Homily Four for the Sunday of the Last Judgement
By St. John of Kronstadt
(Delivered on the Monday after the Sunday of the Last Judgment -
By St. John of Kronstadt
(Delivered on the Monday after the Sunday of the Last Judgment -
February 25, 1907)
“The Lord comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth” (Psalm 96:13).
I have been to the sessions of the earthly courts, called district courts. The furnishings of the main courtroom are impressive. A large portrait of the Emperor on the wall; tables, seats; a diverse audience, the docks of the accused and the accused themselves, the tense anticipation of the judges.
Here the doors open; the herald proclaims loudly: "The court is in session!" The members of the court come out with the chairman; they sit down; the minutes of the court are read; the defendants are announced; the jurors are seated; the witnesses are called; the oath is read - to tell only the truth. The trial begins. All this is decorous, in order - and makes an impression on the public. Such is the atmosphere of an earthly court, a human one. For the defendants it is somewhat frightening. After the degree of guilt of the defendants has been determined and the judges have deliberated, a decision is made and announced - punishment or freedom from trial. Such is the earthly court in a brief outline.
The judgment of man presupposes the judgment of God, as the internal judgment of conscience presupposes the eternally righteous Lawgiver and Judge God, who has placed the law of conscience in every person. The judgment of judges is the judgment of God. "Judge rightly," says Moses to the judges of Israel, "for it is the judgment of God" (Num. 25:5).
Judges are people, and the accused are the same sinful people as the judges, and judges are prone to make mistakes and sometimes judge not rightly, but crookedly - to acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent. God's judgment is not like that: it is right, precise, eternal. The Prophet says: "The Lord will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth."
Now let us all delve into the description of the terrible judgment of God, the final judgment of people for all eternity. "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him," says the Evangelist, "then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats; and He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'" (Matt. 25:31–34). The kingdom of heaven for what? For love of God and neighbor, for works of mercy, as the Divine answer shows. "Then He will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels'" (Matt. 25:41). For what? For lack of love for God and neighbor, for selfishness, for a senseless blind attachment to earthly goods and for disregard for spiritual, eternal goods, for unbelief, coldness, ingratitude to the Creator and trampling on His righteous laws, as the same answer of the righteous Judge shows. "And these will go away," it says at the end of the daily Gospel, "into everlasting torment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46).
Here, in brief words, is a description of the terrible, final judgment of God over people of all times and all places on the earthly planet. For a greater impression on souls of this terrible, dreadful judgment, let us go into some details.
The Evangelist proclaims that the Son of Man, i.e. Christ, will come to judgment in His glory and all the holy Angels with Him and will sit on the throne of His glory. Let us pay attention to the words: "comes in His glory." Can you imagine this terrible, unprecedented glory of the most beginningless, almighty Creator Judge, by whose word everything was created - all the Angels, heaven and earth, and by whose word everything is contained, in being and wondrous harmony, to Whom everything obeys? On Tabor He showed His three disciples a small radiance of His glory, and even they could not bear it, having fallen face down to the ground. To the Apostle John the Theologian, on the island of Patmos, on the day of the resurrection, the Lord appeared, having already ascended into heaven. He appeared in His glory, proportionate to the capacity of the still mortal eyes of the Apostle: "And when I saw Him," says John himself, "I fell at His feet as dead; for His face was shining like the sun in its strength. And He laid His right hand on me and said to me: 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death'" (Rev. 1:16-18).
Thus He appeared on earth to His chosen disciples, enlivening, not striking with His light and showing little of His Divine nature and incorruptible, incomprehensible brightness. Now imagine in what glory He will appear to all the peoples of all ages, so that all will immediately see His terrible, unbearable, Divine glory and without any hesitation be convinced of His Divinity and Divine power - including the Jews, who crucified Him and still do not believe in Him and mock Him! In what terrible glory, I say, will He appear at His second coming, so that at once He will take away from all peoples every possibility of unbelief and force them to recognize His Divine power? In addition to His own, natural, eternal glory, He will be surrounded by the terrible glory of all the countless angelic forces, strong in strength and terrible in their heavenly glory. Here will appear intelligent flaming thrones, and many-eyed cherubim and awesome seraphim, whose glory even righteous people could not see.
How will the unrepentant sinners and the Jewish unbelieving multitude feel, who pierced Him and are still persecuting Him in the person of the faithful Christians! The Seer John answers: "Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye will see Him, including those who pierced Him; and all tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. 1:7). Pay attention to these final words: "Even so, Amen," i.e., it will surely and irrevocably happen.
In what position will then appear our present, past and future unbelievers, the so-called intellectuals, and all the decadents - unbelieving and malicious writers who have made the printed word an instrument of slander, deception, temptation, trade and mockery of every sacred thing and of well-intentioned people? Before them will be too real that which they mocked, that which they rejected here, that which they scoffed. The obvious truth will strike them, make them dumb, defenseless; and in that for which they considered themselves irresponsible, they will see themselves guilty and responsible; for the word of the Lord will not pass by, that "for every idle word which men shall speak they shall give account on the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36). At that judgment the king and the warrior will stand together; the rich and the poor; the old and the young; the learned and the ignorant; man and woman - in equal dignity; each from his own deeds will either be glorified or shamed (Matt. 12:37). Then eternity will be revealed to people who did not believe in it, in all its terrible grandeur and horror; and for those who believe and are devoted to the Lord - in all the desired beauty and glory and indestructible bleessedness.
While we have time, let us use it for repentance and correction. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
