Homily on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son

On the Sin of Carnal Impurity

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1963 on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son)

"Rejoice, zealous guardian of spiritual and physical purity!"
(Akathist to Saint Sergius, Oikos 2)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are now preparing to enter the holy days of the Lord's Great Lent. The Holy Church, caring for our salvation, with wonderful touching hymns and edifying Gospel readings tries to awaken us to the upcoming feat of repentance, cleansing ourselves from everything passionate, wicked, sinful, from everything that has removed us from the face of the loving God to a "far country" (Luke 15:13).

Sin is the greatest evil in the human race, depriving us of God's grace. Every sin is vile before God and deprives us of God's favor, but there is one sin that the Lord especially detests - the sin of carnal impurity. I ask forgiveness if I offend someone's chaste ears by reminding them of this vice. Perhaps it would be necessary to pass over this sin in silence and say nothing about it, but the fact is that this vice acts with force in the world, puts down its roots, corrupts humanity and, of course, dooms people to destruction. Therefore, although the Holy Apostle Paul writes that it is shameful even to speak of this sin, nevertheless, Holy Scripture speaks of it in order to protect humanity from this terrible vice, and the Holy Fathers reveal the essence of this evil in particular detail. The shepherds and teachers of the Church in their works scourge it with great force in order to save the faithful from falling.

The sin of carnal impurity, in contrast to chastity, is generally called lust, but more often fornication, adultery. It includes not only actions contrary to purity, but also lustful thoughts, impure desires and feelings, immodest glances, foul words, lustful kisses and touches, and in general other similar lustful actions contrary to the purity of our nature.

It must be said that spiritual and physical purity, called chastity, were implanted in our nature when man was created by God Himself, which is why the first people were immaculate, angelically pure, not even having a concept of sinful desires and differences in gender. Therefore, the desire for spiritual and physical purity is inherent in our nature, while sinful desires entered it only after the fall of man. And only spiritual and physical purity brings us closer to God, makes us like the purest Angels and attracts God's grace to us.

In the New Testament, chastity is among the first Christian virtues, and virginity is considered a great feat in the Christian Church, the reward for which is the Kingdom of Heaven. All holy ascetics of piety first of all tried to be chaste, for they firmly knew that nothing unclean or foul would enter the Kingdom of God. Saint Gregory the Theologian once had two virgins of extraordinary beauty in a dream, who expressed their purest and most ardent love for him. “Who are you?” the Saint asked them. “One of us is Purity, the other is Chastity,” they answered. “We stand before the face of the Heavenly King and enjoy the beauty of the heavenly virgins.” You see how close the chaste are to God in that eternal life!

The sin of lust in all its forms is a mortal, grave sin and is severely punished by God. Although each of us sometimes experiences a very strong attraction of our nature to the pleasures that marital union provides, at the same time, however, dear ones, we must remember this: God created people of different sexes and determined marital relations between them not to excite and nourish carnal desires, but exclusively for the birth of children, for the spread and multiplication of the human race. Therefore, every sensible person must curb sensual desires and aspirations and subordinate them to the law of God in order to preserve his purity.

Whoever commits adultery uses his body against its purpose, against the will of God, because the will of God is the preservation of our body in purity, and fornication violates its holiness, which is why this sin is primarily called in Holy Scripture filth, a sin against one's own body. Our bodies are members of the mysterious Body of Christ and are intended to be instruments of the life and grace of Christ, and not instruments of sin.

According to the apostolic teaching, our bodies are in a mysterious union, a union with Christ, but the sin of fornication separates us from Him and destroys this union that surpasses all understanding. For as in the conjugal union, husband and wife are considered by Divine institution to be one body until adultery follows on one side, so it is in the mysterious union with Christ. Although all other vices separate us from Christ, this vice simply and finally destroys our union with the Lord and separates us from Him until we are cleansed by true repentance and again united to Him, the beginning and source of our life. What dishonor therefore occurs to the bodies of people when they become members of fornication from the members of Christ and deprive themselves of that glory which will be revealed in the glorification of those bodies that have preserved their purity at the general resurrection from the dead!

It would seem that these truths are enough to see the full gravity of this vice and to protect ourselves from it, but the Holy Apostle Paul also says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit living in us (see: 1 Cor. 6:19 ). And just as the Holy Spirit dwells in pure bodies, so, on the contrary, a fornicator is a dwelling place for the devil. Listen to what the Apostle writes about this in his instructions to Christians: "This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in holiness and honor, and not in the passion of lust, like the pagans who do not know God ... Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ to make them members of a harlot? God forbid! Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot becomes one body with her? But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Thess. 4:3-5; 1 Cor. 6:15-20).

You see what dignity the Holy Apostle ascribes to our body. And we know what honor is given to the body of a Christian after his death. They burn incense before it, surround it with burning lamps, bow to it, kiss it, sing funeral hymns, carry it in front of icons, and place a cross on the grave. Why such honor? Because the body of a Christian is deified, it is sanctified in the Mystery of Baptism by the grace of the Spirit of God, it is the abode of the Holy Spirit.

The saints knew this and therefore so zealously cared for spiritual and physical purity. They decided to die rather than defile themselves and lose purity. Thus, to one famous ascetic, the Venerable Martinian, in the desert one day a harlot came under the guise of a poor lost wanderer. Then, dressed in beautiful clothes, she began to tempt the hermit to sin, which kindled in him a strong carnal battle. The venerable man was already in great confusion and hesitation, but common sense overcame the temptation: he lit a pile of brushwood and, barefoot, stood on it and stood until the material fire extinguished the fire of carnal desire.

Another ascetic, the Venerable Ioannikios the Great, was at one time so overwhelmed by carnal passion that once, passing by a cleft in the rock where a huge snake nested, he decided to accept death from it rather than finally give in to lust and defile himself. But as soon as he came into contact with the snake, it immediately died, and carnal passion left him.

The Holy Martyr Potamiana decided to be thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar rather than surrender herself to the hands of her pagan master for corruption. Another martyr, a married woman, whose beauty seduced the tormentor of Christians, resorted to the following method in order to preserve her chastity. She asked the soldiers to give her time to change into better clothes, and at that time she herself went into her bedroom and pierced her womb with a sword. In such ways the saints cared about purity.

The sin of fornication is terribly punished by God, and it must be very much guarded against. Let no one think that he is safe from falling. Many people, strong in soul, suddenly fell, and those who had long preserved purity and innocence later became so attached to carnal sin that it was difficult to expect correction from them. The Church knows examples when people endowed with the gifts of miracles, insight, prophecy, partakers of the grace of the Holy Spirit, fell pitifully into the abyss of this sin.

Some, reading the Gospel, may think that the Lord is lenient towards fornicators, and therefore towards the sin of fornication. But the following must be said in response to this misunderstanding: the Lord really was lenient towards fornicators and harlots when He saw them publicly repenting and washing His most pure feet with their tears. He was lenient towards the weakness of our nature, but He is very strict towards sin: "You have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27–28). In the Old Testament, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire for the fornication of their inhabitants. And many, many other examples of God’s punishment of adulterers should frighten us and keep us from this vice.

This sin in itself brings the greatest harm to man. People who enslave themselves to it fall into poverty and misery, as is evident from the example of the prodigal son; they ruin their health, grow old and die prematurely. An intemperate fornicator destroys his spiritual powers: he loses his memory, darkens his mind and weakens his will. And Saint John Climacus says that one who has given himself over to this passion necessarily falls into insensibility, loses shame and the fear of God, is deprived of prudence and God's mercy and, bringing upon himself the wrath of God, willingly plunges himself into the destruction that awaits all fornicators.

To protect ourselves from fornication, the Holy Fathers command us to pay attention to our very first thoughts and desires. Since this sin is first born in thoughts, it is necessary to nip it in the bud, not giving the sinful feeling a chance to grow stronger. For this, the Fathers advise us to think about the fact that God is omniscient and all-knowing, that not a single one of our most secret thoughts is hidden from Him, that for indulging in our impure desires we will be tormented at the Last Judgment of God, when all our shameful thoughts will be laid bare before all our relatives and friends, and what shame will overwhelm us then! We must suppress the flame of the passionate fire at the beginning, so that it does not burn us when we no longer have the strength to fight it.

It is also necessary to distance oneself from corrupt communities and people, not to listen to seductive speeches; especially virgins must beware of communication with people of the opposite sex and conversations with them.

Furthermore, it is necessary to observe moderation in food and drink, and most of all to fear drinking wine, which especially inflames carnal passion. It is impossible at the same time to achieve purity of soul and body without first cleansing your soul from other passions: anger, vanity, pride, despondency, love of money, enmity and others like them. It is necessary to maintain humility, have a contrite heart and pray to God, Who alone can give strength to overcome this passion.

Truly blessed is that body which preserves itself in purity and will be worthy of the glorification that will follow at the time of the General Resurrection from the dead. And, on the contrary, worthy of condemnation and mourning is that body which has willingly given itself over to this impurity and, consequently, to destruction. Rejoice and be glad, all of you, dear ascetics of piety, who for the sake of preserving purity sometimes experience sorrows, but who struggle with the attack of carnal desires, taming them out of love for the Lord, for a great reward is prepared for you for this abstinence! In the sorrows and difficulties experienced during this fierce battle, may the Initiator of the Asceticism Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Guide of our life the Most Pure Virgin Mary, all the Saints and our most fervent intercessor and patron, Saint Sergius, be your helpers.

Do not despair, you who have fallen for some reason. Do not be discouraged, the doors of repentance have not yet been closed, the Merciful Heavenly Father still awaits the conversion of His prodigal sons. Here comes Great Lent, when the Lord is especially close to the repentant. Fall down before Him with tears, as the prodigal son fell, and say: “We have sinned, Lord, before You and are unworthy to be called Your children, but accept us at least as Your hired servants.” And He, the Merciful, will forgive the sin and, having cleansed the soul from filth, will whiten it and feed it with the Lamb slain for the sins of the whole world.

Thus all are called to a chaste life, people of every condition. The purity of virgins consists in completely removing themselves from sensual pleasures, the purity of widows in abstaining from carnal pleasures after the death of their spouse until their own death, the purity of persons in marriage in preserving marital fidelity and moderately using their marital rights. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13), to whom from us, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor and praise, now and forever and ever. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.