temples and He counts him among the saints for this! After this, is it still necessary to convince you of the benefit for you of your sacrifices to the temple? We think not, and that the words of the Holy Fathers cited are powerful enough to convince you in themselves. In view of this, we end our discourse only with the wish that in the future, for your own benefit, you would generously do good to the house of God, with the hope of receiving a hundredfold reward for your benefactions from the generous hand of the Lord in the future life. Amen. 

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